The Iraq War: Two Years Later

SeaMax News ^ | 3/23/2005 | Vincent Tartaglia

[Joe Taranto]

This past Saturday, March 19, 2005, marked the two year anniversary of arguably one of the most controversial wars in the history of our country: the Iraq War. It marked the ultimate end of a regime led by Saddam Hussein which was responsible for countless atrocities.

It also left Americans sharply divided on the necessity of this war, a division which played out on the large screen of a Presidential election. It’s been two years. Where are we now?

Over the past two years, we have heard all the various arguments, ranging from whether or not the Iraqi people wanted democracy to whether or not Saddam really had weapons of mass destruction.

The first question is disturbing. How can anyone be seriously question whether the Iraqi people wanted democracy? Any person, anywhere in the world that is oppressed longs for democracy and the Iraqis were oppressed.

Three years ago the Iraqi people lived in fear for themselves and their families. America has made progress towards a time when no Iraqi will ever wake up again in utter fear of what could happen to him or his family. Saddam Hussein’s mass graveyards and terrorist training camps have forever been shut down.

Saddam Hussein was an enemy to this country, and our enemies need to be put down. A man like Saddam Hussein doesn’t say no to weapons of mass destruction. We know for a fact he was attempting to acquire weapons of mass destruction. We also know of his various chemical plants that were cleared out before we could get there. The answer is obvious. If not for this war, mass murders could have occurred in not only the United States, but in other countries.

I am also a firm believer that this war “kills two birds with one stone.” A formidable enemy to the United States is within the boundaries of Iraq, Al-Zarqawi. He is not necessarily an enemy because of this war, but rather because he is a key Al-Qaeda operative. He works for the most wanted man on our list, Osama bin Ladin.

The fact that terrorists plotting to attack the United States are living in Iraq should rally support for the war. But somehow people only want to hear or see what they read in the papers or see on television.

This war was deemed an impossible feat. Democracy was supposedly an “impossible” thing to bring to Iraq. Well, Iraq is now a free country for the first time in over 30 years. Somehow, that to me makes this war a successful one. People are free because of us. Families are alive and well. That should matter to all of us.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Somethings in life we do not because they are easy, but, some times the right thing to do is hard.