Three years ago today the famous statue of Saddam Hussein fell. I lived in Everett, WA at the time, which apparently has the largest Iraqi population in this state. When it happened, I remember people rushed into the streets, spontaneously cheering and celebrating, waving American and Iraqi flags. I felt very proud to be even peripherally involved, and to have supported it. I remember that, at the time, the media was already throwing the "Q" word around because a sand storm delayed operations for a few days. As I write this, I still feel that pride I felt that day.
When I was a kid learning about past wars, especially Vietnam, I was lied to about how people felt about it at the time, and what the facts about that conflict actually were. I hope by the time you're in school, we will have not lost our nerve in this important fight for freedom, as your grandparents' generation did in Southeast Asia. When they did that, they caused the deaths of millions of people, while patting themselves on the back for their dedication to peace.
They didn't learn that evil ignored is evil unleashed. If we give up now, then you will simply have to pick up the pieces in the Middle East.
Now, three years after that statue fell, the Iraqi people voted in ever increasing numbers, under threat of death. (Too many of us wouldn't vote if it meant we'd have to fight too much traffic, or if we couldn't have the ballots mailed to our front door. I bet by the time you read this we'll all vote on line!) Political opponents are no longer tossed into wood chippers. The people have regained their sovereignty, and are forming a government. We learned the Saddam indeed was a threat to us, if not as soon as we thought, then surely in the future. Hundreds of free Iraqi newspaper presses are running all over the country. There is a long, hard road ahead, but there is hope for a better future in Iraq.
And what's more, the soldiers now fighting in Iraq are reenlisting and reporting success. And when given the chance to vote for President Bush they rejected the defeatists and voted for him overwhelmingly.
Since high school, I've always been fascinated with the mechanisms and structure of government. It's been fascinating and inspiring to see a people create the foundations of a new and free government in real time, and to see how they solve problems and overcome deadly obstacles. Too often, when an unjust government is overthrown, what takes its place is no better, or indeed worse - as the Cubans know all too well. (Perhaps Cubans will be free by the time you read this, too.) But the Iraqis have rejected that fate with their continued willingness to vote, and through their continued willingness to put their lives on the line by running for office, publishing newspapers, and enlisting in the national police force. They've embraced due process Saddam denied them, and are conducting a remarkable trial despite the best efforts of the defense "attorneys" for whom winning is more important than maintaining the integrity of a fair trial system.
The critics now predict civil war and failure. But those predictions have far more to do with their hatred of President Bush and their unflinching willingness to ignore any evidence which doesn't conform with a view they cemented 4 years ago than their deductive reasoning skills. They are the same people that solemnly predicted we would fare worse than the Soviets in Afghanistan, that it would take years to take Baghdad, that refugees would cripple the region, that sandstorm = quagmire, that the Iraqis could not successfully vote, that they could not agree on a constitution, and that the Kurds would instantly break away. Every prediction they make has been wrong. Why anyone still listens to them, I'll never know. I hope we've stopped listening to them by the time you read this, but I won't hold my breath.
This effort can still fail. We have prominent American politicians give seditious and false speeches in enemy territory - giving the enemy hope. We have an enemy determined to scare us away so they can once again oppress their enemies and slaughter political enemies without thinking twice. It's no wonder they ensure their bombs go off in front of TV cameras. I am terrified that we will give in, put our heads in an isolationist sand, and make the world less safe for you.
If the story you know about Iraq is one of failure, know that it only happened because we let them fail by abandoning the effort. It was completely up to us. The leftist defeatists who care more about saying "I told you so" than making the world a safer place want us to leave now, leaving millions of Iraqis to their doom. (Don't think they merely "care about the troops and want to bring them home safe" - it isn't any more true now than when they spit on the troops coming home from Vietnam. They sneer at the military reflexively and surround themselves with people who love to denigrate America.)
I'm proud to stand with the Iraqis, and proud to support a mission that if successful, will make the world safer for you. I promise that I will do my part by continuing to vote for American politicians who understand that peace in not just the absence of war, but the presence of freedom and justice - things which require brave men and women to fight for. I won't let you forget the people who voted in the face of those who would kill them for their purple fingers, and because they reject returning to the bad old days of tyranny.
Son, this is the face of freedom and courage:
Remember it all your life, and let it inspire you to do the right thing, even when it is hard and dangerous. Let it remind you that evil flourishes when good men stand by and do nothing. Let it remind you to not take your right and duty to vote for granted. Let it remind you that war is terrible but far better than slavery or oppression. And let it remind you of the thousands of men and women who have fought and died (and even who are suffering boring, dangerous, and family-punishing deployments) to incubate freedom around the world.Love, Dad
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