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The War in Iraqwritten - 3/22/2006 To the protesters who say they want peace and don’t want war, I say, “No shit!” The war in Iraq is yet another classic battle of Dictatorship vs. Democracy. Military dictatorships ruled for thousands of years without much competition because seizing and protecting wealth by force was always the best way to become and stay rich. However, in the 1700’s as individuals and corporations gained the skill to create wealth even faster than armies could steal it, the military dictatorship began to lose its power. The USA exploited this new dynamic by structuring its government around the protection of personal property and individual freedom rather than military control. In fact, much of the structure of the government was set up not only to protect individual rights, but to prevent any one arm of government from gaining full control. By championing the rights and freedom of the individual and corporations, the USA quickly went from an uninhabited continent to the undisputed leader in culture, finance, and military. The spread of democracy and free markets throughout Europe and Asia did not happen without battles. Hitler, Mussolini, the Japanese Empire, and communism are just a few classic examples. The battles continue today as freedom is being violently challenged by Islamic Militancy. These militants want to use religion and violence to gain complete hierarchical control from Indonesia to Spain. The war against Islamic militants really began in 1990 when Al Queda declared war on the USA. Just like WWII and WWI, the US was late to the battle and did not join this fight officially until 9/11/2001. Victory against the enemy will not come until the entire Middle East is founded on solid democratic free market economies. This battle will not be easy and will take a long time and a lot of education. Turkey is already a democracy and converting Afghanistan to democracy after its government supported Bin Laden was a no-brainer. But with Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia solidly supporting dictatorship, the US had to do more. We can debate endlessly what would have been the best country to take over, but for better or worse the US chose Iraq. If the US successfully turns Iraq into a stable democracy, then the rest of region will fall like dominos. If however the US leaves and allows dictatorship to persist, the militants will simply continue their march from the Middle East into South East Asia, Africa, and South America. Thus winning in Iraq is extremely important in order to keep this war as short as possible. This war is not about Iraq or George Bush or suicide bombers. It is about freedom vs dictatorship. Since freedom has been on the march since 1700’s and since the spread of freedom has been accelerating over the last 100 years, it is a good bet that freedom will win this battle. The question however is how long it will take and what the human and financial cost will be.
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