No Regrets

"Christ at the Sea of Galilee" by Tintoretto c. 1575/80, National Gallery of Art, Washington

BUMPED UP AND UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY WITH MORE MEMORIAL DAY BLOGGING LINKS, MEANWHILE PLEASE SEND URGENT CONDOLENCES TO THE ANCHORESS WHO HAS SUFFERED A GREAT LOSS WITH THE DEATH OF HER LIFE LONG FRIEND AND BROTHER IN LAW

Victor Davis Hanson has another must read perfectly poised for this Memorial Day weekend, looking back at our accomplishments in Iraq:

"There may be a lot to regret about the past policy of the United States in the Middle East, but the removal of Saddam Hussein and the effort to birth democracy in his place is surely not one of them. And we should remember that this Memorial Day.

Whatever our righteous anger at Khomeinist Iran, it was wrong, well aside from the arms-for-hostages scandal, to provide even a modicum of aid to Saddam Hussein, the great butcher of his own, during the Iran-Iraq war.

Inviting the fascist Baathist government of Syria into the allied coalition of the first Gulf War meant that we more or less legitimized the Assad regime’s take-over of Lebanon, with disastrous results for its people.

It may have been strategically in error not to have taken out Saddam in 1991, but it was morally wrong to have then encouraged Shiites and Kurds to rise up — while watching idly as Saddam’s reprieved planes and helicopters slaughtered them in the thousands.

A decade of appeasement of Islamic terrorism, with retaliations after the serial attacks — from the first World Trade Center bombing to Khobar Towers and the USS Cole — never exceeding the occasional cruise missile or stern televised lecture, made September 11 inevitable.

A decade was wasted in subsidizing Yasser Arafat on the pretense that he was something other than a mendacious thug.

I cite these few examples of the now nostalgic past, because it is common to see Iraq written off by the architects of these past failures as the “worst” policy decision in our history, a “quagmire” and a “disaster.” Realists, more worried about Iran and the ongoing cost in our blood and treasure in Iraq, insist that toppling Saddam was a terrible waste of resources. Leftists see the Iraq war as part of an amoral imperialism; often their talking points weirdly end up rehashed in bin Laden’s communiqués and Dr. Zawahiri’s rants.

But what did 2,400 brave and now deceased Americans really sacrifice for in Iraq, along with thousands more who were wounded? And what were billions in treasure spent on? And what about the hundreds of collective years of service offered by our soldiers? What exactly did intrepid officers in the news like a Gen. Petreus, or Col. McMaster, or Lt. Col Kurilla fight for?

First, there is no longer a mass murderer atop one of the oil-richest states in the world. Imagine what Iraq would now look like with $70 a barrel oil, a $50 billion unchecked and ongoing Oil-for-Food U.N. scandal, the 15th year of no-fly zones, a punitative U.N. embargo on the Iraqi people — all perverted by Russian arms sales, European oil concessions, and frenzied Chinese efforts to get energy contracts from Saddam.

The Kurds would remain in perpetual danger. The Shiites would simply be harvested yearly, in quiet, by Saddam’s police state. The Marsh Arabs would by now have been forgotten in their toxic dust-blown desert. Perhaps Saddam would have upped his cash pay-outs for homicide bombers on the West Bank.

Mohammar Khaddafi would be starting up his centrifuges and adding to his chemical weapons depots. Syria would still be in Lebanon. Washington would probably have ceased pressuring Egypt and the Gulf States to enact reform. Dr. Khan’s nuclear mail-order house would be in high gear. We would still be hearing of a “militant wing” of Hamas, rather than watching a democratically elected terrorist clique reveal its true creed to the world.

But just as importantly, what did these rare Americans not fight for? Oil, for one thing. The price skyrocketed after they went in. The secret deals with Russia and France ended. The U.N. petroleum perfidy stopped. The Iraqis, and the Iraqis alone — not Saddam, the French, the Russians, or the U.N. — now adjudicate how much of their natural resources they will sell, and to whom.

Our soldiers fought for the chance of a democracy; that fact is uncontestable. Before they came to Iraq, there was a fascist dictatorship. Now, after three elections, there is an indigenous democratic government for the first time in the history of the Middle East. True, thousands of Iraqis have died publicly in the resulting sectarian mess; but thousands were dying silently each year under Saddam — with no hope that their sacrifice would ever result in the first steps that we have already long passed.

Our soldiers also removed a great threat to the United States. Again, the crisis brewing over Iran reminds us of what Iraq would have reemerged as. Like Iran, Saddam reaped petroprofits, sponsored terror, and sought weapons of mass destruction. But unlike Iran, he had already attacked four of his neighbors, gassed thousands of his own, and violated every agreement he had ever signed. There would have been no nascent new democracy in Iran that might some day have undermined Saddam, and, again unlike Iran, no internal dissident movement that might have come to power through a revolution or peaceful evolution.[...]

We should remember the achievement this Memorial Day of those in the field who alone crushed the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, stayed on to offer a new alternative other than autocracy and theocracy, and kept a targeted United States safe from attack for over four years.”

Read the whole article it's brilliant.

I wrote this recently in an essay regarding this very issue: "Which begs the question, how would those opposed to the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, those opposed to the use of military force to depose dictators no matter how much blood they have on their hands and those who subscribe to the notion of an 'imperialistic' America respond to such history lessons. What would their reaction be, after they'd learned about the immense heroism? Would it make any difference?

I fear not. I rather suspect, it would be dismissed outright and all involved derided as 'fools' and 'idiots' at best and 'war criminals' at worst.[...]

In many ways, the term 'Clash of Civilizations' contains the seeds of a most comprehensive truth. I am afraid though that we will have to come to terms with the fact, that the lines will prove to be much more blurred and drawn criss-cross throughout our society. Just when we reluctantly acknowledge the reality of a long-drawn-out conflict centering around religious beliefs; just when we thought that the factions could be limited to those of Judea-Christian beliefs versus Islamic ones, must we realize, that the scope is far wider: Faith versus Skepticism with all its variations such as cynicism, pessimism, disbelief, agnosticism, atheism, and anti-Semitism. In short, the rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless, otherwise called Nihilism."

Do these very skeptics take time to remember, or are they still busy playing Cowboys and Indians?

Michelle Malkin has the President's radio address, as well as a link to Austin Bay's live blog of the President's West Point speech, which he should have held three years ago:

"America will fight the terrorists on every battlefront. And we will not rest until this threat to our country has been removed," the commander in chief said in his commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy.

"Against such an enemy there is only one effective response: We will never back down, we will never give in, and we will never accept anything less than complete victory," Bush said.

The talented Dutch blogger Michael van der Galien has more on Hanson's essay: "Whenever American Liberals try to attack American conservatives for their support for this war, we should never forget that if it was up to these American Liberals Saddam would still have been in power, abusing the fool-for-oil program, murdering thousands of civilians every year and torturing (ten) thousands of political opponents."

Pat Santy agrees: "Especially this weekend, though, we should be remembering the achievement our military has had in crushing the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. That we have stayed on to offer a new alternative other than autocracy and theocracy in Afghanistan and Iraq, and kept a targeted United States safe from attack for over four years is an incredible accomplishment."

Blue Crab Boulevard reflects: "By reminding us of our past policy failures, Hanson helps put what we have accomplished into context. Most of what we have done actually rectifies years of bad moves we have made in the Middle East. There is no government on the face of this earth who has done more to save the lives of Muslims than the United States."

"Happy Memorial Day" from Iran Video from Allah @ Hot Air.

John @ Powerline has a Memorial Day Podcast.

My friend Gerard van der Leun's Memorial Day essay deserves a special mention as beautiful and deeply moving.

And my dear friend Anti-Media points to Steve Schippert's post "The American Political War On Terror": "These are not arguments of the manner in which to defend America. These are sycophantic rantings of whether to defend her. The flood of emotions in disbelieving reaction range from anger and rage to depression and grief." adding  "How could we arrive at the point that America mattered so little to so many that the need to defend ourselves is questioned? How could we become so spoiled that freedom is no longer worthy of our sacrifices?"

Russ Vaugn's poem @ American Thinker "Just One Old Ernie Pyle"

SOME GREAT MEMORIAL DAY BLOGGING @ AIR an essay from Misha, L.A. Shawn Barber, The Donovan, The Sandbox has soldiers' stories, Black Five has "What Memorial Day Really Means", and "Video Tributes", GM Roper is photoblogging, Pettifog has photos and video, Anna @ The Rose has a poem ,Chez Diva has a moving Daily Memorial which is also the first post of each new day @ her site in memory of 9/11, Sneakeasy and The Thunder Run, have a good round-up, Cassandra is remembering The Bismark.

Comments

[Saul Davis]

Alexandra: Another wonderful piece; I always enjoy reading VDH; I do not believe it will change anything; he, and you, are preaching to the choir.

[Gayle]

Absolutely beautiful picture and a great post.

"There is no government on the face of this earth who has done more to save the lives of Muslims than the United States." So true! Why is it we can't get the liberals to understand that?