2008 Woodie Awards
Rebuttal: Kerry's Plan For Iraq
William P. Still
Issue date: 10/6/04 Section: Perspectives
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As an extremely patriotic American I am very proud of our military and the men
and women who serve in it. I am disgusted and outraged when any of our proud
servicemen are killed in war, but freedom is not free. This was very clear in
WWII; on D-Day alone over 10,000 brave men died, over 6000 of which were American
soldiers. D-Day was one day in a war that lasted over five years. Operation
Iraqi Freedom has been going on for over a year now and American fatalities are
totaled at around 1,000. During the D-Day invasion there were almost six times the
number of deaths than in the Iraq War. Now, I do not want to sound
cold-hearted, but our fatalities could be a lot worse than they currently are.
Our losses in this war have been drastically smaller in comparison to other US
led wars or offensives.
President Bush did not say that Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden had
conspired to attack the US on September 11th. Rather, he said that they had
ties and supported each other's actions. This connection between bin Laden and
Hussein was corroborated by the 9/11 Commission who reported, "In July [1998],
an Iraqi delegation traveled to Afghanistan to meet first with the Taliban and
then with Bin Laden." "Similar meetings between Iraqi officials and bin Laden
or his aides may have occurred in 1999 during a period of some reported strains
with the Taliban. According to the reporting, Iraqi officials offered bin Laden a safe haven in Iraq. Bin Laden declined, apparently judging that his
circumstances in Afghanistan remained more favorable than the Iraqi
alternative. The reports describe friendly contacts and indicate some common
themes in both sides' hatred of the United States."(p66 The 9/11 Commission
Report). In my opinion, these exerpts, along with others, clearly lay out that not
only did Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein have contact, but were willing to
help one another. Saddam Hussein had money, power, and Iraq at
and women who serve in it. I am disgusted and outraged when any of our proud
servicemen are killed in war, but freedom is not free. This was very clear in
WWII; on D-Day alone over 10,000 brave men died, over 6000 of which were American
soldiers. D-Day was one day in a war that lasted over five years. Operation
Iraqi Freedom has been going on for over a year now and American fatalities are
totaled at around 1,000. During the D-Day invasion there were almost six times the
number of deaths than in the Iraq War. Now, I do not want to sound
cold-hearted, but our fatalities could be a lot worse than they currently are.
Our losses in this war have been drastically smaller in comparison to other US
led wars or offensives.
President Bush did not say that Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden had
conspired to attack the US on September 11th. Rather, he said that they had
ties and supported each other's actions. This connection between bin Laden and
Hussein was corroborated by the 9/11 Commission who reported, "In July [1998],
an Iraqi delegation traveled to Afghanistan to meet first with the Taliban and
then with Bin Laden." "Similar meetings between Iraqi officials and bin Laden
or his aides may have occurred in 1999 during a period of some reported strains
with the Taliban. According to the reporting, Iraqi officials offered bin Laden a safe haven in Iraq. Bin Laden declined, apparently judging that his
circumstances in Afghanistan remained more favorable than the Iraqi
alternative. The reports describe friendly contacts and indicate some common
themes in both sides' hatred of the United States."(p66 The 9/11 Commission
Report). In my opinion, these exerpts, along with others, clearly lay out that not
only did Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein have contact, but were willing to
help one another. Saddam Hussein had money, power, and Iraq at