Looking to the past to see Iraq’s future

The easiest course of action in Iraq is obvious, and there is precedent for it. In 1983 in Lebanon, the Marine barracks were destroyed by a suicide truck bomber, 241 marines and sailors died, and our embassy was destroyed as well. We had tried to help war-ravaged Lebanon and ended up leaving in failure and planting the seeds for further acts of barbarism – because to those that did the deed, it was further proof we did not have the courage to fight for our democracy.

In Somalia in 1993, again we had tried to feed a starving nation. The powers that be forgot the reason we were there to begin with. Mogadishu became a place of death for Americans as well as Somalis, and once again a withdrawal gave further evidence of America’s unwillingness to fight to the finish – at least that’s what they thought – and the road to 9-11 was clear to them.

Mistakes have been many all through our history, but we have begun the fight that will destroy our foes. We can keep going and spare future generations the agony we are now living every day, or we can postpone the end and still suffer more than we ever thought possible. Despite mainstream media’s constant 24-hours-a-day bombast against this war, which includes the daily discourse in the BDN, there is a chance that finally the way to a victory is being revealed to us. Not certain victory in the unconditional surrenders of yesteryear, not even victory to end the struggle for whichever way it goes. The war will rage on until there is no possibility of the killers from 9-11 to possess the ultimate weapon.

I have read ad nauseam the allegation that President Bush said Saddam was connected to 9-11. He never said it. Yet it is reported as truth. There is the other printed lie of 650,000 Iraqi civilian casualties, according to a survey that the United Nations says is wrong. The figure is more like 68,000. The often-stated allegation saying this war was started because of oil is like saying slavery was the only reason for our civil war. Yes, oil plays a role, but not the decisive one.

You may ask: How do you explain the polls showing 70 percent of Americans do not support the war? I would say it is no surprise with the nonstop repetition of bad news. Early in World War II, we suffered defeat after defeat, and even though the people were told this, it was much worse than even that, but we did not lose hope as thousands died. We did not see minute-by-minute coverage of events such as the largest surrender of an American army in the Philippines, and the atrocities suffered by us and our brave allies. To know of these things is one thing; to see it played out in video with commentary that drills into people’s minds that we can not win is another.

Today events are reported and every suicide bombing, improvised explosive device blast, ambush and tortured body of the murdered are given like battles lost, instead of what they are: atrocities that are impossible to stop, created by those who are willing to die in order to kill anyone, particularly the innocent.

In World War II, we could not stop all of the kamikazes that attacked military targets. These killers in Iraq and elsewhere attack to defeat the will of the people to resist. Recent American history has shown them the way. The main reason we lost in Vietnam comes from the words of our adversaries. They said the massive American anti-war protests gave them the courage to continue their hopeless fight; they knew in the end that would be a key factor.

There is one big distinction: Our withdrawal from Vietnam did end the war. Our withdrawal from Iraq, before Gen. David Petraeus makes his appraisal and we see where we are at (our plan to withdraw regardless of what he says), will not end the war. It will just shift to another front.

Mark F. Ginn is a Bangor resident who retired from the U.S. Navy in 1999.