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Political |
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The President of the United States told the
world that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. The
President told the world that Iraq was an imminent threat to the United
States. We understood that Hussein could use weapons of mass destruction
against our country and may, in a worst-case scenario, provide weapons
of mass destruction to terrorist networks; particularly Osama bin Laden. Today, an editorial appeared in the Chattanooga
Times Free Press. The editorial criticizes United States Senator Tom
Harkin for stating, "we are going to ask the American taxpayers
keep coughing up money for this quagmire that were in now in Iraq. This
may not be Vietnam, but boy, it sure smells like it. And every time I
see these bills coming down for the money, it's costing like Vietnam
too.” The editorial then states, "whether Senator Harkin intends
it, this sort of talk demoralizes our troops and strengthens the resolve
of the terrorists. Their goal, after all, is to make us so weary of
casualties that we leave Iraq, and Senator Harkin's words imply that
they are making steady progress. The United States should reject
defeatism and press toward the freedom that Iraq will have if we stand
firm." The Editorial is wrong—the terrorists like us
being in Senator Harkin’s quagmire, the terrorists like us spending 87
billion dollars on the quagmire, for it is the quagmire that keeps us
from fighting the war we must fight—the war against terrorism. Somehow, in becoming bogged down in the Iraqi
Quagmire, we changed our goals from eliminating weapons of mass
destruction to pressing the Iraqi people toward freedom. By changing our
focus, we have become stuck in a quagmire. In being stuck in this quagmire, our leaders are
forgetting the cost of war, both in terms of human life and in financial
commitment. Our leaders are forgetting that the goal of the war was to
eliminate terrorism by eliminating Hussein's weapons-weapons he could
use against the United States, weapons he could provide to terrorist
networks. Why have we forgotten that, during this war no
one discovered weapons of mass destruction? Why have we forgotten that
the President of the United States stated the weapons could be used
against us? Why have we forgotten about Hussein's inability to use these
weapons and, why have we forgotten about our failure to find them? This
quagmire we are in is exactly where the terrorists want us to be. We are stuck in a quagmire-a quagmire that is
costing us an additional $87 billion. A quagmire that leaves Saddam
Hussein at large, a quagmire that is costing human lives. We have
achieved exactly what the terrorists want us to achieve, spending money
on a quagmire allowing the true leader of terrorism to continue with
acts of terrorism against this country, this world, and the planet.
The Times Free Press is right; terrorism does
want us to be in a quagmire, a quagmire that demoralizes our troops, a
quagmire that is diverting our attention, and our resources, from the
number one terrorist on this planet- Osama bin Laden, who remains active and at
large.
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