A look back

I stumbled across this column written just days after the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The author makes several points, which cross many ideologies, and it gives a very honest and fair analysis of the situation, both then and now.

• War is a terrible thing, but not the worst thing. Yes, civilians will die in the war, but the war will end. Civilians are guaranteed to continue dying if the Ba’th regime remains in power.
• Many of you are wary of the Bush administration’s motives because of its utter failure to make the case for war. Indeed, the legitimacy of war is impugned when nations fight over objects and not humans. When the administration decided to go to the UN and use weapons of mass destruction as a pretext for war, the debate lost sight of the human consequences of war.
• The real reason for this war is that Sept. 11 revealed an utter failure in U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East. U.S. policies were, in fact, the root cause of Sept. 11.

All this from one column? I wish more people were able take off their political blinders and see the world and specifically the middle east for what it is.

I've long rejected the argument about "we installed Saddam to power", the Rumsfeld/Saddam photos, etc... The logical person will realize that we did in fact bring this man to power, and he abused his position, therefore it is absolutely incumbent upon us to reign him in. Since he has been given 17 second chances since 1991, the time for his removal from power has come and gone.

Good riddance.