Valid reason for a war?

There are several.

1. Saddam Hussein has invaded two countries.
2. Launced missiles at two other countries.
3. Tried to assassinate the president of the United States.
4. Butchered his own people.
5. Broke all the armistice accords that were signed in 1991.
6. Has provided a haven for terrorists.

We wouldn't even be talking about this if it wasn't for 9/11. What 9/11 did was establish that there are people in the Middle East who sponsor terrorists, and have capital, and are willing to send people over here to kill us in a time of peace.

Which means that there is no margin for error anymore. There has been a threshold that has been crossed. They are not agraid of anything now. They need money. And they need capital. And the one regime that has been the center for that has been Saddam Hussein's.

We've actually already been at war with Islamic terrorists and their supporters for the last 20 years or so. We haven't responded because we got complacent, as long as they don't kill more than 100 servicemen a year, that's O.K. Blow up the World Trade Center, but don't kill too many people. Try to blow up the L.A. Airport, but don't carry it off. Kill a couple of CIA people in a parking lot in Virginia, fine. Blow up a barracks; they're just Marines. Blow up an embassy; they knew what they were doing when they went to Africa. This has been the American mind-set.

That mind-set cleared the path to 9/11. Everytime they did one of those things, America either sent them a cruise missile or a lecture of something. They gained the impression that we just were not going to risk anything to go to war over there.

We ended up losing the one we thing that you can't lose in a war - a sence of deterrence. Americans think we have all these carriers and all this military power, so they wouldn't do anything.

But deterrence is not measured by what you think. It only matters what the enemy thinks. And one of the worst things throughout history is a power that has military superiority but is afraid to use it. Because that brings cotempt.

What must be done now is to demonstrate that the punishment for giving aid or comfort to terrorists who would attack America will be so terrible that nobody in their right mind would want to do it.

Listen, I'm not for war. Nobody wants war. Nobody wants to see a bunch of American kids getting killed. But there is a utility to war that people don't think about. The great evils of the last two centuries - slavery, fascism, Nazism, Japanese militarism, Soviet militarism - either have been ended by war or the threat of war.

Do I need to see any more proof? A direct Iraqi link to 9/11? Discovery of an ongoing weapons program?

I really don't need anymore evidence. 3,000 Americans were killed. Where were the people from who did it? They were from the Middle East. Why did they do it? To attack American power and influence. And how did they do it? They did it with money and sanctuary.

And where are the places that gave them money and sanctuary? We know that terrorism thrives in three places. In chaos like Afghanistan and Somalia; in dictatorships like Syria, Libya, and Iraq; and in the theocracies like Iran.

So you go after the most egregious one, the Taliban, which we are already doing. They you go to the next most prominent one, Saddam Hussein.

I know this post is not the most organized and well-thought out, but I stand by it.

And don't call me an idiot because I'm a conservative.

And for all you liberals out there: Don't flame me. Before you react to this post, feel free to keep firm pressure on your knee to keep it from jerking up.

__________________
Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".