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November 12, 2003

 

Right Hook

Crt Prolong the Occupation

 

J.J. McCullough
OP Columnist

I don't know if you've seen any of those
“Middle East and Empire” flyers that are
plastered all over town but they are calling
for a protest, (which as far as I know may
have already happened) to “oppose the
occupation of Iraq.” Leftists tried to stop
the war from being launched, and in
doing so opposed a thoroughly legitimate
goal of removing a vicious dictator from
power. Now that the dictator is finally
gone, the left wants America to abandon
Iraq—right at the moment when the
country is on the verge of finally escaping
from the dark shadow of tyranny. The left
wants Iraq to be abandoned at the very
moment when its hope for progress is the
greatest, and instead wants to condemn
the country to a sea of chaos, violence,
and anarchy. The motivations behind this
are simple. The US has an
excellent track record of re-
building nations, and the
hate-America left doesn’t
want the US to succeed in
this latest endeavour.

The classic examples of US
reconstruction are, of course,
post WWII, Japan, and
Germany. Once ravished by
fascist totalitarian regimes,
the US was able to dismantle
these nation’s infrastructures
of terror, and rebuild them
into free and prosperous
democracies. Though the
successes of these two countries are unde-
niable, it is important to remember that
such achievements did not occur
overnight. Just like in present day Iraq,
both the occupation campaigns of
Germany and Japan were racked with
problems. There were bombing attacks on
US bases, assassinations of US soldiers,
sabotages of US equipment, and round-
the-clock internal demands to end the
“American occupation.” And just like
today, there were scores of critics back in
North America denouncing the naivety of
President Truman. Calling him an overly
idealistic fool for believing a stable, demo-
cratic society could ever be successfully
implanted into these two war-raped hell-
holes. The rebuilding of Japan and
Germany took many years, and lasted
longer than Truman’s presidency. But
today, the results speak for themselves. Far
from being “colonies,” or “sham democra-
cies,” modern-day Japan and Germany are
two of the most stable, progressive, inde-
pendent, liberal societies on earth.

A similar success story is that of South
Korea. After protecting the regime from
the invading forces of its Communist
neighbour, the US helped re-build South
Korean society, and maintained a military
presence in the country that continues to
this day. While the Northern half of the
Korean peninsula is a Marxist nightmare,
mired in poverty and disease, the South is
a vibrant urban society, and one of the
wealthiest nations in Asia. In BC we can

see the success stories of South Korea all
around us every day, in the form of the
well-educated, hard-working South
Korean immigrants who have become
valuable members of our communities.
Of course, not every country America
has occupied and attempted to rebuild has
resulted in such success. During the early
days of the Vietnam War, the US govern-
ment funneled billions of dollars into the
government of South Vietnam, in a some-
what rushed attempt to make the govern-
ment into a stable, and ultimately inde-
pendent and free country. Of course, this
was made extremely difficult by the fact
that the country was basically a feudal
state with no existing infrastructure at all,
not to mention the fact that fragile gov-
ernment was constantly under subversive

Leftists tried to stop the
war from being launched,
and in doing so opposed

a thoroughly legitimate
goal of removing a vicious

dictator from power

(and later open) attacks from the
Communist North.

In the 70s, leftist protestors demanded
South Vietnam be abandoned, and even-

Pe Cae LT
protection...

 

http://www. filibustercartoons.com

eee: Page 10 e http://www.otherpress.ca

tually the
domestic
pressures and
military casu-
alities got so
great that
America had
no choice but
to leave.
Almost
overnight, the
country col-
lapsed
Communist
totalitarian-
ism. In the
months lead-

into

ing up to the pull out, left-wing
Democrats in the US congress had steadi-
ly cut US economic aide to
South Vietnam to the bone,
and the country was pushed
to the brink of survival.
When the American military
left, the final keystone was
removed, and the nation that
could have been a true Asian
success story, instead became
yet another forgotten victim
of Communist Imperialism.
The situation in Iraq
now is different than that of
South Vietnam years ago.
Iraq has a significant popula-
tion of educated and intelli-
gent men and women, who love their
country, and want to see it succeed. As
well, however badly Saddam mismanaged
it, the country does have a fairly sophisti-

Lv
NATIONS

 

cated infrastructure of hospitals, airports,
factories, power plants, and other modern
necessities. The nation has tremendous

natural resources, (although again, chron-
ically mismanaged) and has great econom-
ic potential. However, at the same time,
Iraq is no Germany. The country has
absolutely no existing democratic tradi-
tions or institutions to revitalize, and the
apparatuses of the Baath Party’s tyranny
are probably even more ingrained into
Iraqi society than Nazism was in the Third
Reich.

But there is hope for Iraq, and the US
deserves our support and encouragement
in their campaign to bring liberty to one
of the most troubled corners of the earth.
The Iraqi people are capable of democra-
cy, are capable of secularism, and are capa-
ble of running their own lives. It may take
a while, but they have the best teachers in
the world

 

Cartoon by J.J. McCullough