"The
remnants of an enemy can become active like those of a disease or fire.
Hence, these should be exterminated completely. One should never ignore an
enemy, knowing him to be weak. He becomes dangerous in due course, like the
spark of fire in a haystack." —Kautilya, Indian Philosopher,
Third Century B.C.
For almost two years now Iraq has been the focal point of contention in our
country. It matters not whichever side of the fence one stood before it
happened. What matters now is simply, victory. But even now there are those
who would contend that we should cut and run, leaving the fate of twenty-six
million people to chance; there are those who wish to open Iraq up to the
immense and corrupt bureaucracy that is the United Nations (Notice the
linking verb: is, vs. are; it is no longer a group of nations, but an entity
of its own). If we should listen to these people, I can guarantee a swift
return in a short number of years. At best, we would be opening ourselves up
to years of "peace-keeping" and disaster resulting in more death. At worst,
the most certain withdrawal of the U.N. at the first sign of a threat,
leaving us in the same situation as leaving all-together.
No, we cannot leave. Indeed, we must be certain in victory. In my mind there
are three reasons, and they are these:
1. The enemy has been engaged. They must be crushed, utterly.
I know my words are confrontational with an ultimate quality to them. They
must be difficult to understand and even contemptible to the modern liberal
mind. But these are not modern and civil enemies we are used to fighting,
willingly sitting at the negotiating table to save their society. Our enemy
is willing to fight us to the last, and I believe it is necessary that we
help them. Stopping halfway would leave embers that would dim but eventually
find fuel to fight on. This cannot be a campaign of winning hearts and
minds; theirs are already gone. This must be a campaign of crushing not only
body, but spirit. Anything else would mean that all deaths during this war
would have been in vein.
Have you read the story of Hsiang Yu and Liu Pang? I won't tell it to you.
Read it and you will understand.
2. The people of Iraq.
Regardless of what the news media tells you, the Iraqi people are relieved
and better off. These advancements since the end of the war were reported by
an American soldier on the ground. He wanted to pass them on:
- Over 400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations.
- School attendance is up 80% from levels before the war, over 1,500
schools have been renovated and rid of the weapons stored there so
education can occur.
- The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be off-loaded
from ships faster.
- The country had its first 2 billion barrel export of oil in August, over
4.5 million people have clean drinking water for the first time ever in
Iraq.
- The country now receives 2 times the electrical power it did before the
war.
- 100% of the hospitals are open and fully staffed, compared to 35% before
the war.
- Elections are taking place in every major city, and city councils are in
place.
- Sewer and water lines are installed in every major city.
- Over 60,000 police are patrolling the streets.
- Over 100,000 Iraqi civil defense police are securing the country.
- Over 80,000 Iraqi soldiers are patrolling the streets side by side with
US soldiers.
- Over 400,000 people have telephones for the first time ever.
- Students are taught field sanitation and hand washing techniques to
prevent the spread of germs.
- An interim constitution has been signed.
- Girls are allowed to attend school.
- Textbooks that don't mention Saddam are in the schools for the first
time in 30 years.
Don't believe for one second that these people do not want us there. I
have met many people from Iraq that want us there, and in a bad way. They
say they will never see the freedoms we talk about but they hope their
children will. We are doing a good job in Iraq and I challenge anyone,
anywhere to dispute me on these facts. So, if you happen to run into John
Kerry, be sure to give him my email address and send him to Denison, Iowa.
This soldier will set him straight. If you are like me and very disgusted
with how this period of rebuilding has been portrayed, email this to a
friend and let them know there are good things happening.
Ray Reynolds, SFC
Iowa Army National Guard"
I would argue that the reasons above are why you are not seeing any
opinion polls out of Iraq. We must finish the work.
3. The region and its history of terrorism and displacement.
For half a century the Middle-East has been a haven for terrorist
organizations preaching hate in hopes of spreading Islamic Fascism. The only
free nation in the region, Israel, has been the primary target. In attacking
Israel, another people were displaced, ordered to either leave and be on the
side of Fascism, or stay and be cast into the sea with the lot. Most left,
and when the smoke cleared, they found themselves without a home. They are
now generations of refugees, without any help from those who ordered them to
leave except cash to families of those who commit suicide on behalf of
Allah. This is what we're fighting. Freedom is what we're fighting for. The
enemy knows that with a free and democratic Iraq, their days of control are
numbered. As Dennis Prager wrote in his open letter to troops serving there:
"Iraq is the battleground for civilization. That is why our enemies are
throwing everything they can at you. If you help create the first free and
tolerant Arab country in the heart of Islam, they are doomed. If we fail in
Iraq, we are doomed. Our enemies know this. We need to know this."
We have no choice but complete victory. There is simply too much on the line
to be left to chance or an inept United Nations. We are the best and last
hope for the region. In the past one-hundred years we have saved
civilization three times against three ideologies: Imperialism, German
Fascism, and Communism. No one else may boast that, and no one else can deny
that we are the most equipped to defeat the first tyranny of this century:
Islamic Fascism. So, let the journalists write what they may. As Tony Blair
stated in his speech to Congress in July of last year:
If we are wrong, we will have destroyed a threat that at its least is
responsible for inhuman carnage and suffering. That is something I am
confident history will forgive.
But if our critics are wrong, if we are right, as I believe with every
fiber of instinct and conviction I have that we are, and we do not act,
then we will have hesitated in the face of this menace when we should have
given leadership. That is something history will not forgive.
Kimani Jefferson resides in Coon Rapids, MN, with his wife, Marcie,
and his daughter, Helena. He is Chairman of the North Metro Chapter of
Minnesota Young Republicans, a member of the Project 21 Advisory Council for
the National Center for Public Policy Research, and an entrepreneur. He runs
a website dedicated to hearing the voices of citizens concerned with the
diminishing moral compass that is leading our country astray,
Willing to Fight.
Contact him via email at
jefferson@willingtofight.com
.
