I am so disgusted with just about every anti-war advocate I've talked to in the past few days. Why? It's impossible to anything close to an intelligent conversation with any of them. I would respect them more if they could back their mindless, sweeping generalizations with just a little bit of fact. Too harsh of a criticism?
Well, here's my opinion, condensed and back with a few facts, on why I think there SHOULD be military intervention in Iraq.
Reason Number One: Iraq has and has used chemical weapons
I find it funny how everybody is so adamant in proving Iraq has chemical
weapons, when the fact of the matter is they have them and have used them. For
instance, Iraq has relentlessly committed mass murder and genocide of an
estimated 100,000 Kurdish peoples of Iraq by using chemical weapons, as
documented by multiple human rights organizations. http://web.amnesty.org/web/web.nsf/pages/iraq_faq#3
http://hrw.org/reports/world/iraq-pubs.php
Reason Number Two: Gross Human Rights Abuse
Iraq has one of the worst track records of any nation when it comes to human rights. Saddam has been a vicious dictator who has stopped at nothing to kill anyone and everyone who stands in his way. Thousands of stories are documented of Saddam's cruelty and torture towards people who even think of opposing him.
Amnesty International has interviewed thousands concerning the torture they received under the brutal hand of Hussein. Here is a small quote from the report:
"Human rights violations have been committed on a massive scale against all sectors of society in Iraq. Most of the victims have been suspected political opponents of the government, their relatives, and members of religious and ethnic groups.
In our numerous reports over the years, we have documented:
"disappearances"
extra judicial executions and other unlawful killings, including mass killings of civilians using chemical weapons
imprisonment of prisoners of conscience
long-term detention without charge or trial
grossly unfair trials
systematic torture including the use of judicial punishments such as flogging, ear amputation and branding of the forehead.
forcible expulsions
extensive use of the death penalty
recruitment of children in the armed forces " www.amnesty.org
Popular methods of torture documented by this agency along with the State Department and other independent organizations include: branding, cutting out tongues, rape, dismemberment, electric shock, and strong acids on sensitive body parts and membranes, including the clitoris. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/nea/8257.htm
Consider the story of Al-Shaikh Yahya Muhsin Ja'far al-Zeini, 29 yr. old theology student
'' ... I saw a friend of mine, al-Shaikh Nasser Taresh al-Sa'idi, naked. He was handcuffed and a piece of wood was placed between his elbows and his knees. The two ends of the wood were placed on two high chairs and al-Shaikh Nasser was being suspended like a chicken. This method of torture is known as al-Khaygania (a reference to a former security director known as al-Khaygani). An electric wire was attached to al-Shaikh Nasser's penis and another one attached to one of his toes. He was asked if he could identify me and he said ''this is al-Shaikh Yahya''. They took me to another room and then after about 10 minutes they stripped me of my clothes and a security officer said ''the person you saw has confessed against you''. He said to me ''You followers of [Ayatollah] al-Sadr have carried out acts harmful to the security of the country and have been distributing anti-government statements coming from abroad. He asked if I have any contact with an Iraqi religious scholar based in Iran who has been signing these statements. I said ''I do not have any contacts with him''... I was then left suspended in the same manner as al-Shaikh al-Sa'idi. My face was looking upward. They attached an electric wire on my penis and the other end of the wire is attached to an electric motor. One security man was hitting my feet with a cable. Electric shocks were applied every few minutes and were increased. I must have been suspended for more than an hour. I lost consciousness. They took me to another room and made me walk even though my feet were swollen from beating.... They repeated this method a few times''
Reason Number Three: Iraq Supports Terrorism
This fact has long been proved, even before Colin Powell approached the Security Council. Consider this, Saddam pays the families of Palestinian men enormous sums of money when the men of the family commit suicide bombings against U.S. or. Israeli interests. If that alone isn't supporting terrorism, what is? http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,619495,00.html?FACTNet http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,48822,00.html
So I ask you to do this. Clear your mind of everything you've read in the news or watched on T.V. Simply think about Saddam's acts and the personality that he must have in order to commit such atrocities. Now imagine a way to stop this madman. How would you do it ? Would you send more inspectors to this man's country? Do you think a man as cruel and evil as him will listen? More U.N. resolutions? Name one resolution Hussein has obeyed. Military might is the way to go. This man is Hitler's reincarnation, and he must be stopped before Saddam has the means to wreak world wide havoc.
