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<td width="343" valign="bottom"><p class="date"><a href="default.html">4/16/04 • Vol.
128, No. 32</a></p></td>
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<td align="left" valign="top"><p><a href="iraqwar.jsp">Despite insurgencies,
Iraqi war still justified</a></p>
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<h1><font size="5">Despite insurgencies, Iraqi war still justified</font></h1>
<p class="byline"> </p>
<p class="byline">I'm Wes Tibbs</p>
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<p align="justify"><strong><em>-Art courtesy of KRT Campus</em></strong></p>
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</table> <p class="byline">By Wes Tibbs</p>
<p class="storyText">With the fall of Baghdad, the official end of the
war in Iraq and the capture of Saddam Hussein came the rebuilding of
Iraq’s infrastructure and the long-awaited foreign aid that was
prevented by U.N. sanctions that withheld aid to Iraq while Saddam was
in power.</p>
<p class="storyText"> Though Saddam has been captured and the Iraqi armies
pacified, the frequency and fierceness of terrorist attacks and insurgent
fighting has increased
these past few weeks. </p> <p class="storyText"> If one were to watch the television lately, one might
get the panicked impression that the American lines are being turned
back, or that the
whole Iraqi population is taking up arms against our forces.</p>
<p class="storyText"> The insurgent enemy we are fighting consists of religious
militiamen, last-ditch Saddam loyalists and al-Qaeda terrorists. These
are not your
average Iraqi citizens, if they were, we’d have seen the same degree
of fighting when we went into Baghdad as we now see in Fallujah.</p>
<p class="storyText"> At a glance it would seem the sentiments of the Iraqi
people have turned in the opposite direction as it was when they were
liberated. A closer
look might give the impression that maybe the Iraqi people didn’t
care if they were liberated or not. Many took the opportunity of the
collapse of the previous government to loot—Basra, Baghdad, museums,
palaces and banks were plundered by ordinary citizens lacking the required
self-restraint. American supply convoys have been attacked and looted
by civilians. And these are the people we’ve fought to liberate?</p>
<p class="storyText"> To defend our military action and the price our nation
has paid for the sake of freeing the seemingly ungrateful Iraqis, we
need to look at the
positives that have come out of the war:</p>
<p class="storyText"> •
The world became safer from at least one evil dictator who made failed
attempts to build up a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.</p> <p class="storyText"> •
American resolve took a big step forward after eight years of Clinton’s
steps backward.</p>
<p class="storyText"> •
Iraqi citizens have been given an opportunity to revamp their government
and create one that doesn’t encourage U.N. sanctions.</p>
<p class="storyText"> •
America has allocated $21 billion to the rebuilding of Iraq, this includes
the humanitarian aid to the people. </p>
<p class="storyText"> •
The Iraqi people will be the benefactors of the sale of the oil reserves
in their nation—rather than that money going to pad Saddam’s
palace while the country bordered on poverty.</p> <p class="storyText"> •
A free nation in that part of the world will bring stability, safety
to neighboring countries and one less contributor to terrorism.</p>
<p class="storyText"> •
America has had the chance to use its own blessing of freedomto give
that same opportunity to others.</p>
<p class="storyText"> The war will come to an end. The insurgents will
be defeated. A free Iraqi nation will be established and the people will
be lead toward freedom.
It will take a long time—our national leaders never pretended it
wouldn’t. Regrouping and reforming our strategy now is not the
answer, it will only give the enemy a chance to dig in deeper while we
hash out what to do next.</p>
<p class="storyText"> America should not let those who would hate to see
a peaceful end come to this war panic them into seeking a quick end to
the war. </p>
<p class="storyText"> Just because the road to a better Iraq and safer
world is not easy and comes with a high price, does not mean it is not
the nobler road to take.</p>
<p class="storyText"> —
This columnist may be reached at collegian@csufresno.edu</p>
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