Dear editor

It looks like I and the Moultrie Observer, once again, have come up with a different view of what happened and is happening in Iraq. In their Nov. 22 Opinion the Observer stated their thoughts on our forefathers forming our system of democracy in this great nation of ours.

They were comparing it with other governments of the world, mainly the Middle East. I agreed fully with the editorial until they came to the point of the article, near the end, where The Observer implied that the United States invaded Iraq to save the Iraqi people from the terror of Saddam Hussein and set up a democratic government to govern them.

One of us must have been smoking some bad stuff back in 2003. I don’t smoke. As I recall — for full disclosure let me state in l997 I had no better sense than to step out in front of a car and get my skull cracked which possibly could cause a lose of memory, but that is another story. Anyway, as I recall, when we went into Iraq in 2003 we did so for the following reasons.

1. The United States and most of the rest of the world thought Iraq had or would soon have weapons of mass destruction (WMDS) and knew Iraq wanted them and would do what ever it would take to get them.

2. We were afraid Iraq would use the terrorists as their weapons delivery system in an attempt to do severely damage to the United States and its allies. We could not have that. We knew Iraq was pursuing WMDs before and had used chemical weapons, even on its own people.

3. Iraq continually thwarted the United Nations (UN) weapons inspection team in their effort to make sure Iraq had destroyed their WMDs as mandated by the UN after Iraq lost the Gulf War in 1991.

4. It was thought maybe a government could be established in Iraq that would be friendly to the United States.

5. The United States could not say it as policy, but I believe we wanted to make the nations in the Middle East afraid to work with or help the terrorists. Iraq would be an example of what would happen if they did.

The United States did not invade Iraq to free the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein’s ring of terror. Nation building, which President Bush had stated he did not want to get into, came around after the successful invasion of Iraq.

President Bush decided to take a long shot and set up a democratic government similar to the United States. I am sure he felt this would be more to the liking of the American people. Iraq is composed of three groups of people (Shiites, Sunnies, Kurds) who dislike each other and seem to have only their self interest at heart. The force of Saddam Hussein is the only glue that kept these people together as a nation.

To get these three groups together in a working democracy is a major undertaking to say the least. It will be a long, time-consuming task that will require the utmost patience of the American people. I don’t believe we have much choice when we look at the alternative.

If this can be accomplished just maybe the people of the region would be inspired by the change in Iraq and force their governments into a more democratic system that we hope would be friendly with the United States. I hope and pray President Bush can make it work. If not, the only alternative the United States has to protect its interests around the world and maintain the security of the Nation is it’s military forces and what ever it takes to make them sufficient for the task.. That could cost hundreds of thousands of dead and injured lives and more money then we want to think about.

To accomplish this near impossible goal President Bush needs the support of all the American people. So far he has not received it.



Gene Abbett

P.O. Box 563, Moultrie, GA. 31776