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I don't get it.
Before the war against Iraq and Saddam Hussein -- excuse me: "Operation Iraqi Freedom" -- began, many dissenters questioned the wisdom of initiating yet another conflict in the Middle East. These Doubting Thomases and Thomasinas, however, were assured time and again by the supremely confident White House Gang that "we" had Proof -- not just evidence, mind you, but Proof -- that the Tyrant-We-All-Love-to-Hate possessed weapons of mass destruction. (Even though WMD's were loosely defined to include tactical weapons such as chemical agents rather than solely strategic weapons like nuclear bombs).
Sadly, though, the Men and Women in White prowling the corridors of power in D. C. solemnly informed us benighted peons that this undeniable Proof -- Proof that would convince each and every living mother's son and daughter of us, once and for all -- that this Proof of the very real threat posed by nasty ol' Saddam could not be revealed to those citizens who would actually be paying for this war, lest "we" risk the embedded (don'tcha just love such catch words?) sources in the Iraqi government who were sending us along their secret little tidbits of information.
('Course, for many of us, Iraq's WMD's -- if any -- were insufficient reason to launch an assault against a foreign nation that had not attacked us.)
Accept for the moment that the existence of WMD's did justify a first strike. (After all, even those who opposed the war thought Saddam was a thorough scum bag thug who deserved to have his rocks run through a blender on "puree.")
Reel ahead a few weeks.
American forces bomb the bejeesuz out of Baghdad and various other Iraqi cities. We "degrade" (i.e., kill and destroy) eighty-percent of the Iraqi military. We enjoy complete air superiority. Despite a few minor friendly-fire incidents, a handful of American prisoners of war seized by the Iraqis (including men! Don't forget, despite the media's focus, most of the soldiers taken prisoner and beaten or killed were of the male persuasion.), a bunch of sandstorms and onerous temperatures, a few suicide bombers, the killing of noncombatants here and there (to paraphrase that great soldier, General Buck Turgidson, sure we might have gotten our hair mussed, but a few thousand dead men, women, and children -- tops! -- isn't so very much to worry about), a few hundred C.O.W. forces killed or wounded; despite all these inconveniences, this undeclared war rolled along pretty smoothly, ya betcha!
Good ol' U. S. of A. military and technological know-how. Just 'cause Saddam was compared to Hitler, that doesn't mean S.H.'s soldiers matched the skill, dedication, or ferocity of those mean and determined Nazi bastards who battled their way back and forth across Europe. (A 350-to-1 military spending ratio in our favor today didn't hurt either in brushing aside the Iraqi army.)
After killing Saddam two or three times in his bunkers and his sons at least twice, our liberating troops arrived in the capital city to find that the remnants of the Ba-ath Party -- who had made life less than fun for the Oppressed Peoples of Iraq -- that these Bad Boys of Baghdad had taken a powder to parts unknown. No more of that nonsense of claiming that there were no Americans around while we were even then seizing airports and driving our tanks along the scenic routes of Saddam's main 'hood. No, sirreebob.
So. Let's tick off the points, shall we?
1. Wipe out the Iraqi army.
Check.
2. Liberate the country.
Check.
3. Kill Saddam Hussein.
Check. Check. Check.
4. Occupy the oil fields.
Check. (Hoo-yah!)
5. Pull down a bunch of statues and occupy a few palaces.
Check.
6. Cover Saddam's face with an American flag.
Check. Er. Uncheck. (Mustn't be un-PC, must we?)
7. Knock out power and water to the civilians and claim ignorance of how it happened or how to get them restored.
Check.
8. Find the smoking gun so we can go "neener-neener" to all those weenies who questioned our veracity.
Ch-- Urk!
Waitaminute.
Lessee... Saddam is no more. We own the country. The oil is ours. We rescued our POW's. The Iraqi people love us. They're having fun looting. We're sending aircraft carriers and troops home so we can call them back later to police this place for the next few election cycles. We've picked our viceroy, er, governor, er, whatever. The spies, er, sources whose information we had to keep under wraps from the American public so their lives would not be forfeit; they are no longer at risk 'cause we're Top Dog now...
Hmm.
So.
So why have American troops been running hither and yon about Iraq rooting in the dirt for signs of WMD's like eager ants scrambling to seize the remnants of an abandoned picnic?
The routine has become almost comical.
A bunch of soldiers who know how to fight but who really don't know all that much about the detectors they're handed yell: "Hey! Here are the WMD's!... No. Wait... Here they are! ... No. Wait..... Here they are!"
Color me puzzled.
If our Fearless Leaders in Washington knew before the war where Saddam's WMD's were stashed; if we had incontrovertible Proof that Iraq clutched WMD's in their collective fingers just itching to hand them over to the Taliban and ol' Bin Laden (you remember Bin Laden, right? The guy said to be behind the attack on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center? Tall, skinny guy? Beard? A bit sickly? A Saudi rich kid? Doesn't care much for Americans in the Middle East? Sends coded messages via videotapes now and then so the Department of Homeland Security can raise the Terror Level to Orange when it needs to so Americans are kept worried and off-balance? Hated secular dictators like Saddam? Remember? Oh, well. Doesn't really matter anymore, anyway...); if all that Proof was being kept under wraps for the humanitarian purpose of saving the hides of the Good Iraqis on Our Side until they were safe...
...why doesn't the White House Gang tell our Boys in Brown where the Proof is so they can just waltz in there and get it instead of dashing about the countryside like a flock of chickens with their heads cut off?
Hmm.
I don't get it.
But then I don't get why the Undeterrable Iraqi Madman did not use these WMD's we had Proof were in his arsenal when he had the chance. I don't get why -- if the Iraqi people are ready now to rule themselves "democratically" as the Head Honcho told us in no uncertain terms -- why we're going to install our own man to guide them for "awhile." I don't get why Iraq will be any different than Bosnia or Korea or any other country we "saved" that is now statist and collectivist and a massive drain on American lives and resources as our troops remain there year after year after year...
But then our Pin-Striped Wonders have often sold the American public one bill of goods then delivered the opposite. Lincoln, Wilson, FDR, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, Bush I and Bush II. "No war" leads to war. "No taxes" leads to taxes. "Less poverty" leads to more poor people. "Less crime" leads to more criminals. "Less drug use" leads to more drug users. "More safety" leads to less security.
"More freedom" leads to less freedom.
I don't get it.
But you can rest assured that the American people will always get it. In the end.
