By John Keating Santa Monica
I’m writing to respond to several peoples’ recent comments about the death of (Abu Musab) al-Zarqawi published in the Q-line column (SMDP, June 17-18, page 4).
The reader who called Bush a “terrorist” has clearly allowed his emotion to cloud his ability to reason. Such people often try to compare Bush to Hitler, as though the intentional genocide of an entire race with millions of torturous deaths is on equal footing with the coalition removal of a fascist dictator who murdered thousands in his own country, and his replacement with a system of self-governance; an action, I should add, that had bi-partisan support.
The administration never said Saddam was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks — but revisionists still use this bogus assertion to justify their hatred for the president and their condemnation of our motives in the region. One of your more reason-challenged readers actually believes Bush instigated this war simply to satisfy his ego, entirely ignoring historical precedent for the removal of Saddam; Clinton’s bombing of Baghdad in 1998; the CIA’s strong belief that Saddam continued to produce chemical and biological weapons; the many other reasons given before the war for the removal of Saddam; and the establishment of Democracy in Iraq, all supported by Congress in the Iraq War resolution.
Another reader’s statement that bin Laden is “still parading around the mountainsides” is rather silly, given the low to almost non-existent profile that bin Laden must keep to avoid capture. To rail against al-Qaida while advocating withdrawal from Iraq is to refuse to acknowledge the linkage between the two. Withdrawing now would be surrendering the major battlefield to that terrorist organization.
As al-Qaida itself has clearly stated: Iraq is the front-line in its struggle to dismember non-Islamist civilization, and whatever your feelings about our conduct of the war itself, giving up would be the worst possible response. My perception of our involvement in Iraq is that we can win battles, and thus we can win the war.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 23, 2006. Read the original PDF.