Freedom
Passover signifies the holiday of freedom of the Jewish people from slavery. This year it means freedom of the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein, the bloody tyrant known as "The Butcher of Bagdad".
All Americans should feel great pride in being the motivating force behind this remarkable feat. The plan of General Tommy Franks proved to be brilliant. Our armed forces executed it flawlessly. The credit for Operation Iraqi Freedom belongs to President George W. Bush.
On September 11, 2001 he defined his presidency by the events of that day. He understood the meaning of terrorism and began developing the methods to combat it. Thank goodness he has not been deterred by this mission to fight against evil. He is proving to be an excellent leader in this war on terrorism especially when others lose their resolve.
The U. N. Security Council, led by France, Germany and Russia clearly had their own economic interests in mind when they stopped the United States from passing a final resolution to show a united front against Iraq's failure to live up to their promises to abide by prior resolutions.The leaders of these countries have been depicted as weasels and indeed they are. Neither they nor the U. N. should be allowed any meaningful role in determining the future of Iraq.
There was also considerable pressure put on the Bush administration by the leaders of the Democratic party. During a time of war, when morale and presenting a united front are essential, the actions on their part were shamelessly political and disgusting to witness. There is a huge difference between differences of opinion and politics of personal destruction. Hopefully American voters will keep that in mind during future elections. Former Presidents Clinton and Carter, by their words and actions were an embarrassment but that should be no surprise since that is exactly what their terms in office proved to be. In Clinton's case, since he never had the foresight or courage to respond to terrorists, eliminate Osama bin Laden, prevent Korea from becoming a nuclear threat or backing up America's credibility with actions, he should simply shut up and go away.
The protestors "against the war" are proving to be, for the most part, protestors against Bush and against America. You will not hear them applaud the reality that now the people of Iraq are free.
We were also able to get an up close view of the media throughout the war. There were stark differences in how they interpreted what was happening. Aljezeera TV and the Arab press were hostile towards the "Coalition of the Willing" and focused on civilian casualties. The mainstream media, for the most part, seemed focused on everything that could go wrong or in their opinion was ill planned, raising doubts in the mind of their viewers and readers. This was most poignantly demonstrated when Peter Arnet of CNN allowed himself to be interviewed and suggested Bush was wrong and America was losing. Talk radio and Fox News were more willing to give credit to the rapid advance of coalition forces and pinpoint accuracy of air attacks which indicated early success of the operation. In fact when Bagdad fell they seemed to be the only cheerleaders of the events while the others appeared to be in a state of shock and unable to credit Bush and his team for a job well done.
It was not surprising, but interesting none the less, to watch the reaction of the Arab world. The hatred of the Palestinians, Syrians and other Arabs towards America appeared to be on a grand scale. Either they did not understand, nor care, that fellow Muslims had an opportunity to rid themselves of a heartless dictator and in the process achieve freedom and a new lease on life. Their brainwashed state seemed to lead them to view the action of America and its coalition partners as anti Arab and by extention pro Israel.They seemed genuinely shocked to see American tanks in Bagdad after being lied to by their own media and Iraqi spokesmen that the war was being won by Iraq. What shocked them even more was watching the exuberance on the faces of the Iraqi people, fellow Muslims all, at the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
In the end it was the reaction of the Iraqi people, who could finally show their true feelings without fearing for their lives, that made Operation Iraqi Freedom so worthwhile. As the world was watching the Iraqi's bring down the huge statue of Hussein it was a moment in time never to be forgotten. It was truly a mirror image of the fall of the Berlin Wall, signifying human freedom. It was also an affirmation that what America did was right.
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