It had invaded its neighbors, committed genocide on its own soil, harbored and nurtured international thugs and killers, and flouted every provision of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The United Nations, in this crisis, faced with regular insult to its own resolutions and its own character, had managed to set up a system of sanctions-based mutual corruption. In May 2003, had things gone on as they had been going, Saddam Hussein would have been due to fill Iraq's slot as chair of the U.N. Conference on Disarmament. Meanwhile, every species of gangster from the hero of the Achille Lauro hijacking to Abu Musab al Zarqawi was finding hospitality under Saddam's crumbling roof.
One might have thought, therefore, that Bush and Blair's decision to put an end at last to this intolerable state of affairs would be hailed, not just as a belated vindication of long-ignored U.N. resolutions but as some corrective to the decade of shame and inaction that had just passed in Bosnia and Rwanda. But such is not the case. An apparent consensus exists, among millions of people in Europe and America, that the whole operation for the demilitarization of Iraq, and the salvage of its traumatized society, was at best a false pretense and at worst an unprovoked aggression. How can this possibly be?
And the war has achieved much:
(1) The overthrow of Talibanism and Baathism, and the exposure of many highly suggestive links between the two elements of this Hitler-Stalin pact. Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who moved from Afghanistan to Iraq before the coalition intervention, has even gone to the trouble of naming his organization al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.
(2) The subsequent capitulation of Qaddafi's Libya in point of weapons of mass destruction--a capitulation that was offered not to Kofi Annan or the E.U. but to Blair and Bush.
(3) The consequent unmasking of the A.Q. Khan network for the illicit transfer of nuclear technology to Libya, Iran, and North Korea.
(4) The agreement by the United Nations that its own reform is necessary and overdue, and the unmasking of a quasi-criminal network within its elite.
(5) The craven admission by President Chirac and Chancellor Schröder, when confronted with irrefutable evidence of cheating and concealment, respecting solemn treaties, on the part of Iran, that not even this will alter their commitment to neutralism. (One had already suspected as much in the Iraqi case.)
(6) The ability to certify Iraq as actually disarmed, rather than accept the word of a psychopathic autocrat.
(7) The immense gains made by the largest stateless minority in the region--the Kurds--and the spread of this example to other states.
(8) The related encouragement of democratic and civil society movements in Egypt, Syria, and most notably Lebanon, which has regained a version of its autonomy.
(9) The violent and ignominious death of thousands of bin Ladenist infiltrators into Iraq and Afghanistan, and the real prospect of greatly enlarging this number.
(10) The training and hardening of many thousands of American servicemen and women in a battle against the forces of nihilism and absolutism, which training and hardening will surely be of great use in future combat.
One wishes the administration would hammer these reasons and achievements every day.
The President has called for patience, and has pointed out that Iraq will be a friend, an ally, and an asset for the broader war:
"Iraqis are working together to build a free nation that contributes to peace and stability in the region, and we will help them succeed," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
This is an important point not in Hitchens' list of achievements. Though to be fair it is an achievement that is being made even now. As the Iraqi government forms, builds security forces, and drafts a constitution, it will take the lead in helping us fight the enemy jihadis that have invaded Iraq. And it will be an asset to pressure or defeat Syria or Iran. This war absorbs our strength now, but in time the war will create additional power to augment our power.
You think I overstate this? Well look at one country that we helped in a difficult war against insurgents supported by outsiders. El Salvador has stood with us steadfastly in Iraq for two years now:
Since August 2003, El Salvador's government has been one of the staunchest U.S. allies, sending five missions that included health, construction, communications and security experts — some of whom have drawn on experience from El Salvador's 12-year civil war.
Think of that. In gratitude for help in the 1980s, El Salvador has sent a contingent around the world to Iraq to help us.
Who knows what help a free Iraq will give us in the future? I don't know, but I am confident that Iraq will be a useful ally, grateful for our help in freeing themselves from a bloody despot intent on achieving glory through the blood of Iraqis in wars of aggression. So have patience. We have accomplished much and will achieve even greater things because of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
I know I'm proud of this war.
