Why I (Still) Believe In Our Mission in Iraq
I’m used to being in the minority when it comes to issues in life. I’ve always been a non-conformist, a free thinker, and loner in life. It is who I am, and it has taken me years to become comfortable with the fact that I will never blend in.
Supporting the reconstruction of Iraq is one of those positions that puts me in the minority. I really believe in what we have done – and are doing in Iraq. I truly believe that in five, ten years down the road the majority opinion will be that we did a good thing in Iraq. Success, after all, has many fathers – failure none – and the current nay-saying we regularly hear in the MSM will be long forgotten.
But I’m human. It’s nice occasionally to hear that I am not alone, that others are like me. No, they are better than me because they are seeing events first hand instead of from behind a computer or TV screen 8,000 miles away.
Ralph Peters from the NY Post writes:
AS I head home after far too short a stay with our wonderful soldiers, I can only offer Post readers my honest assessment:Serious problems remain. No question about it. We’ll hear more bad news (some of it may even be true). But from my heart I believe that the odds are improving that, decades from now, we’ll look back and see that our sacrifices were worth it. I found Baghdad a city of hope, its citizens determined not to be ruled by terrorists, fanatics, militias or thieves.
We are doing the right thing.
Nor do I say this lightly. I just learned that the son of an old friend was seriously wounded in Iraq and evacuated to a military hospital in Germany (the latest news I have is that the young man will make a complete recovery – let’s pray that it’s so).
This is a gigantic struggle for indescribably high stakes. We’re trying to help a failing civilization rescue itself, to lift a vast region out of the grip of terror and fanaticism, and to make this troubled world safer for our own citizens. Don’t let anyone tell you we’re failing in Iraq.
The future remains undecided, but the last few weeks may have been a decisive turning point – against our enemies. Iraqis, military and civilian, stood up for their own country, for reason, for peace.
What more could we ask?
Indeed.
ligneus:
I know what you mean, it can be a bit almost isolating at times, specially giving where I live, Toronto, which didn’t elect a single conservative in the last election after all the corruption scandals in the liberal gov. And I think the stance you take against the anti-war/American types boils down to taking the long and the world wide view of events.
9 March 2006, 7:17 amDid you see the article on Michael Burkett?