Liberal Tyranny

In ridding Fallujah of radical Islamics, coalition forces found terrorist slaughter-houses and test kits for Sarin gas (with warning labels in Russian and German). Naturally, the media downplays those stories to emphasize possible American war crimes. This from the same press that figuratively buried Saddam's habit of literally burying his citizens. This from the same impulse that saw Amnesty International opposing the Iraq invasion (because whining about human rights is easier than actually doing something).

It's all so world-weary, so sophisticated--and so much B.S. The most effective way to stop terrorism is to kill terrorists, especially French terrorists. By that measure, the invasion of Iraq, and the siege of Fallujah, is a success:

killing the enemy means there are fewer enemies to kill. And in one week in Fallujah, and at the cost of some 40 American soldiers' lives and several Iraqi ones, about 1,200 insurgents were killed and another 1,000 taken prisoner. The insurgents have been denied their principal sanctuary. Their torture chambers--a stark indication of what they intend for all of Iraq if they're allowed to prevail--lie exposed.

Still, the see-, hear- and speak-no-evil crowd clucks about America's excessive force. Iraqis know better:

Such is the fear that the heavily armed militants held over Fallujah that many of the residents who emerged from the ruins welcomed the US marines, despite the massive destruction their firepower had inflicted on their city.

A man in his sixties, half-naked and his underwear stained with blood from shrapnel wounds from a US munition, cursed the insurgents as he greeted the advancing marines on Saturday night.

"I wish the Americans had come here the very first day and not waited eight months," he said, trembling. Nearby, a mosque courtyard had been used as a weapons store by the militants.

Another elderly man, who did not want his name used for fear the rebels would one day return and restore their draconian rule, said he was detained by the militants last Tuesday and held for four days before being freed. He described how he had then sought refuge in a friend's house where they had huddled together clutching Korans in silent prayer for their lives as the massive US bombardment put the insurgents to flight.

"It was horrible," he told an AFP reporter."We suffered from the bombings. Innocent people died or were wounded by the bombings.

"But we were happy you did what you did because Fallujah had been suffocated by the Mujahidin. Anyone considered suspicious would be slaughtered. We would see unknown corpses around the city all the time."

The left, and the press, should consider that this war is welcome and just, rather than trying to railroad one Marine.