On August 2, 1990, Iraqi Leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.
A visibly angry President George Herbert Walker Bush said that, “this will not stand.”
On August 20, 2010, the only thing standing in Iraq is freedom. In America, quiet on his ranch, George W. Bush stands as tall in the saddle as ever.
In the 1980s the U.S. supported Saddam because he was less crazy than Iran. Yet by 1990 he was out of control. He referred to Kuwait as the 19th Province, and Saudi Arabia as the 20th Province. He had to be stopped.
As would be the case for many years to come, liberal Democrats stung by Vietnam Syndrome wanted to be against the war in case it failed, while being for it to avoid being seen as unpatriotic. Democrats running for president in 1992 took carefully calibrated positions on both sides.
(Senator Sam Nunn, to his credit, took a clear stand against the war. He was wrong, and his presidential ambitions died.)
With Colin Powell, Norman Schwarzkopf, Dan Quayle, and Dick Cheney providing valuable advice, decisions were made without the media leaks that wreck military operations today.
With a multilateral coalition, Saddam was driven out of Kuwait. The decision was made not to go into Iraq, because the mandate the coalition agreed to was only to get Iraq out of Kuwait.
Democrats decided that Saddam could be “contained.” Europe and the U.N. decided that “sanctions” were the solution, even though sanctions was code for doing nothing, and doing even that ineffectively. The corruption at the U.N. and the Oil For Food scandal showed that Europe put profits above human decency.
(When leftists do this it is somehow ok.)
After 9/11, President George W. Bush declared that America would go after the terrorists themselves, and those who funded are harbored them in any way. Democrats gave him this authority through the Patriot Act, although they again tried to be for and against everything in case sentiments changed, as they inevitably do.
Saddam Hussein was not responsible for 9/11, but he absolutely was a terrorist. He funded worldwide terrorism, including paying the family of every Palesimian suicide bomber $25,000.
After violating 16 UN resolutions that were as meaningless as expected from the U.N., Rule 1441 gave Saddam one final chance to comply. He violated that 17th resolution, and George W. Bush gave him 48 hours to step down peacefully. He refused, and the Iraq War of 2003 was led by Tommy Franks.
Democrats running for president again were for and against the war depending on polls. Militarily, the United States, again led by a multilateral coalition of over 30 nations, crushed Saddam.
(Liberals called the U.S. action unilateral because socialist France was not included. Now that a conservative leads France, the left no longer asks for French opinion.)
Saddam’s sons Uday and Qusay were killed. Saddam was captured cowering in a spiderhole.
Liberals had to pray for something bad to happen in Iraq because George W. Bush kicked Saddam’s @ss, and was about to kick theirs in the 2004 election.
The left latched on to the argument that WMD never existed. Of course WMD existed.
(Conservatives who apologized also get blame for being as gutless as liberals. Never apologize for being right.)
WMD were found in 2005, and most of the WMD are now most likely buried deep underground in Syria. Yet because most of the WMD were not found, liberals decided that George W. Bush, being a bigger threat to them than Saddam, needed to be taken down by any dishonorable means necessary. The man who took down Saddam was called a liar.
It is 100% completely impossible to praise the removal of Saddam Hussein without giving credit to the man who ordered him removed and got it done. Those who admit we are better off with Saddam gone but not praising those who removed him are those that are still for and against everything depending on how the polls look.
The polls showed frustration with the reconstruction and nation building efforts of Iraq, and an insurgency played out on the daily pages of the Jayson Blair Times.
(With a liberal American president, the JBT and their leftist ilk have lost interest in any war casualties. This would also be a great time for Abu Gharaib style behavior to be done on purpose worldwide. Until a Republican gets elected to the White House, the media would ignore the story. Summer Camp fraternity hijinks do not come close to the beheadings our enemies engage in.)
Some claim the world is no different with Saddam gone. I wish they had lived under his reign in Iraq. It is easy to be brave from an overpriced coffee shop in Seattle or a marijuana clinic in San Francisco.
It was not unpatriotic to be against the war on principle. It was treasonous to hope George W. Bush failed once the decision to go to war that many Democrats grudgingly supported was made. The left even threatened to defund the troops.
Saddam Hussein was given a democratic trial in Iraq. Yes, democracy in Iraq came when he was removed. Like any fledgling democracy, Iraq has its bumps and bruises along the way. Yet Saddam was given the death penalty, over the objections of the ACLU.
Western style democracies across the globe from England to Australia to Israel to Italy to Spain supported removing Saddam.
(Again, virtually everybody except France, hence the leftist blathering about unilateralism.)
George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Ariel Sharon, John Howard, Silvio Berlusconi, and Joseph Aznar will forever go into the history books as the leaders who saved the world from a bloodthirsty madman.
On the 20th anniversary of Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait, let us celebrate the fact that over the objections of leftist pacifists and America haters everywhere, liberty and freedom reign supreme in one more nation.
If the appeasers on the left had carried the day, Saddam would most likely still be in power, and well on his way to developing nuclear weapons. The situation in Iran proves that tough talk from the left is code for diplomatic impotence, which is redundant anyway.
To the aforementioned leaders who never wavered, I will go to my grave knowing that removing Saddam Hussein by force was the right thing to do.
20 years ago was terrorism at its worst.
Today, Saddam Hussein is dead and Iraq is a democracy.
Freedom and liberty are gifts from God.
So I thank God for giving us President George W. Bush.
Those who scoff in their typical leftist condescending tones can go to Saddam for a second opinion.
Oh, wait, they can’t. He’s dead because we took him out.
Luv ya Dubya!
eric
Ditto, nice piece
Amen, good recap.
Toma