Saddam ousted thanks to strong resolve

By Wes Tibbs

Many said it would never happen, but to the chagrin of so many naysayers, the U.S. armed forces captured Saddam Hussein—not after a bloody shootout like was predicted when we went into Bahgdad, but the Iraqi leader was helped from a dirty hole after being found by a regular infantry unit.

That was in December—not much has been heard of the victory since. Instead, the major news media and politicians have focused on the terrorist attacks in Iraq and have pointed fingers at the missing weapons of mass destruction.

In a crucial election year, the left is doing all they can to divert attention away from anything that validates Bush’s optimistic attitude and drive down America’s approval of the war and the citizens’ support for the president.

U.S. weapons inspector David Kay, who recently resigned from his post, said he does not think there were WMD’s in Iraq when the war started, but said it was “absolutely prudent” to go to war, and “at the end of the inspection process, we’ll paint a picture of Iraq that was far more dangerous than even we thought it was before the war.” Kay also told NBC last week that Saddam tried to develop a weapons development program, but his scientists were unsuccessful.

Though Iraq has so far turned up clean for WMD’s, the campaign has been successful in ridding the world of one of the Middle East’s most destructive weapons—Saddam himself.

After the missed opportunities to oust him during the Persian Gulf War, and after the world witnessed the petty punitive action taken against him in Clinton’s “Wag the Dog” cruise missile war that accomplished nil, it’s about time the United States showed it can still use its muscle and finish something it started with a definite purpose.

In fact, this attitude of determination is encouraging. It’s good to see the United States do something independent of the United Nations without the subjection of our actions to the opinion of other nations. We have seen too much of this over the past century.

Now that we have Saddam, the question remains—What to do with him? There is little denial among civilized nations that he deserves death for his genocidal leadership. There is also little denial that the only reason it is possible to bring him to justice at all is because of America’s forward action and resolve to capture him.

When all is said and done and the terrorists are put down, the Iraqi people elect their own independent government and Saddam is rightfully punished, can anyone look at the state of affairs in Iraq and say we should never have gone in?

Without the renewed resolve that our political and military leaders have come into, America would be no better off than the rest of the world—we would always be in fear of, and at the mercy of every fanatical dictator who threatens world freedom.

— This columnist may be reached at collegian@csufresno.edu