CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, November 10, 2003

The Freedom Virus: Bush’s 9/11 Counterattack

Let’s look at the War on Terror with some historical perspective. Yes, we are losing the lives of some wonderful young Americans as we fight this war overseas. These attacks are happening for a reason. They are actually aimed at the American public.

The remnants of the Saddam regime and the non-Iraqi terrorists who have infiltrated Iraq from neighboring states, have one goal: That goal is to get you and me to lose heart, to pack up and go home. Indeed, our enemies are showing surprisingly sophistication by timing their attacks so we wake up several mornings each week to the news of additional American losses.

Unfortunately, the terrorists are gaining heart because, having never experienced democracy themselves and not able to understand our political system, they think they have won the hearts and minds of most of the Democrat presidential candidates. And, given what some of the Democrat candidates are saying about our Commander-in-Chief, why wouldn’t they leap to that conclusion?

But one of these mornings, we’ll wake up to the news that Task Force 121 has killed or captured Saddam Hussein or killed or captured Osama bin Laden. It is just a matter of time before Saddam, bin Laden and all the other “high value” targets are taken down.

As we get better at dealing with the insurrection coming from within the relatively small area of land known as the Tikrit Triangle, it will be the terrorists who lose heart and either give up or be killed outright. While decapitating the leadership of al Qaeda and the remnants of the Iraqi dictator’s regime are essential steps toward winning the War on Terror, even more important is what the Bush Administration is doing to make Iraq an outpost of freedom and democracy in the Middle East.

Last week, in a breath-taking departure from previous U.S. policy, President Bush proclaimed: “…excusing and accommodating a lack of freedom in the Middle East is wrong.”

While history will acclaim our Command-in-Chief and General Tommy Franks for conducting brilliant military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, President Bush has done something far more breath-taking and important. He has planted the virus of freedom in the midst of the dictatorships of the Middle East.

Rocket propelled grenades and booby-trapped roads cannot kill this virus. It is spreading throughout Iraq and Afghanistan right now and will ultimately consume Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other dictatorships.

If we could bottle the freedom virus, here’s how its warning label would read: “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness – That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness .."

These words, in particular, are striking fear into the hearts of the oppressors and lifting the hopes of the oppressed: “…whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government…”

Paraphrased from the wisdom of Army Colonel Ralph Peters are the seven changes these nations must make: Stop restricting the free flow of information. Stop subjugating women. Stop blaming others, like the Jews, for their failures. Learn to deal fairly and honestly with everyone, not just family members. Allow religious freedom. Learn to value education. And, make “work” something to be prized, not avoided.

Bottom line: the dictators must allow these changes to occur or lose their palaces.

William Hamilton, a nationally syndicated columnist and featured commentator for USA Today, is the co-author of The Grand Conspiracy and The Panama Conspiracy – novels about terrorist attacks on Colorado’s water supply and on the Panama Canal, respectively.

©2003. William Hamilton.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com