”My fellow citizens, at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.”

These are the opening words from our President in his speech addressing the nation at the outset of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  If you read the entire speech, you will see that more is said about Saddam's despicable treatment of his own people than about his production of WMDs or the imminent threat to the United States.  In other words, liberating the Iraqi people has been a major part of the justification for war since the beginning.  It was not added on after the fact.  Why have we been so focused on the WMD portion of the justification?  Because that makes a more sensational news story, and that's what the media (both liberal and conservative) have talked more about.  Part of the problem of having so many political pundits on both sides, is that we hear from them every single day, and if we are not careful we start to put their words into the mouths of the people they are talking about.

So, if we can agree that the justification for war had at least two points: 1) freeing the Iraqi people and 2) defending the world from grave danger, then we have to ask ourselves if both points have to be necessary for the war to be justified.  There seems to be no debate about whether or not the Iraqi people have been liberated from an oppressive and criminal regime, so let's chalk up one legitimate reason.  Is that reason enough?  Well, I'm not enough of a history scholar to go back and find precedent for this, but I do remember that even in the midst of the Iraq debate, there was an issue in Liberia.  In Liberia, there was no threat of WMD or danger to America to muddle the issue.  Instead, it was just a clear cut case of a brutal dictator abusing his people.  In this case, the UN had no problem stepping in to help.  In fact, the U.S. administration was catching a lot of flack for not sending in our troops, which we eventually did when our demand for exile of the country's leader was met.  I realize that this just brushes the surface, but it does seem to suggest that liberating an oppressed people, by itself, is justification enough for military intervention.

As for the second justification for war, the grave danger to the world, that remains to be seen.  I think it is still too early to tell whether or not Saddam had WMDs.  It will take a long time to sweep all of Iraq with a metal detector.  So, I don't know if they have them.  I do know that he had them in '91 when he killed thousands of his own people with his own weapons.  I do know that he paid the families of people who killed themselves if they took an Israeli or American with them.  I do know that he wanted Americans dead.  I do know that I am glad that he has been captured, and that the Iraqis are free.  I hope that we have the patience to see this through.  I pray that our leaders will make wise choices, and they will do what is right, regardless of political pressure.