Editor:
Dave Uphoff
Another Memorial Day is upon us as Americans are still losing their lives in the war in Iraq. Whether or not you agree with our involvement in Iraq, we all should pay homage to the soldiers who are fighting in Iraq and honor those who lost their lives in the struggle to bring freedom to that part of the world.This has been a frustrating war for the soldiers stationed in Iraq. There is no front line. No one knows where the enemy is located. Basically, it has been an urban guerilla war in which house to house searches are performed and street battles occur rather than bombing raids over a military target.
I have talked to soldiers returning from Iraq who maintain that we are making great strides in Iraq rebuilding the infrastructure and restoring law and order in many areas - all of which is unreported by the press. On the other hand I watched a program on A&E the other night about a Marine unit from Ohio that lost 23 men in Iraq in 8 months. One of the soldiers said that it was very frustrating for him to be putting his life on the line for the Iraqi civilians who appeared not to appreciate the American effort in Iraq.
It is a complex war and no one really knows whether we are winning or losing the fight and that includes President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. I still believe that President Bush overreacted to the 9-11 attack and made some very bad decisions based on faulty information. Going into Iraq emboldened the terrorists and allowed the radical element of the Islamic religion to recruit even more terrorists. And now this emboldment has spread to Iran whose radical President is pursuing the development of nuclear technology that may ultimately result in nuclear weapons being in the hands of radical fundmentalists of the Islamic faith.
Columnist Tom Freidman said that if Iran does develop nuclear weapons, it will be the first nation which supports suicide bombings to have such technology. The implications are ominous. Another observation made by Freidman is that there is an inverse correlation between the oil wealth of nation and the amount of freedoms afforded by that nation. For example, when the Iron Curtain collapsed in 1989, the price of oil was $17 a barrel and Russia was at its weakest, militarily and economically. Since then Russia has become more capitalistic and has developed their oil fields so that it now has become one of the largest suppliers of oil and natural gas in the world. Instead of freedom being expanded in Russia it is now being curtailed by President Putin who has cracked down on the press, nationalized the oil companies, and threatened to cut off oil from some of the countries that were part of the former Soviet Union in retaliation for not aquiescing to Kremlin demands. With oil at $70 a barrel Russia has become a major player on the international scene again, only this time their power is not from guns but oil.