It's Worth The Price What if the U.S. hadn't invaded Iraq?

If we had not invaded Iraq, French banks, French politicians and French businessmen would be richer. French, German and Russian arms dealers would be richer. Kofi Anan's son would be richer. Numerous high-ranking UN officials would be richer. The European and Middle-Eastern businessmen who sold the Iraqi people expired medicines, rancid cooking oil and spoiled foodstuffs under the UN Oil-For-Food program would be richer. Uday and Qusay would be richer (and still alive). And, of course, Saddam would be richer.

To be fair, we American spoilsports (who upset the international gravy-train for all those self-righteous Europeans and Middle-Eastern butchers) did make one inexcusable mistake: We didn't go to Baghdad in 1991, but listened to our Saudi "friends."

Even foregoing my favorite argument that this war was morally noble (where were all those Hollywood personalities when Saddam was killing more Muslims than any tyrant since Tamerlane? Has chubby old Linda Ronstadt ever smelled a mass grave? Did Susan Sarandon and her wife, Tim Robbins, ever protest the genocide against the Kurds? Have the Dixie Chicks ever been abducted, raped and disfigured by a dictator's thugs?)...leaving all that aside, we have taken the great anti-Western war our enemies began to their turf, and that is never a mistake.

Had we not forced our collective enemies to face us in the Middle East, they could have devoted the resources they're expending in Iraq to striking us at home. And yes, they'll strike us at home again, eventually--this is a colossal struggle. But passivity, appeasement and cowardice only encourage them and make it easier for them to draw strength. It is never a mistake to strike down an enemy who has sworn to kill us--as both our Islamic and secular Middle-Eastern enemies hope to do. Saddam Hussein was as much a part of the problem of the decayed, morally leprous Middle East as Osama bin Laden is. The War on Terror isn't a minor affair, but a titanic struggle with a failed civilization that includes both vicious mullahs and cynical murderers--both those who drink the poison of hate from the fouled springs of their religion and those who guzzle scotch behind closed doors (not infrequently one and the same).

If we had not deposed Saddam Hussein's regime, nothing would have changed in the Middle East. And change, so long delayed, is essential. Even should the Iraqi people fail to take advantage of the unprecedented chance we have given them to build a better future, the effort was worthwhile. On its worst day, Iraq is now a better place than it was before our soldiers crossed its borders.

If we had not deposed Saddam, dictators everywhere, as well as terrorists, would have continued to believe that the United States was all bluster, that Afghanistan was a one-off exception, an easy score. Indeed, even the tough occupation and our continued presence serve to prove that the Clinton era is over, that you can no longer make America run by killing its sons and daughters.

We may lament every American casualty--but not one has died in vain. Our display of strength, resolve and grit has, indeed, made America and the world safer--although this struggle will continue, in many forms, for decades to come. You cannot expect instant success when faced with a problem that has been forming for centuries--the decline of a once-great civilization into a static culture that is entirely parasitic, that makes not a single positive contribution to the rest of the world. In the end, no matter what we do, it will be up to the Arabs to right themselves--and it's far from certain that they will ever show the will or the wherewithal to fix their broken world. In the meantime, our liberation of Iraq graphically demonstrated the price Middle-Eastern regimes can be made to pay when they choose to export their problems, as Saddam Hussein repeatedly tried to do.

It doesn't matter in the least if the Baathist regime in Baghdad had no direct ties to al-Qaeda--both were manifestations of the same civilizational disease, the same culture of failure, hatred, oppression and inertia.

There is evil in the world. And if we had not gone to Iraq, evil would still be flourishing in Baghdad.

We haven't finished anything in this great struggle. But we've made an impressive start.

Had we not invaded Iraq:

1) We could not possibly fight the War on Terror effectively. We still would have had strong suspicions that Saddam had chemical and biologigal weapons. There would have been nothing to stop Hussein from handing out chem weapons to his paid assassins. At present, the WMDs have had to have been carefully hidden in fear that the US will discover the stockpiles.

2) Afghanistan is a very sparcely populated country. It was expected to be an easy win for the United States. It was not an effective show of force. We would still be considered 'soft' by terrorists, and thus, a target.

3) The concept of a UN Resolution would have absolutely NO meaning. At present, we have demonstrated that SOME members are willing to give them teeth.

4) The people of Iraq would still receive nothing from the food-for-oil farce. Untold thousand would die from starvation/lack of medicine.

5) There would br NO future for the Middle East. At least now, there is hope that Iraq will be a center for reform.

6) Muslim world domination would continue its slow creep forward, unabated.

7) Libya would still be developing WMDs.

8) Iraq would have completed missles in direct violation of the Gulf War Treaty, which would have a range capable of destroying Israel and disrupting oil flow.

Had we not invaded Iraq,
Saddam Hussein would have given chemical weapons to terrorists. These terrorists would have used these weapons in an attack on the U.S.. John Kerry and the rest of the democraps would have complained that Bush did nothing to protect us, even though we all knew that Saddam Hussein had WMD. Michael Moore would have done a documentary stating that:

Bill Clinton warned Bush about Iraq's WMD.

Bush knew somebody that went to 1st grade with the 3rd cousin of a lady who's dog groomer baby sat for a neighbor of one of the terrorists that carried out this attack, proving that Bush secretly knew of the upcoming attack, but did nothing to stop it.

Bush was on the toliet when the attack occurred, and waited 4 seconds before wiping himself. Bush's 4 second delay resulted in hundreds of additional casulties.

Uday and Qusay would be richer (and still alive). And, of course, Saddam would be richer.

Not only would they be richer but they would have the opportunity to pass WMD's to terrorists hell bent on killing Americans in massive numbers - the real reason we went to war in Iraq to begin with.

It doesn't matter that no WMD's were found. They had the capability to make them, they had them before, they used them before and they would have used them against us through an anonymous source (terrorists) as sure as hell. Those WMD's went somewhere.

Anyone who opposed the war in Iraq and believes that we would be any safer if Saddam Hussein was still in power can be grateful for one thing: that you still have the ability to think at all.

Ralph Peters:

Had we not forced our collective enemies to face us in the Middle East, they could have devoted the resources they're expending in Iraq to striking us at home. And yes, they'll strike us at home again, eventually--this is a colossal struggle. But passivity, appeasement and cowardice only encourage them and make it easier for them to draw strength. It is never a mistake to strike down an enemy who has sworn to kill us--as both our Islamic and secular Middle-Eastern enemies hope to do. Saddam Hussein was as much a part of the problem of the decayed, morally leprous Middle East as Osama bin Laden is. The War on Terror isn't a minor affair, but a titanic struggle with a failed civilization that includes both vicious mullahs and cynical murderers--both those who drink the poison of hate from the fouled springs of their religion and those who guzzle scotch behind closed doors (not infrequently one and the same).
If we had not deposed Saddam Hussein's regime, nothing would have changed in the Middle East. And change, so long delayed, is essential. Even should the Iraqi people fail to take advantage of the unprecedented chance we have given them to build a better future, the effort was worthwhile. On its worst day, Iraq is now a better place than it was before our soldiers crossed its borders.
If we had not deposed Saddam, dictators everywhere, as well as terrorists, would have continued to believe that the United States was all bluster, that Afghanistan was a one-off exception, an easy score. Indeed, even the tough occupation and our continued presence serve to prove that the Clinton era is over, that you can no longer make America run by killing its sons and daughters.
We may lament every American casualty--but not one has died in vain. Our display of strength, resolve and grit has, indeed, made America and the world safer--although this struggle will continue, in many forms, for decades to come. You cannot expect instant success when faced with a problem that has been forming for centuries--the decline of a once-great civilization into a static culture that is entirely parasitic, that makes not a single positive contribution to the rest of the world. In the end, no matter what we do, it will be up to the Arabs to right themselves--and it's far from certain that they will ever show the will or the wherewithal to fix their broken world. In the meantime, our liberation of Iraq graphically demonstrated the price Middle-Eastern regimes can be made to pay when they choose to export their problems, as Saddam Hussein repeatedly tried to do.
It doesn't matter in the least if the Baathist regime in Baghdad had no direct ties to al-Qaeda--both were manifestations of the same civilizational disease, the same culture of failure, hatred, oppression and inertia.
There is evil in the world. And if we had not gone to Iraq, evil would still be flourishing in Baghdad.
We haven't finished anything in this great struggle. But we've made an impressive start.

Nailed It!

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