Operation Iraqi Liberation:The Name that Didn't Make the Cut
Sean Parker
8/22/03
Nation & World
Nation & World
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Column
Operation Iraqi Liberation:
The Name that Didn't Make the Cut
Fact One: more than 200 American servicemen and women have been killed and many more have been seriously injured since Operation Iraqi Freedom began.
Fact Two: hundreds of Iraqi civilians - many of them innocent women and children - have been killed.
Fact Three: America's world credibility has been destroyed by the war in Iraq.
In President George W. Bush's State of the Union Address, he claimed Iraq had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of Sari, mustard gas and VX Nerve Agent, all considered to be weapons of mass destruction.
Fact Four: no chemical weapons have been found anywhere in Iraq. Zero.
"Satellite photographs reveal that Iraq is rebuilding facilities at past nuclear sites," stated the President during his speech to the nation in October.
After the fall of Baghdad and numerous inspections of these "former" Iraqi nuclear sites, no evidence has been found to validate his claim.
My favorite "justification" came in a press conference on Jul. 14 when the president said, "We gave him [Hussein] a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in."
Hans Blix is a household name, not because he was the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it was due to his involvement as Chief Weapons Inspector for the United Nations in Iraq.
That's right, in Iraq.
U.N. inspectors went into Iraq to search for weapons violations from December '02 to March '03. And they found nothing.
Now, I am the first to understand people make mistakes. However, when we put our faith and confidence into the President of the United States to defend our country, create jobs and see to it that laws are enforced, there should not be a shadow of a doubt.
In this case, not only was there a shadow of a doubt, there was storm cloud over the shadow.
No one except the President and his advisors really know why we went to war. The justifications the President and his advisors give are simply for the public's benefit.
Some conspiracy theorists think they know the real reason, but they don't. I think I know, but I'll keep it to myself.
The mission to remove Saddam Hussein from power was labeled Operation Iraqi Freedom. Yet earlier on, when a name was to be chosen for the mission, they called it "Operation Iraqi Liberation."
I've been trying to figure out why they changed it, but I haven't had any luck, but I do know that that was the original name.
But I'll close on this, since sometimes the answer can be as plain as the words on a page.
Operation
Iraqi
Liberation
All I can do is hope that if the American public looks really closely, they may get the hint at why the Bush Administration felt threatened by Iraq.
Operation Iraqi Liberation:
The Name that Didn't Make the Cut
Fact One: more than 200 American servicemen and women have been killed and many more have been seriously injured since Operation Iraqi Freedom began.
Fact Two: hundreds of Iraqi civilians - many of them innocent women and children - have been killed.
Fact Three: America's world credibility has been destroyed by the war in Iraq.
In President George W. Bush's State of the Union Address, he claimed Iraq had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of Sari, mustard gas and VX Nerve Agent, all considered to be weapons of mass destruction.
Fact Four: no chemical weapons have been found anywhere in Iraq. Zero.
"Satellite photographs reveal that Iraq is rebuilding facilities at past nuclear sites," stated the President during his speech to the nation in October.
After the fall of Baghdad and numerous inspections of these "former" Iraqi nuclear sites, no evidence has been found to validate his claim.
My favorite "justification" came in a press conference on Jul. 14 when the president said, "We gave him [Hussein] a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in."
Hans Blix is a household name, not because he was the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it was due to his involvement as Chief Weapons Inspector for the United Nations in Iraq.
That's right, in Iraq.
U.N. inspectors went into Iraq to search for weapons violations from December '02 to March '03. And they found nothing.
Now, I am the first to understand people make mistakes. However, when we put our faith and confidence into the President of the United States to defend our country, create jobs and see to it that laws are enforced, there should not be a shadow of a doubt.
In this case, not only was there a shadow of a doubt, there was storm cloud over the shadow.
No one except the President and his advisors really know why we went to war. The justifications the President and his advisors give are simply for the public's benefit.
Some conspiracy theorists think they know the real reason, but they don't. I think I know, but I'll keep it to myself.
The mission to remove Saddam Hussein from power was labeled Operation Iraqi Freedom. Yet earlier on, when a name was to be chosen for the mission, they called it "Operation Iraqi Liberation."
I've been trying to figure out why they changed it, but I haven't had any luck, but I do know that that was the original name.
But I'll close on this, since sometimes the answer can be as plain as the words on a page.
Operation
Iraqi
Liberation
All I can do is hope that if the American public looks really closely, they may get the hint at why the Bush Administration felt threatened by Iraq.