Payne and Pleasure 7.25.04
By William Payne


Everywhere you look nowadays, from Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry (who, while he cannot wait to remind you that he “SERVED IN VIETNAM!!!”, rarely reminds crowds that he did indeed vote for the Joint Resolution authorizing the use of force against Saddam Hussein’s forces) to commie pinko antiwar protestors, it seems that liberals have worked themselves into a fever about how “Bush LIED” and other such silly accusations condemning the President’s decision to free the world from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein. Suddenly, supporting the invasion of Iraq is not the posh thing for Manhattan liberals to do anymore. Now, high society liberal elitists, united from Malibu to the Upper West Side to Georgetown, spend time during their fashionable cocktail parties ranting about how Dubya tricked them and the rest of the country into war. Well, before you start believing Uncle Ted’s drunken tirades about how the War was “made up in Texas,” it’s probably best that we once again review the rationale for going to war…

Now, unfortunately, the Bush Administration is shying away lately from its case against Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. Indeed, this pre-war charge by the Bush Administration has been liberals’ favorite attack on the justification of the War. Now, why they rant about the cliché “WMD” claims made by the Bush Administration prior to Iraq’s liberation is obvious- we haven’t found any huge stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons, right? Well, hmmm, have we? Since the Liberation of Iraq on April 1, 2003, here’s a small smale of what we’ve found:

• Mobile weapons laboratories (hauled around on trucks)- void of biological and chemical weapons, but usable for nothing else besides manufacturing chemical and biological weapons
• Samples of anthrax botchulism, and lots of other fun biological weapons
• Hundreds of centerfuges used only to collect weapons-grade fissile material
• Dozens of warheads used for dispensing chemical weapons
• In-depth designs for nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons found in numerous locations

Then, of course, there was the testimony of the Iraqi scientists supporting our pre-war stance that Saddam Hussein was vigorously pursuing deadly chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. These are the people who were building these weapons as recently as two years ago - remember them? When President Bush took the initiative to open Iraq back up to weapons inspections back in 2002, four years after Saddam kicked out the weapons inspectors as President Clinton sat idly, these were the guys with whom Saddam would not let the inspectors talk. Then Saddam wouldn’t let the inspectors into certain government facilities- gee, I wonder why?

Let’s examine that notion- we know that Saddam had illegal weapons programs in the 1990s, inspectors kept sneaking around and finding them, much to the dismay of Mr. Hussein. So, if he had them back then, and we aren’t finding any stockpiles of them now, where are they? There are two options: either Saddam, out of the goodness of his caring heart, gave up those illegal weapons programs or he sent them out of Iraq. Hmmm… which could it be? Personally, I do not think a guy like Saddam has the goodness in his heart to give up weapons of mass destruction. Then, of course, there is the Syria factor. Multiple intelligence sources, from Israel’s famously accurate Mossad to MI6 to the CIA, point towards shipments of weapons from Iraq to Syria right before Operation Iraqi Freedom. This makes perfect sense. In Saddam’s own words, “Bush isn’t like Clinton”- President Bush was going to get rid of Saddam. If you were Saddam, what would you do? Send your weapons to Syria! Sources say that even chief weapons inspector Dr. David Kay had satellite photos, maps, and exact coordinates of the suspected shipments, now buried in Syrian-controlled Lebanon (Among other sources, here’s this one: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1106246/posts ) And yet, nothing is being done. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has lent credence to the possibility of Iraqi weapons in Syria by acknowledging that the US has evidence also suggesting that this transfer took place. The Bush Administration is paralyzed- any move against Syria would be political and diplomatic suicide, and the press has no vested interesting in helping the Bush Administration validate its case for war by searching out these weapons. In my opinion, this calls for MORE military action (against Syria), not LESS, in hindsight.

And, of course, there’s the most incriminating of the evidence is Saddam’s record. Saddam has started four wars, not counting the numerous airstrikes from Coalition airplanes from 1991-2003, since 1981. He is the only member of the Axis of Evil to have actually USED his weapons of mass destruction, not only on Iranians during the Iraq-Iran War, but also against his fellow Iraqis. Next time a liberal asks you “So, where ARE those WMDs???” in an extremely condescending voice, remind them to ask the Kurds- they’re the ones with personal experience with Saddam’s Weapons of Mass Destruction!

Then, of course, there’s the ties to terrorism. Saddam was fond of funding Hamas, your friendly Arab terrorist group who likes to blow up innocent Israeli grandmothers, eating pizza with their grandchildren at corner cafes. Saddam’s most famous assistance to Hamas was offering stipends for the family of anyone who would become a “martyr” for the cause by blowing themselves up along with Israeli civilians. Then, of course, we found several medium-ranking al Qaeda operatives in Iraq and arrested them. Finally, Czech Intelligence (the people who were actually there) and MI6 concur that Mohammed Atta, ringleader of the 9/11 terrorist cell, met with several agents from Iraqi Intelligence. The CIA did not endorse the Anglo-Czech intelligence, so liberal critics jumped in on the CIA’s side, even as they call the CIA’s pre-War WMD claims “ridiculous.” Thus, because Saddam funded Hamas, harbored al Qaeda operatives, and gave intelligence briefings to the 9/11 terrorists, liberals assert that there is “no evidence” of a Saddam-Terrorism axis. Brilliant!

EVEN IF there wasn’t proof of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction and connections to terrorism, there is of course no reason to feel bad for liberating Iraq. The provisional government, which recently regained Iraq’s sovereignty, has begun the long process of bringing Saddam Hussein to justice- giving him the opportunity of a trial which millions of his victims never had. Saddam will pay for the crimes he perpetrated, thanks to the moral courage of President Bush to send our young men into harm’s way to free Iraq and the world from Saddam’s evil rule. Or, we could have things the way liberals wanted (and still want?) and have Saddam Hussein in power, continuing to destabilize the region and threaten our allies: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Turkey, and, most importantly, Israel. I might be alone in this, I certainly don’t have Michael Moore’s agreement on this issue, but I’m glad the Middle East is free of the genocidal, maniacal, dictatorial madman Saddam Hussein.

Thus, if we take a step back and look at the facts, we can see that we have found evidence of weapons of mass destruction and, even more disturbing, evidence of their shipment out of Iraq. We’ve ended Saddam’s open support of terrorism, and the Iraqi people now have an opportunity to bring Saddam to justice. Now, liberals horribly resent this, that we’ve succeeded in many of our goals in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Real Americans, though, know that our troops have done a wonderful job executing the noble and just mission ordered of them by our courageous President, who acted selflessly for the benefit of all peoples of the Middle East (save the Hussein family). Hence, I believe our President made the right decision when he ordered our military to liberate Iraq from the grip of Saddam Hussein’s evil rule.

Send Feedback to William Payne | Send a Letter to the Editor