Having spent way too much time listening to all of the back-and-forth by all of the talking heads on the media, it is time to consider our situation. Actually, more to the point, it is time to stop all of the talking and start the doing.

We have several defensive situations. I am not going to call them problems because, despite all of the alarmist talk to the contrary, they are not really problems to any greater extent than those this Country has faced on an almost daily basis for the entirety of its existence.

The first situation is that of the Taliban and Al Quaeda. The second is Iraq and Saddam Hussein. The third is those countries which, for their own political and economic interest, are going to do their best to keep the necessary from happening.

As to the first and second, enough talk. We know what must be done about the Taliban and the Bin Ladens of the world. It also appears that we are doing it. This is a project which will take years. Our President so informed us from the very first. But there are those who are asking, and the suspicion is it is more to an effort to confuse the issue to the point that we do nothing, because these people actually don't want us to do anything. They are the "blame America first" crowd. As well as some of our European "allies". In our own country, they are those who also think that the United States should surrender California to Mexico, that the problems which we have with the various Arabic countries are purely of our own making. I have even heard one person of my acquaintance say that we have no right to go to war agains Iraq because our weapons are so much better and more numerous and therefore argues that it would be 'unfair' of us to attack Iraq. Under that sort of thinking, we would never have used the A-bomb on Hiroshima or Nagasaki and the resultant island-to-island, house-to house battle would have cost not hundreds of thousands but rather millions of lives, most American lives, in a bloody war of attrition. The fact is that acquiescence to their demand is the answer to the problem is demonstrably pure hogwash and horseradish. This fact was revealed just this past week when a statement was read in which we were informed that the only way to avoid annihilation by our enemies in that part of the world is to get out of the Middle East completely, the total destruction of Israel, and that all of us convert to Islam post haste. If this is the result of our actions, I'm glad we took those actions. Also we remember what Hussein has done to his own people. And one little point which needs to be straightened out with some truth. There are those who claim that the United States gave the helicopters which were used to poison the Kurds to Hussein. The truth is that all of the helicopters used in that operation were Hind helicopters. They are Soviet, not American, made. 'Nuff said.

The other question is what to do about Iraq. Here the spineless are really going crazy because they do not want war at any time for any reason, many of them as previously noted, because they are of the opinion that everything which occurs in the world which is bad is our fault. It really sickens and saddens me that evidently we have Representatives in the U.S. Congress who feel likewise. At least two Congressmen who had the gall to criticize this Country's actions while standing on the enemy's soil. In the opinion of the writer, their action was even more egregious than what Jane Fonda did in Viet Nam. Jane Fonda was not traveling as a representative of our Government. These same Congressmen were not only convinced that Iraq has no such weapons and all we need do is appease Saddam for everything to go nice. The short memory these men must have. Even though they are old enough to have been taught about the history of their time, they seem to have missed two very important names in the history of WW II. Clement Attlee and Neville Chamberlain. These two men likewise thought that if the dictator wannabe of the world, Adolf Hitler were just appeased, then everything would be all right and there need be no war. So they signed an agreement with Hitler which, reportedly, was torn to shreds by Hitler shortly after the plane carrying the two diplomats cleared German air space on its way back to England. And of course, the argument that Hussein is not as bad as Hitler. Would we be reminded that prior to 1939 even Hitler was not "as bad as Hitler". But the lengths to which Hussein will go have been clearly demonstrated. As to the Taliban and Bin Laden, the latest 'tape' says it all.

The biggest problem which the surrounding Arab states face with our assisting the Iraquis in the reconstitution of Iraq by assisting the good citizens thereof in getting their country back and setting up a working democracy, is that then their own dictatorial, royalty based governments will (not might, will) be in serious jeopardy of collapse as people observe and marvel at the resultant democracy in Iraq. It is like the rooster who found the ostrich egg in a corner of the barnyard, called the hens around and said, "I'm not complaining girls, I just want you to see what is being done elsewhere." The future and continued existence of these royal dictatorships would be in inescapable jeopardy. And don't think for a minute the Saudi Royal Family, for example, doesn't know that. It certainly is high on the minds of Dubai, Qatar, the UAE, etc.

Our other problem is countries like France and Germany, not to mention the Secretary General of the United Nations himself, have too much of an interest in things not changing in Iraq, which considerations include the fact evidence shows that both of those countries are making entirely too much money on trade therefore needing the status to remain quo.

It is time to go and get what we know needs to be done. Not only with Iraq, but also with certain European and Middle Eastern countries. It is interesting that the countries whose leaders are most enthusiastically backing our efforts against both the Taliban and Iraq are countries, Lithuania being the first example, of countries which were under Communist domination ten or so years ago. In fact, the statement of a Lithuanian government official in the conference currently being held in Romania in which she stated that her country was foursquare behind the U.S. effort in the Middle East because the Lithuanians were all too aware of the difference between liberty and dictatorship out of their own personal experience and were willing to do that which was necessary to preserve their liberty. Would that we had more persons here in this country who felt the same. But then perhaps these, our countrymen, are insufficiently familiar with the changes which dictatorship would make in their own personal lives. Perhaps they don't care. There are times when the writer wishes that there were some way in which they could be solidly reminded.

It was the Honorable Davy Crockett of 'coonskin cap fame, as a member of Congress, who said, "Be sure you're right, then go ahead."

Let's roll!!!

Opinion Piece # 22

IN DEFENSE OF DEFENSE

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