Mallory's Speech: The War in Iraq

Mallory wrote and gave this speech today to her school. I thought it was great and thought you'd enjoy reading her point of view.

The War in Iraq
Mallory Straus B4

Good afternoon, my dear patriots.

Just this last week our country recognized its six-year anniversary of the Iraq War on March 20. Right now we have a total of 142,000 US troops over there fighting for national freedom. This fight is NOT without a cause.

For these past six years the media has attempted to convince us that it’s pointless for us to be in Iraq and that nothing is being accomplished. Their false opinions have poisoned the minds of millions of Americans and turned them against our president. Who here is sick to death of hearing people dis on Bush? I know I am! How many of you really know the reason for the start of this war?

Prior to the war, the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, and Spain claimed that Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat to the securities of their countries and to their allies. Saddam Hussein’s reign of terror over the Iraqi people was growing stronger every day. They lived in a time of unrest. Hussein and Iraq were not only a danger to Iraq itself, but a grave potential threat to the United States and to peace and security in the Middle East region. Bush did what any concerned and intelligent president would do by sending our troops! We’re talking about weapons of mass destruction here, weapons that could wipe out entire cities of our friends and families here in America!

The military goals were to end the Hussein regime, eliminate weapons of mass destruction, distribute humanitarian aid, assist in creating a Democratic government as a model for other Middle East nations, and ultimately protect our great country from any future threats. In the words of George W. Bush, “We will meet our threat now with our Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines, so that we do not have to meet it later with armies of firefighters and police and doctors on the streets of our cities”.

March 20, 2003 marked the initiation of Operation Iraqi Freedom. But not just the freedom of Iraq; the liberation from the threat to OUR freedom. On December 13, 2003, we succeeded in capturing Saddam Hussein, eliminating another dangerous menace threatening our country. My fellow citizens, the war has not been for nothing!

George Bush was courageous in protecting America from these omens by inducting the Iraq War. “The Iraqi war was necessary after years of failed diplomacy,” were the words of John McCain one year after the invasion of Iraq. President Bush set an example for any leader: look to the future, predict, and make sacrifices in order to preserve the peace and protection for the ones you watch over. Good Americans, I believe he did what any good president would do. This war was not just for the Middle East or the Iraqi people. It was for the protection of not only our foreign brethren. It was for the protection of America, and it was for YOU!