why we celebrate the fall of Saddam

[billvon 3,120]

I don't usually agree with the stuff on Salon, but I thought this was very well spoken by Gary Kamiya:

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And so, at this moment, as the Mordor shadow of Saddam Hussein, a truly evil man who, like a sociopathic murderous husband, killed everything that he could not control, lifts from the long-suffering people of Iraq, all of us, on the left and the right, Democrats and Republicans, America-lovers and America-haters, Syrians and Kuwaitis and Israelis and Palestinians, owe it to our common humanity to stop, put aside -- not forever -- our doubts and our grief and our future fears, and for one deep moment, celebrate.

Celebrate the 6-year-old boy -- he exists, there are thousands of him, he is running down a street in Karbala right now holding a candy bar -- who will not grow up in a world where his father, and his uncle, and his cousin are taken away by anonymous men one night and never come back.

Celebrate the young woman who will no longer be taken off the street by Saddam's agents to a house where she will be gang-raped, and a film of the rape used to blackmail her into becoming an informer.

Celebrate the Kurd who can return to the house his grandfather built without being killed.

Celebrate a world that no longer contains a regime willing to torture small children to force their parents to confess.

Why should we celebrate? Because what happens to those Iraqis is more important than our political beliefs. Even if -- especially if -- we opposed this war, even if we are disgusted with and deeply suspicious of the U.S. administration, we should celebrate. Their fate matters more.

. . . .

It is possible that we who celebrate today will be forced to recant tomorrow. But that should not stop us. Nor should it be our concern. Those who opposed this war in part because they feared what it would do to the Iraqi people must now make every effort to protect and raise up those people. And to do that, they must pay attention to what is happening to them -- the good, the bad and the in-between. This is the most compelling reason to celebrate the end of Saddam. Call that celebration a leap of faith, if you will -- but you could also call it a binding contract, American to Iraqi, human heart to human heart. We smashed your country and we killed your people and we freed you from a monster: We are bound together now by blood. We owe each other, but we owe you more because we are stronger and because we came into your country.

. . . .

America has embarked upon the riskiest, most dangerous gamble imaginable -- and the risks of the war are small compared to those that are just beginning. There are many reasons to believe that the men who run our country desire the "greatness born of blood and falsehood." But if we measure up to our finest image, if we steer our course away from injustice and reject imperial hubris, if we rebuild Iraq with the world's help and without favor or self-interest, there is a chance that Camus' ringing words, written as Paris was liberated, will apply not just to the City of Light, but to the cradle of civilization.

" ... despite the suffering, despite the blood and wrath, despite the dead who can never be replaced, the unjust wounds, and the wild bullets, we must utter, not words of regret, but words of hope, of the dreadful hope of those isolated with their fate.

"This huge Paris, all black and warm in the summer night, with a storm of bombers overhead and a storm of snipers in the streets, seems to us more brightly lighted than the city of Light the whole world used to envy us. It is bursting with all the fires of hope and suffering, it has the flame of lucid courage and all the glow, not only of liberation, but of tomorrow's liberty."

Let it be so in Iraq -- and let us all work to make it so.

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[jraf 0]

So, can someone tell me why we went to Iraq? Because if we did it to free the people, why don't we go to North Korea? How about Libia? Zimbabwe perhaps? China is my favorite though - lets liberate China!!!

So again: why did we go to Iraq????

jraf

Me Jungleman! Me have large Babalui.
Muff #3275

[Marz 0]

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So, can someone tell me why we went to Iraq? Because if we did it to free the people, why don't we go to North Korea? How about Libia? Zimbabwe perhaps? China is my favorite though - lets liberate China!!!

So again: why did we go to Iraq????

Because oppression is tolerable in countries that do not openly give you the finger? Also, invading those countries won't necessarily give you a prime piece of real estate smack-dab in the middle of potentially the richest neighborhood on the planet. Oh, and wait ... OH YEAH!!! The USA didn't arm N-Korea Zimbabwe and China to get rid of another "oppressive"in the 80's. My history books tell me however that Hussein and (*gasp*) even al qaeida were good frineds when it was about the ayatohla in Iran and those red commie bastards in Afghanistan.

Hope this helps

Flame away... I'm a big boy, I can take it.

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Did I just kill another thread?

[Guest]

billvon:

That was a very well-written piece. I like it.

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[Meathorse 0]

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So again: why did we go to Iraq????

Here we have likely the most... "anti-American" part of the world. And now, right in the middle of it, are millions of Iraqi civilians welcoming our troops with open arms. A lot of misconceptions and spoon-fed lies about us Americans are being disolved before their eyes. Some of the brainwashed are waking up. We came to sway the public opinion.

That... and N. Korea and China would rip us a new asshole

[Sebazz1 2]

Na na na naaaaa... Na na na naaaaa... Heeey heeey goo oood byyyyee

[rocketfeuille 0]

Right on, Bill. Thanks.

[PhillyKev 0]

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And now, right in the middle of it, are millions of Iraqi civilians welcoming our troops with open arms.

That was yesterday. Today they are armed, looting, and killing.

[Sinkster 0]

Thanks for the post bill von.

One would have to be intellectually dishonest to disagree with that.