My Sunday Column

Winning Iraq for Good

I know today is monday and I usually write on Sunday, but yesterday was Easter and I was busy doing the family thing and stuffing my face. I'm still full by the way. Now on to more serious matters. I feel that victory in Iraq is getting closer and closer every day. The United States military has done all it needs to in that country, now its up to the Iraqi's themselves. They must get their government up and running, and they must do it soon. They had 3 very successful elections last year where the people of Iraq braved threats from insurgents to go to the polls in huge numbers to elect people to run their new country. Now, those same people are frustrated that those they elected months ago cannot put their petty bickering aside long enough to form a legitamate legislature with legitamate leaders.

Americans are also growing increasingly impatient, and a defeatist news media is not helping matters. People in this country still do not believe that getting rid of Saddam Hussein was beneficial to the world. They see George W. Bush as more of an enemy than Saddam Hussein, which is part of why the global war on terrorism is to difficult to fight. Those people dont care the outcome of the Iraq war, they feel that America will be the loser regardless, and some even hope for us to fail. But I can assure you we are not losing, nor will we fail in the end. Just because a war doesnt end in weeks and just because brave young men are killed does not mean the war was lost or that it was wrong. It means that regardless of your feelings toward the war, we must see it through to the end in honor of the fallen. We are not fighting an unbeatable enemy in Iraq, we are fighting a group of cowards who hide behind car bombs and IED in hopes of creating dissent in Washington praying it will trickle down into television sets and newspapers only to crack the will of even the most hawkish Americans. We cannot let that happen. We must realize that we have ousted a brutal dictator, freed millions of people, built schools and hospitals, and given Iraqi citizens the chances we all cherish and take for granted every single day.

I honestly believe that if the Iraqi's can create a solid government soon, US troops will begin to withdraw from Iraq within the next year, and will continue to do so until every last one of them is home where they belong. We have given the Iraqi's every piece of the puzzle they need now to do it for themselves, we just need to pray they are able to put it together. If they cant, I cannot tell you what will happen, I dont even want to think about it. But if they can, and I still believe they will, the war in Iraq will prove itself to be a success and the decision to invade the country to be the right one. We are not there yet, but if a stable Iraqi government can be formed soon, the war will be over for good.

-Brad