Written By: G.M. "Doc" Lousignont, Ph.D Date: Saturday, 1 March 2003

We have had twelve years of rattling our sword.

At some point in time, LIKE NOW, the saber most be drawn, and the head of the serpent lobbed off.

Unlike the United Nations, the United States will not allow the world to think that we don't mean what we say.

It is a credibility issue, and when this is over, the world will once again be reminded that you do not trifle with the United States. We mean what we say and we say what we mean.

We have a leader in George Bush, that unlike his predecessor, knows what IS, IS! And You IS in big trouble if you gets on DUBYA's bad side.

What is that old adage? "All that it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to stand by and do nothing!"

And by what standard of measurement do we use to judge when we have exhausted every last option? "Exhausted every option!" That is the language of pacifist appeasement.

Will we have exhausted every option when he has finally gassed and killed a bunch of people with his chemical weapons? Oh wait, no, that can't be it because he has already done that to the Kurds.

Is it when he indiscriminately sends scud missiles into an adjacent country, knowing full well that scuds are not tactical, and the loss of life will be great because of the lack of precision. NO, that can't be it, because he already did that to Israel in the Gulf war.

Is it when he invades a surrounding country just for the hell of it? NO, he already did that to Kuwait.

Is it when, with total disregard for the environment he sets all the oil wells in his path on fire, in a, "if I can't have it no one can, act of desperation." ? No, he already did that too!

How about if the United States stops short of deposing him from power and allows him a conditional surrender, as long as he promises to get rid of his WOMD? Hell NO we already did that too, and he has had twelve years to comply!

There is a reason why the saber is going to be drawn now. The U.S. knows to wait any longer would put the world in grave danger. It is just a matter of time before this whack job has his nuclear weapons assembled, if he doesn't already.

When he has them, he will use them. Don't think for a minute he will not initiate a scorched earth policy if need be and kill his own people in the process.

Needless deaths to innocents? The life of Iraqi citizens is very low in our eyes? It is Saddam that is placing his tanks and other armaments near schools and hospitals and residential areas. It is the United States that has used precision laser guided bombs to minimize the loss of innocent human life.

It is the United States that is willing to risk the lives of our men and women to free the people of Iraq from a brutal dictatorship.

Let's not forget who the bad guys are! The time for the rhetoric is over. The time for appeasement is over. We do not and will not continue to negotiate with dictators that will not honor those negotiations or bend to the subtle pressure of diplomacy.

When I was in grade school there was a kid named Kenneth Lavin. Kenneth thought it was great fun to come and beat the crap out of me every two weeks. He was a big bully. I told him he better knock it off because one of these days I was going to take his butt to the cleaners.

He didn't believe me. What he didn't know is my mom had told me I had better never get into a fight. Turn the other cheek and all of that bullhockey.

Well finally after about the fifth bloody nose, my dad put his foot down, he said, "Well he's turned the other cheek one too many times and I don't care if you don't think he should fight, someone has to teach this Lavin kid a lesson. Son, you don't take any more crap from him, you stand up for yourself!"

My Dad told me to ignore him and not to start trouble, but if he laid one hand on me to give it back to him twice as hard.

Well it wasn't but two days later and Kenneth Lavin came up to me with two of his buddies and said, "What do you think you're doing you big wussy?" And with that he threw a right hook, which I blocked, countered, took him to the ground, pinned his arms, beat his face until he had a broken nose, two black eyes, and one tooth in front broken in half. I then put him in an arm bar and dislocated his shoulder. Then for good measure I did a vascular constriction hold on him until he passed out. Looking back on it now, with a cool head, I could have killed him.

I never understood why my parents didn't hear from his parents about their poor little boy being brutalized at the hands of their crazy son. That was until I later learned that Kenneth was afraid to tell his mom and dad what led up to his fate, and told them he had been involved in a nasty bicycle accident. I guess he even threw his bike down a hill to make the story sound more legitimate.

After choking Kenneth out, I then got up and said, "Any one else got any problems with me, because I'm really in a mood to settle it now!"

The other two agreed they had absolutely no problems and that they had warned Kenneth that I wasn't "yeller" and that he had better quit messing with me.

Yeah, sure they had!

Well guess what! I never had any more problems with Kenneth Lavin, in fact, he became a friend of sorts. And I never had any problems with anyone, ever again, because the story of the day I almost killed Kenneth Lavin followed me all through out grade school and all through out high school.

"Don't mess with Losing SNOT,he is one crazy mean guy (That's what they called me back then, being my last name is Lousignont.)

What Kenneth Lavin didn't know, is that I wasn't scared of him. In fact I had a brown belt in Judo and competed and won matches regularly against higher ranking students. I was just a Catholic kid who was obeying the 4th commandment. Honor thy father and thy mother. My mother, of the peace at any price persuasion, was willing to allow me to get my head kicked in as long as I did not go to war! I obeyed her wishes and took my butt kickings like a man.

My father, who also was of a peaceful nature, was finally the one who saw that there is a point where the line in the sand most be drawn. Once he gave me permission to defend myself, I gave Kenneth Lavin twice what he gave me. It's just that I gave him twice the previous five beatings all rolled into one!

I was of a mind to do it once and do it right and do it so everyone else would get the message loud and clear, "When I tell you to leave me alone or you will be sorry, I say what I mean and I mean what I say! Either get the message the easy way or the hard way, the choice is yours!"

To my way of thinking, the time for diplomacy has long passed. While you are willing to give Saddam more time to amass his WOMD, while we exhaust all options, what ever the hell that means, and by whatever standard you use to measure every conceivable option, I, my president, and my country are not.

We have a symbol for the United States that says, "Don't tread on me!" In other words, don't mess with the bad dog!

How many countries has the United States been to war with? How many have we defeated? Germany, Japan, Korea? How many of those countries now fly the flag of the United States? NONE!

Our nation does not go to war to conquer. We go to war to defend freedom for ourselves and others, and to send a message to those who would dare mess with us, or the rest of the peace loving nations of the world, that we will not stand idly by and allow evil to flourish.

WHY? Because we have the testicular fortitude to do it, and the financial resources to fight the battles that need to be fought. The rest of the world can sit safely around their fireplaces, watching the United States liberate Iraq and sing Com-bye-ya. We, with our brave allies like Britain and Australia, will go to foreign lands and stop tyranny before it has a chance to come knocking on our door.

Our motives are pure, our power is second to none, our resolve is foretold by our actions documented throughout history, and our determination is as solid as the principles on which our countries of freedom were founded.

There is nothing in life of value to live for, unless it is a cause worth dying for!

"If all young people in America were to act as you intend to act, the country would be defenseless and easily delivered into slavery" -Albert Einstein, in a letter to a pacifist, 1941

Take care! May we see true peace in our lifetimes!