March 23, 2003: While the inane "peace" protests continue (e.g., "Honk, if you're against killing babies in Iraq!"), more evidence continues to trickle through the media-created "war is folly" fog, reinforcing why Allied fighting forces are making the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq.
First off, various news reports continue to filter out of southern Iraq, confirming that U.S. forces have stumbled upon what they believe to be a "huge" chemical weapons factory near the Iraqi city of Najaf.
So much for the continuing Euro assertion that a stand-up guy like Saddam would never to stoop to manufacturing weapons of mass destruction after the French and Germans were so good to him.
Seems Hans Blix was too busy enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame at a myriad of self-serving press conferences, or preparing his meticulously ambivalent inspection reports for the UN, to actually ferret out this huge chemical weapons factory.
And just in case the anti-war media have you again wondering why Allied forces are in Iraq, check out the latest first-person perspective on the war from a refugee from the Saddam's Iraq, reported in Australia's Sun Herald. Here's a bit of what political refugee Dhafir Al-Shammery had to say to the Sun Herald:
"When I see thousands of Australians marching the streets on behalf of the Iraqi people, my heart sinks, because their view is not that of the Iraqi people.According to the Sun Herald, Al-Shammery, 38, was one of the Shi'ite Muslim majority persecuted by Saddam after the 1991 Gulf War. After his cousin was arbitrarily executed, he fled with six other Iraqis on a small open skiff, which for seven days battled huge waves. He neither slept nor ate in that time.
"They [the protesters] say they are making a stand against the war because of human rights issues. They say it is the Iraqi people who will suffer most through this conflict.
"I speak out because they need to be told they are wrong. They need to support their country. They need to be told the truth -- and that is that the Iraqi people have been suffering human rights crimes for decades.
"I am sorry, but these protesters cannot even imagine what has gone on there. Nobody would know unless they had lived and suffered it."
"I knew I had a 100 per cent chance of death if I stayed [in Iraq], but only a 90 per cent chance of death if I fled in a little boat," he told the Australian newspaper. "So I chose the 10 per cent chance of life. Wouldn't you?"
Mr. Al-Shammery also vividly describes the way of life in Saddam's Iraq which idealistic anti-war protestors (and the French) are so vocal about preserving:
"The protesters need to understand that in Iraq, there is no freedom of expression ... not through speech or thought, nothing ... If you are not with him [Saddam], that means you are against him. A murmur of discontent to your neighbour across the fence can lead to your wife being executed...............
