Military action grounded in morals justified

I want peace. I love peace. I would pay any price necessary to
attain peace. Yes, even the price of a morally waged war.

Without morally waged war, black people would still be
wrongfully enslaved in the South (case in point: U.S. Civil War).
Without morally waged war, the Nazis would still be in power and
Adolf Hitler’s “supreme Aryan race” would be the
only race still in existence (case in point: the Allied forces
involvement in World War II). Without morally waged war, Kuwait
would now be called “Southern Iraq” (case in point: the
United States’ involvement in the first Gulf War). And
without a morally waged war against Iraq in 2003, Saddam Hussein
could soon become infinitely more infamous than Osama Bin
Laden.

Don’t get me wrong, I condemn most forms of war. But when
time and again the dictator of a non-democratic nation shows
blatant disregard for international law and seems to be void of
basic morality, he must be stopped before it is too late. Hussein
must be stopped now.

Many polls indicate that a majority of Americans support the war
in Iraq. It seems, however, that on college campuses across the
country, the percentage of supporters is much lower. I do not
understand why so many students still think this war is not worth
fighting.

Hussein is a time-weathered liar. In 1991, as part of an
agreement to end the Persian Gulf War, he agreed to many things,
including the complete destruction of his chemical and biological
weapons and any program which involved their production. In 1995,
when a top Iraqi military official defected, the United States
learned that Hussein still had at least 8,400 liters of anthrax as
well as numerous other biological agents. Why would he possess
biological agents (while being specifically restricted from doing
so) if he was not planning on using them?

And some of you still think this war is not worth fighting.

Hussein is an inhumane tyrant. He has used and experimented with
chemical weapons on his neighboring country Iran. He has even used
chemical weapons on his own innocent civilians. To date, he has
used chemical weapons on over 40 Iraqi villages. These actions have
resulted in the death or injury of over 20,000 people. If
he’s done it before, he will do it again.

And some of you still think this war is not worth fighting.

Hussein is an ardent supporter of terrorism. He has offered
$25,000 to families of Palestinian suicide bombers in Israel. He
has called for suicide attacks against Americans. He has harbored
terrorists such as Abu Nidal and Abu Abbas, whose terrorist
organizations have carried out over 90 attacks in 20 countries and
have murdered or injured almost 900 people, If he has funded
terrorism for so long, he will continue to support terrorism in the
future.

And some of you still think this war is not worth fighting.

On Sept. 11, 2001, we experienced the unthinkable. Over 3,000 of
our citizens died in a series of terrorist attacks against our
homeland. Hussein’s regime gleefully celebrated the attacks.
We do not want this to happen again. We must learn from our
mistakes and eliminate the threat before more damage is done. If
Hussein has the means, he will carry out a similar or even worse
attack against our country.

And some of you still think this war is not worth fighting.

It is unfortunate that people are dying. Our brave soldiers are
dying, the Iraqi soldiers are dying, and yes, even a few civilians
are dying. But this war is meant to minimize casualties. It is
meant to save us from the horrid nightmare that would ensue if
Hussein accomplished his goal of getting a chemical, biological or
nuclear weapon into the hands of a terrorist who would use it in
the United States. As pleasant side effects, the war will also
cause the Iraqi people to be free of an oppressive dictator and
more in control of the revenue stemming from Iraq’s assets
(namely, oil).

All forms of diplomatic solutions have been exhausted. Why
should we continue to be spun around Hussein’s finger and
wait until it is too late? A war that will bring about more moral
peace in the world than the moral peace which existed before the
war, is worth fighting. This war against Iraq and Saddam Hussein is
worth fighting.

Levy is a fourth-year computer science and engineering student.
E-mail him at [email protected].