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2003 News Columns |
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An Unavoidable War With the battle to free Iraq underway, it is time to stand together in support of our troops. Our wives, sons, fathers and daughters are risking their lives to free the people of Iraq from a brutal dictatorship. And in so doing, they will remove a grave threat to the American people. While the United Nations Security Council failed to enforce its own words � that Iraq must disarm � the U.S. has the full, legal authority to disarm Iraq by force with willing allies. This is a new kind of war � a preventative war � a move that runs counter to the traditional American military experience. And in recent weeks, many patriotic Americans have questioned this new strategy. Does it carry dangers and risks? Yes. Of course. We cannot, however, only weigh the risks of acting. We must also weigh the risks associated with failing to act � which I believe are far greater. After the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa and the deadly attack on the U.S.S. Cole in 2000 in Yemen, our new enemy struck us at home. The Al-Qaeda terrorists killed 3,000 innocent American civilians without warning. The world changed that day. And so must we if we are to survive as a free people. The key lesson of September 11, 2001 is that in a world of proliferating weapons of mass destruction, we cannot afford to wait until threats become actual attacks. The stakes and risks are too high. As the President said on Wednesday evening, it is better to respond to our enemy with American troops overseas than to respond to our enemy here at home with firefighters, policemen and paramedics. Some ask, then, why attack Iraq in the absence of a public 'smoking gun' link tying Saddam Hussein's regime to the Al-Qaeda terrorists's attack on September 11, 2001. Having seen the intelligence reports, I believe the many indirect links � intelligence contacts, agreements and training between Osama bin Laden's group and Saddam Hussein's government � are too numerous to dismiss. We may never be able to prove that Iraq had a direct role in the 9-11-01 attacks, but we do know that there is a coincidence of interests between the two that imperils Americans. Our course is not easy nor without risk. We did not choose this path. A new kind of war was declared on the United States on September 11, 2001. We counter-attacked directly in Afghanistan. And now against the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. Our actions today will also put other outlaw regimes on notice. What the free world once tolerated � the covert acquisition of weapons of mass destruction by unstable, aggressive and non-democratic regimes � now constitutes a threat that cannot be ignored. American strength and resolve will always unsettle some. Not because it is wrong, but because of a simple and reflexive opposition to American leadership. For months, we joined in a sharp and mostly principled debate over this war. That was appropriate and necessary because open debate is the lifeblood of our democracy. It strengthens rather than weakens the civic ties binding us together as one people committed to freedom. But now the open battle rages. It is time to unify in support of our troops � and our country. Let us pray for a quick victory that limits casualties on all sides. After the smoke clears, we will have time to revisit the course that brought us to this point. Let us hope that victory brings the peace we seek for ourselves. And may it also bring a taste of freedom to those who have known nothing but fear and despair. |
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