Message #37107

[sueg22]

Muhammed,

I have thought long and hard about your question and I wrote and re-wrote many replies.  My wish is to share with you my thoughts and feelings - of course, I speak only for myself and I most certainly do not wish to offend you or others with my thoughts and feelings.  Just as I am sure citizens of every country burn with great pride in their country, please realize that as a 4th generation American, I also burn with that great pride for my America.

The problem with Saddam is not his being a dictator - Fiedel Castro's been sitting 90 miles off Florida for some time now and coalition forces are not going after him.  The problem with Saddam is that 12 years ago he was bound to disarm and he has not done so, despite being giving every opportunity to do so. A United Nations that does not enforce it's own ruling is a powerless governing body.  Fortunately, there are now 45 countries that agree that if this man is allowed to proceed unchecked, he is a real and present danger to the world.

The good, kind and gentle people of Iraq have lived in fear of this lunatic and his minions.  They cannot be expected to rise up against him because of that fear.  No one can fault them for that.  However, they need to be liberated from living in fear, from watching their loved ones dragged away to be tortured, maimed, raped and murdered.  This is a man who tortures children to get information from their parents.  This is not a governmental leader - this is an insane lunatic who needs to be far removed from  any position of power.  His sons were raised to think that this way is right, and as such, they need to be removed with him.  

A good editorial on this was printed in the San Diego Union Tribune this weekend:

------------------

The San Diego Union-Tribune, on the risk of inaction in Iraq (news - web sites):


Now, war is not only unavoidable but, in our view, necessary. It is necessary both to eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and to preserve the credibility of the international order that set out to disarm Iraq in 1991. This task is made all the more urgent by the global war on terror.


Sept. 11, 2001, taught us the consequences of looking the other way when rogue governments give sanctuary to terrorists, as Iraq has done. We refer to the international order, rather than the United Nations (news - web sites), because the Security Council, at the critical moment of decision, surrendered its responsibility to enforce its own mandates.


French President Jacques Chirac's repeated vows to veto any enforcement resolution that authorized war effectively eviscerated the power and influence of the Security Council.


Sadly, the world body sits impotently on the sidelines as the United States, Britain and their allies prepare to impose the "serious consequences" promised by Security Council Resolution 1441. ...


In the face of Hussein's intransigence, it would have been far better for this conflict to be carried out under the auspices of a unified Security Council. But the council's abdication of its responsibility is surely no reason for the United States also to abandon its duty to disarm Iraq. With nearly 300,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines including many from San Diego County deployed in the region, the United States and its allies cannot back down. To retreat now would hand a strategic victory to Hussein and thereby make the future far less secure, not only for Iraq's neighbors but also for ourselves.


To shrink from this difficult mission would serve only to make the world a more dangerous place.


--------------------------


Praying for peace for the world and supporting our troops,

Susan

Oh! thus be it ever, when freeman shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."....

-Francis Scott Key