December 17, 2003

Next!

Do you recall how some on the Angry Left asked why the US wasn't taking on every evil dictatorship in the world if the US was going to take down Saddam Hussein because he was a evil dictator? Well, how do they know that we aren't? Declaring war on evil dictators doesn't mean you have to engage every one of them in a fight on day one. What it does mean is that we develop and implement a strategy to take them down as we can, while husbanding our resources and continuing to pay the requisite attention to all the other needs of the country which aren't directly or indirectly related to this war on evil dictatorships.

As we have already seen with Germany and France's rapid acquisence on Iraqi debt forgiveness, attitudes and actions change quickly once your opponents appreciate that you are sincere and firm in your convictions and willing to follow through in the face of adversity and criticism. In time, these battles will become easier and easier as the remaining dictatorships find themselves with fewer and fewer friends or places to hide.

If illiberal utopians will simply remove their anti-American dung-colored glasses to see Iraq as it truly is (a much better place than it was a year ago, even with the sporadic violence), or as it may become as a free and independent democracy in the Middle East, then they will find themselves free to join the battle to help liberate the oppressed throughout the world -- as they usually advocate. Of course, it is asking too much to expect the UN to engage as a partner in this struggle since the UN caters to these same dictatorships as though they have the same legitimacy as the world's free democracies.

Short of another major terrorist attack on US soil, I doubt that we should expect the next tyrant to fall before the election next November, but if President Bush should win with a mandate-invoking majority, I expect that two more tyrants may fall in his next term, and perhaps more. The world truly could be a very different place in twenty years than it is today. And that could be a good thing.

Posted by Charles Austin at December 17, 2003 02:29 PM
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