But what was the commandment?
Reader comment on item: Saddam's Damn Dam [i.e., The Mosul Dam]
in response to reader comment: Amalekites, Saddam Hussien, and King Saul

Submitted by Drew (Canada), Nov 15, 2007 at 10:19

Jennifer is right: the commandment was to wipe out the Amalekites and leave no one standing, but my point is that King Saul disobeyed and put his own spin on the commandment. I don't believe total victory was part of the commandment on the US in Iraq -- if it had been, God would have blessed it with a few supernatural victories, surprise supporters on Capitol Hill, discovery of the cache of WsMD. Instead, I believe it was simple: go in, get the monster out, deal with him, write them a Marshall Plan check and "Have a nice day!".

Leave a couple of diplomatic advisors (not the kind of advisors supplied to Vietnam!) and let the Iraqis take it from there. That way, Iraqis would still have been flush with the relief of being liberated and Saddam's former supporters wouldn't have had the chance to regroup. One of the reasons they've been able to regroup is that they've been able to portray their opponents as being toadies to the American Imperialist Invaders, yada-yada-yada. Alas, the notion of "regime change" gets a bad rap these days -- recall the old Tom Lehrer lyrics: "They've got to be protected/All their rights respected/Till someone we like can get elected" -- so there was the perceived need to cook up excuses about an ENORMOUS CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO HOUSE HEARTH AND HOME ...

BTW, I believe freedom is a gift from God to everyone, and the Biblical support for that was hoisted up on Calvary Hill almost 2000 years ago; you can also find it in Matthew 22:2-13. But we also have the freedom to choose to accept that gift.

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