The good we did? ( or: Don't know much about history)

The Good We Did
Vince Lombardo
Posted in the May 24 2005 South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

Can you imagine a place where human beings are thrown into a pit to be eaten alive by lions for the enjoyment of a madman? Or a place where brides get raped at their own weddings? How about a place where children are tortured in front of their parents for merely not agreeing with the government?

Now imagine not doing anything about it. It takes a liberal to criticize George Bush for not coming up with the weapons, but hey, we only stopped the most ruthless animal since Hitler. I agree that the intelligence was flawed, but the outcome seems pretty nice to those not getting tortured and thrown into the mass graves.

My response:

Reader Vince Lombardo's (May 24) letter illustrate the naiviete with which far too many Americans approach international issues. Saddam Hussein is a monster - no argument there. But what Mr. Lombardo fails to mention is that it once suited the very same neocon hawks with which George Bush has surrounded himself to provide Hussein with money and arms, not to mention the technology to build chemical weapons. These Hussein used both on his own people and against Iran. History has made it clear that the U.S. has a sliding scale when it comes to tolerating international "monsters" - it depend's on what's in it for us. Or some of us. The analogy to Hitler is particularly apt, given that George Bush's grandfathers' made fortunes selling technology to the Third Reich in the late 1930's (read lifelong Republican Kevin Phillip's book "American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush"). Personally, I have some issues about an America that 1/2 of the world hates and the other half fears. Flawed intelligence, Mr. Lombardo? Not just in Washington.