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The
scenes that were coming out of Baghdad Wednesday were nothing less than surreal.
As American forces cautiously approached the center of the city, they expected
to be greeted by fierce resistance by the Iraqi Republican Guard, Al-Qaeda
and other foreign Arab militia, armed civilian loyalists, and remnants of
Iraqi army regulars. What greeted them instead was embedded reporters and
euphoric Iraqi Baghdad residents crowding into the streets to cheer and greet
their Coalition (a.k.a. American, British and Australian) liberators. And
the scenes were nothing short of pure joy and relief for both American soldiers
and Iraqi residents.
After living under a repressive totalitarian Ba-athist Party dictatorship
lead by the ruthless tyrant Saddam Hussein for over 25 years, the people
finally realized that their freedom had really arrived. No longer must they
recite forced chants in support of Saddam for television propaganda in the
fear that demonstrating their true feelings would bring about harsh retribution
from the regime’s authorities. Seeing unforgettable television news footage
of a mob of Iraqis in the city center tearing down the large statue of the
dictator and desecrating it to the cheers of Iraqi onlookers has vindicated,
in front of the entire “world community,” the righteousness of the war. This
same scene played out in Basra and countless liberated Iraqi towns, which
further reinforced justification of this war.
Seeing Iraqi men and women hugging and kissing American soldiers and destroying
portraits of Saddam is reminiscent of scenes from the liberation of Paris
from the Nazis in 1944. This is ironic since Paris was one of the “coalition
of weasel” nations that opposed this war at any cost. France, in fact, tried
everything to stop the American determination to liberate the Iraqi people
from the iron grip of Saddam and his henchmen. After all, the Chirac government
had much higher concerns for their illegal U.N. resolution-busting business
deals with Saddam than the freedom and dignity of the Iraqi people. So much
in fact, that unconfirmed reports earlier this week brought to light France’s
total support for the regime. The reports, coming out of Baghdad prior to
its liberation, stated that France was busy supplying the Iraqi military
with night vision equipment and weapons, along with military advice to coach
the regime on fighting Coalition troops. France allegedly suggested ways
the regime might create a humanitarian disaster to force an end to the war
before Saddam could be toppled. This shows the French in their truest form.
It demonstrates just how highly France regards the well being of the Iraqi
people, not to mention international security. It is interesting to note
that the French made much more pressing demands on their liberators in 1944.
I am sure the French would not have approved of Britain or America collaborating
with Hitler for lucrative business contracts while Frenchmen and Frenchwomen
were being oppressed and exploited. France truly has a short memory and a
total lack of self-respect.
Even more surreal is the United Nations, led by the esteemed Kofi Annan and
keystone kops France, Germany and Russia. Their insistence that the “esteemed
world body” must play the central role in postwar Iraq with minimal American
and British involvement is entirely laughable. On Wednesday afternoon, the
Security Council was already meeting to hammer out their vision of the administration
of Iraq to make the war “legitimate” in their eyes. Of course this is entirely
in the interest of international law and stability and not for fear of their
own illegitimacy.
This “legitimacy” issue that Kofi and company have been throwing around prior
to and throughout most of the war has been laid to rest quite boldly by the
Iraqi reaction in the liberated streets of Baghdad. For this increasingly
useless debating society to even make statements of legitimacy about the
war is completely hypocritical in light of the evidence coming out of the
torture chambers and prisons where Saddam had a field day with political
prisoners. It is important to remember the United Nations, under Kofi, did
not even bother to enforce its own resolutions going back to Gulf War 1.
It was also the United Nations that, in the end, did not do anything to support
the liberation of the Iraqi people. Had the United Nations, led by its French
wing, had their way, innocent Iraqis would still be suffering summary executions,
brutal tortures, and continued oppression. Kuwait would still be under threat
of invasion and remain on Iraq’s map as its “eighteenth province.” Of course,
France and Russia would still have their lucrative oil deals.
The United Nations did nothing make the situation better for the Iraqi people
or the geo-political security of the region. They contributed nothing to
the fight and suffered no casualties or losses. Instead, armchair diplomats,
safe within the deep bowels of U.N. chambers, continued to bash the United
States and were suspicious of U.S. war ambitions. Comparisons of old European
empire building were compared to American desires to control Iraq for its
oil. Worried French officials, knowing that American and British forces will
eventually find out just how far Chirac had his arm in Saddam’s treasury,
kept insisting the only way the war could be considered legitimate is if
the U.N. leads the reconstruction.
Even little Belgium got in on the act. With its ridiculous law giving it
jurisdiction over anyone, anywhere, on the issue of war crimes, Brussels
yipped a few threats indicating that there will be an investigation of American
officials and soldier’s “war crimes.” All of this while American and
British soldiers are spilling blood in Iraq while going out of the way to
avoid Iraqi civilian casualties in the heat of combat and the fog of war.
Belgium and the U.N. have not called for “legitimacy” or “war crimes” charges
being brought against the Iraqi regime using their own civilians as human
shields to hide behind. Again, The United Nations and Brussels miss an opportunity
to demonstrate principled leadership, instead trumping up charges against
the liberator forces. They are showing what a wasted bureaucratic waste they
actually have become.
There has yet to be confirmation if Saddam and his thug sons, Uday and Quasi
are actually dead. But there is absolutely no doubt that his regime and days
of terror are dead. There is still fighting in the days ahead but the worst
might be over. And there is no doubt that the Iraqi people are just starting
to wake up from a long, dark nightmare.
Despite the best efforts of the peace-at-any-cost crowd at the United Nations
and anti-American liberals everywhere to keep Saddam in business, the Americans
and British are well on their way to bringing freedom and relief to the Iraqi
people.
Grateful Iraqis and the world will always remember April 09, 2003, as Victory
in Baghdad Day. It will forever be the day that Iraq was truly liberated
by the principled leadership and focus of the leaders of America and Great
Britain. It will become a textbook study of military professionalism and
smart tactics on the part of the American and British forces.
Finally, it will be the remembered as the day that anti-American, anti-war
liberal celebrities, the leftists, the defeatist United Nations, and countless
pundits, armchair generals, and France all became obsolete and totally insignificant
players.
Baghdad is liberated! Its time to dance in the streets!
Email Robert Ditmar
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