Say It Ain't So, Joe!

According to the Associated Press, Joe Biden celebrated Valentine's Day by declaring that the struggle was not worth the "horrible price."  As always with Mr. Biden, it was difficult to discern precisely what he was talking about.  Indeed, I am still scratching my head.

Did he mean that the Iraqis were better off with Saddam and his sons in power? After all, Saddam only tried to acquire nuclear arms, started two wars, used poison gas  on his own people and instituted a police state.  Now the Iraqis have to learn to work together and must bear the burden of voting for their leaders.  A glance at our own last election will reveal how hard is for common folk to make intelligent decisions in the voting booth.

Did he mean the world was better of with Saddam in power?  After all, he was only brutalizing the people of Iraq.  That rather sounds like "Leave Joe alone.  He only beats his wife."  More, Saddam had broader goals.  He tried to build a super cannon with which to shell Israel.  When that failed, he funded suicide bombers.  Not happy with the boundaries of Iraq, he started two expansionist wars.  Were he a tin pot kook ruling a remote place, such as the Korean peninsula, perhaps he could have been ignored, but he threatened the stability of the Middle East.  Consequently he threatened something the world needs - a reliable supply of oil.  While few will acknowledge it, removing Saddam eliminated a threat to world-wide economic stability.

Did he mean that the Iraqis had not made appropriate donations to the Obama/Biden campaign committee?

Did he mean it was not worth what the US has paid in lives and treasure?  We freed 25 million people from a police state.  We freed Iran's neighbors from fear of his meddling, and  his territorial ambitions.  Perhaps Mr. Biden is too simple minded to understand how Saddam endangered all around him.  Perhaps he doesn't care.  Certainly he cannot claim to share JFK's commitment to the larger world: 


Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.