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Posted on 04/13/2003 5:13:05 AM PDT by Prince Charles
Naval officer nails down reasons for war
April 13, 2003
BY MICHAEL SNEED, SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
It was quite a letter. The war in Iraq has so galvanized the national psyche, I thought I'd share with you a letter sent to the family of a naval officer serving in the Iraq war.
It was part of what inspired an earlier column, but it also contains a pretty blunt military perspective. I think you will find the missive fascinating.
"I was mobilized to full active status on the 28th of January and am now deployed to the Other Side of the World. I am not in a cockpit job unlike the last time, but am serving in a staff capacity.
To many, the connection between the war on terrorism and our current situation with Iraq is tenuous at best, and a very vocal element is screaming that it is a total sham. It's about oil, they scream, or it's about money, or it's about power. Extreme fundamentalists exhort that it is the hatred of Islam. Here is a blinding flash of the obvious, in my opinion, all of them are correct (to a point) it is about all of these things.
Reliable estimates place up to 30 percent of the world's oil reserves in and around Iraq. Like it or not, the industrial economies of the world are heavily if not totally dependent on oil. It is reasonable to conclude that the entire world's best interests are in jeopardy when such a large portion of the oil is under the control of one who has time and time again proved himself out of control. It's not too hard to agree that it is about oil.
Any discussion of oil will very quickly become a discussion of money. Turkey wants Kirkuk and maybe Tikrit. The $28 billion the United States offered was just not enough to compensate for denying them the opportunity to take these areas without interference of our ground forces (a bit more intimidating than those pesky Kurds). If anyone was confusing their recalcitrance to be for any other reason, I have a bridge to sell them, hell, make it two. France has an enormous investment (quite literally) in maintenance of the current regime. One might wonder who (among others) sold Iraq the weapons that they are so willing to accept do not exist (in direct violation of the United Nations resolutions, which they are supposed to be bound by). Further, why should they spend huge amounts to develop invasive U.S. intelligence penetration technology for commercial purposes when they can benefit from the release of same through the auspices of the hapless UN. Yes it is about money. It always is.
Since the implosion of the Soviet Union, the United States is the only remaining global 'superpower.' The United States was forced once again to wipe 'Old Europe's' backside most recently in the Balkans (most probably a temporary cleaning I will grant). Our currently failing diplomatic efforts at global hygiene are providing the only opportunity to embarrass us in the only way they can. Europe has never been able to clean up its own problem let alone the current one, why should they NOT resent that we must do it. Again. Yup, it IS about power.
Recently I read somewhere that a good working definition of a radical Islamic extremist was one with a fundamental hatred of everything he didn't have, as directed by his mullah. Somewhere in that definition the Quran itself got lost. Freedom of religion is one of the foundations that our society is built upon. Other societies enjoy no such freedom. If the first sentence is valid, then the hatred of the freedoms we have earned in our (relatively) short existence is systemic in these individuals. Human anthropologists put forth that this conflict is based on jealousy of our standard of living, as simple as the haves and have nots. To cloak this hatred or jealousy in the shroud of Islam is basically underwriting murder in the name of God. We have been there before. History is a brutal teacher. Yes, it is about Islam.
There is a famous quote which goes something like, 'those that fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it.'
To me, the issue is clear both Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush are determined NOT to make the mistakes of Chamberlain. It is sad that the rest of the world shows no such determination. All of these decisions will have ramifications in the coming days . . . and years.
Beyond that, please rest assured, all of us here are very focused on a very swift surgical application of the most direct and devastating technological sophistication that the free world can produce. We have no interest in attrition or occupation. None of us feel that a single life is cheap, no matter the ethnic or religious persuasion. We are preparing to do laser surgery to excise a cancer.
And then come home, With all my love, John"
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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When the history from this era is written, no one will put it in the PC history books, but you can damn well be that tin pot dictators and those sympathetic toward terrorists will think twice before they decide to harbor terrorists in their country as long as George Bush is president of the United States.
We are at war and will be at war for a very long time, with jealous self-serving zealots – who will never admit that they are being used by their clerics to maintain dominion.
You have to treat them like the mad dogs they are. The only thing they respect is power. If you are weak, they will consume you. Kindness will not keep you safe from these wild beasts.
You are correct. The actual words (and the source) are these:"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. . . . . Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -- George Santanyana (1863-1952), Life of Reason.
Best regards,
Penny
Those who cannot remember Jorge Santayana's epigram are condemned to repeat it, with an infinity of erroneous attributions.
(tee hee)
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
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