As of today, there have been 2,094 coalition soldiers killed. My hat is off and head is bowed for every one of them. From the good natured "Apple Pie" type of soldier, to the roughest, most hardened of them all - each of them has my undying gratitude and respect for keeping the world a safer place.
That being said, let's talk about Iraq for a moment. I will try to be brief. Just a brief look at casualties from other American wars shows us the following:
With the exception of the 1st Gulf War, every other major military action that our nation has seen has literally dwarfed the Iraq war in terms of casualties. So why the big uproar?
First, let me reiterate - Every one of those soldiers who have died in Iraq is somebody's child, parent, sibling, lover... you name it, that soldier meant the world to a lot of people. I could never denigrate their sacrifice by simply relegating them to a statistic.
Secondly, let's quit treating those soldiers like children. Yes, they knew that in signing up for the military, there was a risk that they would see military action. The government doesn't pay for your college education and your once-a-month stint in the reserves just for the hell of it. These guys knew what they were getting into, and most were damn good and ready for it. Let's quit denigrating them by assuming that they're just a bunch of average citizens that have been shanghaied and swept away to a foreign country for absolutely no reason at all. If a soldier has a problem with fighting, he/she should not have joined the military.
There remains the question of "Is Iraq a moral or legitimate war?"
Let me approach this question from another perspective: Insects. Near my house, on the park strip between the sidewalk and the street is a rather large dead spot in the grass. It wasn't created by a wandering troupe of dogs with highly acidic urine, nor was it underwatered, nor was it a product of heat stroke (yes, grass can sometimes get that too, if the root structure isn't deep enough). The primary cause of this dead spot is a tiny little varmint known as "cutworm". The spot didn't start out being big; it was just a few blades of grass to begin with. But it has grown unchecked at a steady pace, because I made several other excuses as to why the grass was having problems in that area. Finally, upon close examination, it was determined that it was cutworm, and so the appropriate measures now need to be taken.
In order to protect the lush, green grass across the sidewalk from the maurauding insect, do I put up barriers all around the grass? That might protect it temporarily, but you must consider something here: The spot that is now dead, ugly and blighted is bordered on all sides by concrete. The pioneer cutworm that started that mass of destruction wasn't lying dormant in the clay for the past four years, just waiting to attack a future lawn. Neither did said worm cross the hot asphalt street with a vision of the promised land in its tiny little eyes drawing it ever closer to our little plot of paradise. The worm arrived by other means, whether by some migratory insect (like the little lawn moths that I try to run over with the lawn mower), or tiny little worm eggs blown through the air on some of the demon winds that plague our area, or some other unexplained method. The point is: They got to the park strip, and they could very easily get to the main yard itself, no matter how tall the border I erect, or how far below the surface it extends.
Use common sense, you say! Poison the little buggers! Okay, so now I've bought my bag of Ortho "Knocks Lawn Vermin Dead" bug poison. Where do I apply it? Do I *gasp* actually apply it to the area where the cutworms are causing damage? Or do I just do a "preventative maintenance" sweep on the main yard, and let the park strip be completely consumed by an ever-multiplying host of grass killers? Those of you who do any measure of yardwork will immediately know the correct answer.
Now back to Islam. Are you starting to see what I'm getting at here? Am I comparing Islam to a maurauding, destructive parasitic insect? In a way, yes. Examine the present fruits of Islam: Beheadings, brutal treatment of women and children, homocide bombers, death, death and more death, violence... By their sheer numbers alone, the evidence shows that if the muslims were a peace-loving and productive society, the whole middle east would be blossoming like a rose. We would have literature, art, science, technology and medicine emanating from these countries in such quantities that it would make your head spin.
Unfortunately, the fruit of Islam seems to be subjugation and violence. Believe like they do, or pay the price.
The peaceful followers of Islam understand the Meccan tradition of Mohammed, while the fanatics understand the later Medina tradition of Mohammed*, when looting, pillaging, raping, killing, deception and dishonesty abounded. What both need to understand is when you pick up a stick, you pick up both ends. The peaceful followers need to understand that a "Jekyll and Hyde" dark side exists to their religion of peace. Maybe they do, and maybe that is why there is so little outrage from the Muslim world about terrorist acivity. Is a religion that "embraces death" really compatible with the rest of the world? Can we erect a border that will protect the rest of us "infidels" from the maurauding forces that would destroy us?
No. It would not protect us effectively or permantently. We need to "poison" fanatical Islam much like we would poison the cutworms that are making quick work of my grass. Unfortunately, there are no bags of Ortho "knocks fanaticism dead" poison on the shelves down at the Home Depot, so we must rely on a much more effective weapon: Democracy. Yes, you heard me. Democracy.
Democracy, and the freedoms that it brings with it wipes out the disease of religious fanaticism faster than any other prescription could. We cannot force democracy on a people, but contrary to popular belief, a huge number of Iraqis actually want democracy. They want freedom. And their neighbors are taking notice. Look at what has happened in Lebanon: Syria has finally ended its occupation because the Lebanese wanted freedom. Look at Afghanistan: Democratic elections in which women not only voted, but a woman also ran for president as well. Look at Iraq: Democratic elections in which women voted and were given a voice. We may have lost over two thousand soldiers during our stay in Iraq, but several times that number of Iraqis have died at the hands of "insurgents" for the rights that we, as Americans, largely take for granted.Look at Pakistan: One of the first Islamic countries to actually investigate Islamic schools because of reports of sexual abuses. Look at Iran: Millions of Iranians called in sick on the day of Bush's 2004 inauguration in order to watch the president's speech by satellite, and especially his call for democracy. Many Americans may not care what Bush says, but many middle easterners do.
Mark my words: Anything that gives freedom to and elevates the status of woman in society, is a direct threat to the poisonous, fanatical and extremist cultures around the world. The best cure that we have in our arsenal presently: Democracy.
Iraq may not have directly participated in the events of September 11th. Maybe they did. I know that it wasn't Iraqi Airlines that crashed into the World Trade Center Towers, and that the hijackers weren't chanting Saddam's name in praise as they met their maker in a huge fireball. Saddam hasn't been covertly sending recordings to Al Jazeera taking credit for every terrorist act committed. But Saddam's Iraq was a fertile field for terrorist vermin. Weapons, money, counterfeit documents, and more importantly, a safe place to call home were all found in Iraq. After attacking the single biggest terrorist haven in Afghanistan, we set our sights on the second biggest haven, Iraq. Whether or not there was an immediate threat may truthfully never be known. Some have compelling evidence that yes, Iraq was a threat, while others say that the lack of evidence was compelling.
Iraq was second in line of our responses to a war that Osama bin Laden declared on America on August 23, 1996. That bears repeating: We did not start this war. We were dragged into it by the slaughter of thousands of innocent people on September 11th, just as we were dragged into World War II by the slaughter that took place at Pearl Harbor. This war may take our troops into places other than Afghanistan and Iraq before it is over, but as we go, we will take the seeds of freedom and democracy to plant while we're there. And we'll certainly leave the places in much better shape than we found them, on many different levels.
Just as the Ortho bug killer is making changes to the forces that threaten my landscape, freedom and democracy are making changes across the middle east. It is good that we are there, and it is our own lives that we are ultimately protecting by breathing 21st century life into 14th century Muslim society.
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