LIADA Newsletter November 2003

FROM THE DESK OF THE LIADA PRESIDENT

President Bush has consistently told the nation and the world that the United States’ attack on Iraq was conducted for three intertwined reasons: Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the attack was part of this country's war on terrorism and he wanted to bring democracy to the Iraqi people.

However, the facts as we know them today do not support the president's rationale for attacking Iraq.  After months of our military forces being in Iraq and reportedly searching vigorously for such weapons of mass destruction, there is still no evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

The terrorists who took over the airplanes and used them to attack the World Trade Center and other American centers were Islamic fundamentalists.  The regime of Saddam Hussein was secular and not Islamic.  While it is true that Hussein's Baath party regime terrorized its own people, there is no proof that Hussein was ever part of the Islamic fundamentalist terrorist organization.

What remains of the Bush administration's rationale for the war on Iraq is bringing democracy to the Iraqi people.  It has become apparent that many Iraqi citizens do not want to be part of a democratic government set up by this country.  In deed, there is a good possibility that many Iraqis would prefer a form of government other than democracy.

In addition, we have given the people of Iraq very little reason to consider the United States as an example of a successful form of government.  Apparently, we have been unable to turn electricity on in Baghdad; we have been unable to turn the water back on; and we have been unable to stop attacks on our military personnel.

Using history as our guide, democracy takes hold only when the people in a country want democracy.  In a democracy, people are responsible for what their government does.  Not every group of people wants this responsibility.  A weak democracy will only result in its overthrow.

If the media accounts of an increasing presence of terrorists in Iraq are correct, we can only assume that it is because we have provided an easy target for the terrorists.  We have put our soldiers and peacekeepers in harm’s way.

When the Bush administration declared war on Iraq, the war on terrorism in Afghanistan was not complete.  Despite all our tremendous military superiority, our main target, Osama Bin Laden, was and is still free and taking credit for many of the attacks on Americans around the world.  Bin Laden’s credibility is growing, not ours.  Additionally, we have created a rallying point for Islamic fundamentalists that has concentrated the attention of the terrorists on Iraq and on the vulnerability of our troops and international civil peacemakers there.

It is now clear that the hostilities in Iraq are not over and the cost in lives and money is growing daily.  It is time for the President to provide an honest accounting of why we declared war on Iraq, (one that is not laughable) and what the estimated cost will be in lives and dollars.  However, the Administration has managed to make questioning our actions in Iraq unpatriotic.  It is the very opposite.  It is our duty as citizens of a democracy to question what our President is doing, especially when we have declared war.  

It is time for our political leaders to require that the President and his Administration face the American people with truthful answers.  If in fact, the President was simply wrong about weapons of mass destruction, it is time for him to say so.  If the cost of the war was underestimated or not estimated at all, it is time for him to say so. 

It is my belief that the real reason for the war on Iraq was to make the American people forget about the Administration’s failure to caption Bin Laden, destroy his terrorist organization, and solve our growing economic problems.  The Enron and other corporate scandals are no longer front page news, our increasing national debt is not addressed, and the continuing deterioration of the economic well being of our citizens and state and local governments is swept aside as not important in the face of a war. 

It is time that the citizens of this country wrap themselves in the flag and question the President.  That is our patriotic responsibility.