The Real Reason We Are In Iraq

A dialogue between two soldiers, Lieutenant Joseph “Bono” Calton and Sergeant Sam Brighton, from The Great and Terrible Volume 3: The Second Sun pp. 137-139, by former Air Force Pilot Chris Stewart:

“Some people write us letter and thank us for keeping them safe. The politicians back home always thank us. Some are even sincere in their thanks. They say we are fighting for their freedoms. But I don’t thank that’s true.”

Sam laughed. “You going Jane Fonda on my, baby?”

“No, really,” Bono answered. “Think about it, man. When was the last time Americans were actually fighting for their freedom? You might have to go back to the Revolutionary War. That might have been the last time.”

“I don’t know, Bono. How about the Civil War, boss?”

“I understand the North was fighting to protect the Union, but I think most of those men were fighting for something else. The freedom of others. I just don’t believe, I can’t believe in my gut, that men were laying it on the line there, laying it down like they did, just to protect the Union. I think there was more to it than that. They were freeing the slaves. Fighting to free other men.”

Sam remained skeptical. “What about the first and second World Wars?” he asked.

“World War One was plain and simple a fight to save Europe. We had to national interest, nothing really at stake. World War Two? The Japanese were our enemy, the ones who attacked. We could have confined our war to the Pacific and won easily. We could have let Stalin and Hitler divide Europe, knowing they would eventually turn on each other and devour themselves. But we put our own interest aside and saved Europe first. Again, another fight to save other men.

“I know a lot of people like to talk about the Vietnam War, but can anyone make a serious argument that we were fighting for imperial power? I mean, come on, man, what did the Vietnamese have to offer if we had conquered them? Nothing. Nada. Not so much as a bowl of white rice. So why were we there, if not to save the South Vietnamese? And if you want to know what happens when we fail, you should look no further than Indochina. How many million Vietnamese and Cambodians were slaughtered because we failed in the war! The Killing Fields should haunt for the next hundred years.”

Sam didn’t answer, he just listened, content to sip his soda for now.

“Kuwait?” Bono continued, his voice rising now. “Afghanistan and Iraq? Yeah, we needed stability in the region, but if all we were interested in was the oil, we could have been like the Germans and French who propped up Saddam to keep the oil rolling in. Heaven knows he would have sold us all that we needed. That isn’t the reason we came here. There was more to it than that. Yeah, I think we needed to double-tap the Taliban and take out the madman, Hussein, and yes, in that sense, you might argue that we went into those countries to protect the freedoms we had. But though that might have been why we came in, it is not why we stayed. We could have eliminated the threat, then skipped out of town. But that’s not how we work. We stay to protect to freedoms of those left behind. We stay to help them build a government that will keep them free.”

“Now think about that, Sergeant Brighton. I believe it is true. We don’t fight for our freedoms. We fight for much more than that. We fight for the freedom of others. We fight to free other men.”

Although this book is a work of fiction, I feel this dialogue very effectively describes why we are in Iraq and why we should stay to finish the job, regardless of your feelings concerning the truth of the weapons of mass destruction intelligence that President Bush used as our reason to begin this war.

However, the downfall of this nation may ultimately be selfishness and pride. Those who want us to walk away from Iraq are either missing the big picture—our benevolent nation fighting for the freedom of others—or they are selfish, desiring all of our resources to return to the United States and the end of the sacrifice of the lives of our soldiers.

The most curious thing, however, about this position, it is it typically held by liberals, the party who are all about “caring” and “helping the little guy”. If this were true, they would be interesting in “helping the little guy” in Iraq too. However, their actions prove their character. The left wants us out of Iraq because they believe it is popular among Americans, which is the same reason they promote food stamps (also sugar-coated at “nutrition assistance”), unemployment “benefits” (truly a contradictory term), and mortgage “bail outs” (because if you blew it on an investment everyone else should pay for it but you! /end sarcasm).

Any politician, typically, but not exclusively confined to the left, who promotes welfare or walking away from Iraq is either selfish or pandering for votes.

God bless America! God bless and protect our soldiers who are valiantly fighting for others! For "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."