I am sick to death of the conservative punditry and their "moderate" cohorts' continuous cynicism being sprayed across the op-ed pages and talking head shows in the American press. Everyone seems to be bailing on the grand democratic experiment being played out in the fertile crescent that is Iraq. There remain very few stalwarts who have the courage of their prior convictions and whose backbones haven't dissolved into jell-o in the face of the difficulties that Americans and their faithful allies have overcome and had to overcome.
What's really pathetic about these weak-kneed pretenders is the continual, repeated prelude to every article that states, "sure there were mistakes made, but..." What mistakes were made? Who made the mistakes? Not one of these backseat drivers has ever identified a single action taken in Iraq that, but for that action being taken (or not being taken), we would have a modern-day utopia in Baghdad. They say "We should not have disbanded the Iraqi military", "We should have shot looters on sight", "We should have had more troops." This is all just plain worthless. No one can say that if the Americans had done these things, there would be peace and harmony in Iraq. Besides, who gives a crap. It's in the past. Grow up and live with it.
I propose that from now on, we drop the groupthink theme that mistakes were made. It sounds like an apology where no apology was needed. Quit apologizing for removing the horrific Butcher of Baghdad and bringing him justice. Quit apologizing for bringing democracy where it has never been. Quit apologizing for the amazing speed with which Americans overcame the Baathist military. Quit apologizing for rejecting the cynical realpolitik of the past 2000 years.
Rather, embrace the leadership and the idealism of those in the United States that decided that we weren't going to do things like they've always been done. Applaud the desire to bring freedom to our fellow man. There are few times in history where we have a very real, revolutionary opportunity to dramatically advance mankind's lot. This is one of those opportunities. To all those out there who right now fail to see the forest through the trees, I encourage you to reject the impulse to criticize and ignore the desire to cave in the the conventional wisdom. Instead, cheer at the top of your lungs and feel proud that the Americans have embraced the personal freedom and opportunity upon which we have long stood and have agreed to put their ideals into practice in Iraq and beyond.
-Matt
Thank you to Christopher Hitchens, yes, the left-winger, for the inspiration.
