In Memory of our Trops Today.

In Memory of our Troops!

 

Then and Now.

 

Today is Memorial Day 2007.  We are at war in Iraq.  Our troops are in harms way and many people just want to see it end, to bring them home.  They do not see the point of this war and just want to be done with it.  In keeping with this day of remembering, I thought I'd remind some of you how all this began.

 

Go back to July 1990.  Saddam Hussein is the military dictator of Iraq.  He rose to power under the Ba'th party and hates the Shi'ites.  He has been at war against Iran, but suddenly abandons that in favor of Kuwait.  He accuses Kuwait of essentially stealing their oil and on Aug 2'nd commands his troops to occupy the smaller and more vulnerable Kuwait to their south.

 

 

The UN immediately condemned these actions and a coalition was assembled against him.  Operation Desert Shield commenced which consisted mainly of economic sanctions.  These did not work, and on January 15'th 1991 the allied forces of the USA, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, and others… turned Desert Shield into Desert Storm commencing with an air campaign and precision bombing attacks.

 [ On a side note:  It is interesting that the price of gasoline in these allied nations has risen to between 3 and 7 dollars a gallon, while in Arab nations it is still under a dollar a gallon.  How did that happen?]

 

Hussein responded with big words, threats and acts of terror.  He called on all Muslims to unite in a "Holy War" against the West (US) and defined us as the satanic enemy.  He had 39 Soviet-made "Scud" missiles launched at Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem in spite of the fact the Israel was staying neutral in this war!

 

Hussein had the pipelines breached and spilled Kuwaiti oil into the sea in hopes of polluting the water for other Arab Nations.  He also had 365 out of 700 oil wells burned.

 

 

 

 

The oil wells burned for about 8 months before they could be extinguished.  It was dubbed "Ecco-Terror" and worst man-made disaster of all time.  The smoke plume was thick, dark, and stayed close to the ground fouling the air.  Kuwait got the brunt of it.  The smoke choked out the sun for up to 1500 miles away and was clearly visible from space.

 

This view up the Persian Gulf from the Qatar Peninsula into southern Iraq (25.5N, 51.0E) shows an excursion of the smoke plumes from the Kuwait oil fires set during the short Persian Gulf War. Smoke from the fires north of Kuwait City, extends across the Persian Gulf while a larger smoke plume from the southern fires heads into southern Saudi Arabia before beginning to spread out and become more diffuse

 

[ Side Note:  During the eight month period about six million barrels of crude oil and about 85 million cubic meters of natural gas were burned each day!  And yet the environmental & human health effects of these fires were MUCH less significant than expected.  In fact, numerous studies found that concentrations of most harmful airborne chemicals like VOCs, PAHs, and heavy metals were lower in Kuwait City and at American military bases just miles from the fires than in major cities in the United States!]

 

On February 23'rd the ground war started, Desert Storm was now if full force.  However the Iraq forces were decimated and fled in short order.  By February 27'th, (just four days latter) all our major objectives had been achieved.  Iraq had been kicked out of Kuwait, and our troops were halted at the boarders.

 

Hussein remained in Baghdad.  He was supposed to comply with UN inspectors and allows us the assurance that he would not attempt to collect or create weapons of mass destruction, but he did not.  He obstructed the efforts of the UN Weapons inspectors, ultimately banning them from accessing anything.  Economic sanctions were again employed with no greater success than before.  

 

Meanwhile, the best foothold our troops could enjoy, was at the hospitality of the Saudi-Arabians.  And these boys made life a little less than comfortable for our troops.  We could not enjoy the diversity of freedoms that we have come to know on our own soil,  especially those freedoms of religious expression.  One thing I know about our military, they do not care for being dictated to by anyone other than the commander and chief!

 

So why are we still fighting in Iraq?  In a word, Saddam Hussein.  He gave place to terror and to terrorist's.  Via radical Muslim doctrines, doctrines of hate and death to all Westerners (US), we find ourselves defending our freedoms, our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, on foreign soil.

 

   

 

The question we all have to ask ourselves is this:  Is it better to fight this war over here or over there?  Should American soil be scorched like this?

 

 

And how do you fight such a war?  Do we use weapons or do we use diplomacy, words, and actions to combat the ideas born in religious doctrines?

 

 

In my opinion you have to do both.  Military action is required to deal with suicide bombers, snipers, car bombs and other terrorist activities.  (The few rotten apples in the barrel.)  But the freedoms we enjoy here are not exclusive to American soil.  They are Basic Human Rights which all people should be able to enjoy, everywhere.

 

We brought down Saddam Hussein.  We brought down a dictatorship.  The Iraqi people have held an election and are starting to enjoy both the liberty and responsibilities of freedom.  This part of the war will only be won given time and the proper use of diplomacy.  Our words and our actions have to send out a message, a message which is more powerful and better thought out than the ideas behind the Muslim doctrines of hate and death toward all Westerns.

 

And in the process we might just find a better foothold for our troops and military bases in a more American-friendly nation as a result.  It would suit our Military.  It would suit American interests (in keeping oil prices down) and would allows us to continue aid to a new budding nation.  Democracy in an Arab/Muslim nation… that has never happened before has it?

Keep our troops and their commanders in your prayers.

 

-Dan Willey.