Sicking The Saddamites - Introduction
by Lindsay Perigo
Staunch, decent, freedom-loving souls have needed a day like this for some time.
Saddamites have dreaded a day like this for some time.
Iraqis standing solemnly in line, defying those to whom the Saddamites have given succour, the beheaders and the car-bombers, to exercise a right that staunch, decent, freedom-loving souls take for granted. A right for which staunch, decent freedom-loving American soldiers and others from all over the globe have, over the past 18 months, laid down their lives. The right to have a say in the composition of one's government.
Then, after the voting, the dancing in the streets. The "thank you!"s to President Bush and Tony Blair. Joyful Iraqis, undeterred by the threats of the beheaders and the car-bombers to turn the voting queues into lines of death, to behead all women who, after the event, were discovered to have voted.
Among the images from the past 18 months re-run on television today, that of an 11-year-old boy whose brother had been blown up by the car-bombers and beheaders. Twelve other children were killed at the same time. The occasion: the opening of a new sewage plant. US troops had just handed candies to the kids when the Saddamites' mentors struck. The absolute scum of the earth. Scum whom the Saddamites have succoured.
Saddamites—treacherous anti-liberation vermin who infest the groves of western academe, and, even more disgustingly, the U.S. libertarian movement. Saddamites—who blame not the scum for the beheadings and car-bombings, but America. Saddamites—who believe Saddam should not have been toppled.
The scum's threat to turn Iraq into an inferno this day came to much, much less.
The Iraqi people squared off with the scum—and won.
Yes, it was a disastrous day for the scum and the Saddamites.
It was a great day for the liberated.
Today, SOLO marks the occasion with the four articles that follow.
Yes, we understand that democracy is no guarantor of freedom. We understand that grave perils still lie ahead for Iraq. But we understand also that the first, fitful steps towards a culture of freedom in the Middle East have been taken. Beheaders, car-bombers and their Saddamite fellow-travellers notwithstanding.
Let's savour this moment and celebrate.
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