There are a lot of uninformed opinions about the reasons that France, Belgium, Russia and Germany continue to resist supporting the rest of Europe and the U.S. in the effort to eliminate the corrupt and evil regime in Iraq.
Rush Limbaugh suggests that it might be because France, Russia and Germany have all been secretly supporting Saddam with equipment and technical expertise, and they don’t want anyone to find out during the inevitable “post-war” inspections.
Some first-hand information was received from a friend of mine who just returned from Belgium. He says:
“As you know, I am Belgian and I just, last night, (February 8th) returned from my yearly pilgrimage home to mom.
“I could not believe the apathy and Anti-Americanism I witnessed in Belgium, France and Germany during the week I was there. Even my own (educated and well-traveled) family does not get it. It made me ashamed of my countrymen. As a retired Special Forces officer in the Belgian Army, I know first-hand the dangers of crazy Dictators and exporters of terror. I guess Europe has been conquered one too many times for them to not react like this. If you look at a map, you would see that almost all those ‘sophisticated,’ ‘dovish’ countries are within fairly easy reach of a crude missile from Baghdad.
“Denial, I guess.”
I won’t reveal his name, even though he said that I could, because his mother still lives in Belgium and the “reach” of the Internet is world-wide. But his comments were quite revealing., especially considering that he was a former Special Services officer.
Just remember this: ”’after”’ a short and successful war, a regime change in Iraq, further weakening of the Al Qaeda network, and the “amazing” discovery of vast stores of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in Iraq, you will see a lot of the present “nay-sayers” trying frantically to “get on board” and take credit for the wisdom and courage of President Bush, his advisors and most Americans.
Also remember that a failure to act now will result in many, many more deaths from terrorist acts, and will make the 9/11 attacks seem minor by comparison.
Re-read this editorial in March 2003, and we’ll see who is right.
”’Bud Weisbrod is a resident of Honolulu.”’