Reagan Republican Revolution

Yes, you read that right. I believe that loyal and patriotic Americans are worse off after the loss of Saddam Hussein and the Baathist Iraqi regime. I do not say this out of any love for the man or his party. Both are morally reprehensible and barbaric examples of everything that is wrong with humanity. However, as evil as they may have been, they were actually a tremendous asset to our national security.

This is not to say that they were an ally, quite to the contrary. If he had the chance Saddam would very happily have wiped us off the face of the earth. That desire, however, did not make him an actual threat to us. At this stage there is simply too much evidence from non partisan sources within our own intelligence community that there were no WMD’s in Iraq and that they simply lacked the resources to maintain those programs after the decade of sanctions following their total defeat at the hands of the Coalition forces.

I will not try to assume the motives of the Bush Administration, I can forgive being overzealous in the protection of American lives. I can not, however, forgive going to war and putting American men and women at risk with absolutely no understanding of the ramifications of their actions.

The simple fact is that as evil as Saddam was, he was also a strong stabilizing factor in that sector of the Persian Gulf. His army, crippled and poorly supplied as it was, was still sufficient to contain Iranian support of shia radicals in southern Iraq. His brutal crackdowns made certain that ‘Al-Qaeda in Iraq’ was an unthinkable fantasy as his Republican Guard cracked down on all radical Islamic organizations with equal efficiency.

Saddam was no friend to Al Qaeda. Remember this is the man who is responsible for the deaths of more Muslims than any one since the Crusades. He was the only thing keeping the shia majority from taking control of the country. A shia majority with close ties to Iran.

Now we have the council for the Islamic revolution in Iraq in control of the country. We have a civil war that has only been controlled by the active and effective actions of General Petraeus (who has shown himself to be perhaps the best Counter Insurgent tactician in history ). Unfortunately the heroic actions of our troops under his leadership have reduced the violence but have been unable to create any actual political progress.

After 5 years of war we are no closer to a ‘victory’ than we were the day the statue came down. We have a war with a cost that can not be maintained forever being contracted through some of the most blatant war profiteers in our history.

It amazes me how the party of fiscal responsibility can turn a blind eye to practices like cost plus contracts, no bid contracts, clear favoritism and corruption, and literally billions of dollars simply being thrown away through incompetence.

We have become so caught up in blindly supporting partisan politics that we are willing to ignore criminal incompetence that costs us billions and costs the lives and limbs of thousands of young Americans.

Let us, as Republicans, demand from our leadership that we do the right thing. That we stop fighting for partisan advantage at the expense of our nations security and economic well being. That we stop allowing our politicians to line to pockets of their cronies and backers to the detriment of middle America.

We are still the greatest country in the world, and we should demand the very best from our leaders!

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