Patrick Henry on IRAQ

thought this may be fun let me know what you think?

No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the United nations Security Council. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The questing before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery. Shall a land Now live under terror by madmen who hold weapons of mass destruction and no government to check itself.

It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it especially when it has took this long to get the first bit of it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the Iraqi Regime for the last twelve years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and their House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, France; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover their oil and darken their sand. Are fleets of inspections required after Twelve years?? They have shown themselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to enforce the law? Do not deceive yourselves, sir. Call a spade a spade. They were told to disarm twelve years ago yet we find these implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which dictators resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to go completely against a signed agreement enforced by war? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Iraq any enemy, worthy enough to go against signed treaties, to call for all this accumulation of chemical and illegal weapons? No, sir, Iraq has none. They are not meant for defensive purposes only offensive: they can be meant for none other than the peoples of this planet. Any movement by American forces there would be to unbind and unravel upon the Iraqi chains which the current Iraqi Regime have placed upon its own people. What shall you have us do to oppose them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last twelve years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, they have done nothing that was asked of them in regards to disarming, They make no movement to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have inspected for near a decade; we have prostrated ourselves before the world, and have implored the UN to arrest the tyrannical hands of the Iraqi Regime. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrance’s have produced additional insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the those we learn to be in bed with the enemy! After these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free-- if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending–if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained–we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!

They tell us, sir, that we are wrong and that war is avertable. But when shall we be right? Will it be the next week, or the next year? We will be right and they will be right when they are fully disarmed, and when a new government frees the people to decide for themselves? Shall we gather strength by inspection and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, they have not disarmed after twelve years. They only now make a proper use of the means to disarm. The population of this world has but one fear, that being weapons of mass destruction in the hands of those unfit by their own aggressive nature. Besides, sir, At this time it is best to go alone for the form of world government that was put in place has failed due to corrupt leadership who bow to their own economy which bases itself on the illegal trade with a nation themselves have declared illegal. we have few enough friends who will raise up fight our battles with us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, they have no election. any movement to free them is a step in the right direction even if it does call for what a corrupt world government calls wrong. In our minds it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery to these madmen who hold weapons that can decimate our entire world! Their weapons are not disarmed! Their hiding in basements of Baghdad or in trucks circling and only stopping for gas! The war is inevitable–and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war has already been chosen by those who stand against freedom and choose to not enforce the world laws! The last inspection teams have already found enough to prove that they have not disarmed! Our brethren are already in the area! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of letting a group of people endure slavery and for the world to hide in fear of mad men in rogue states with weapons of mass destruction? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give these people freedom give the citizens of the world freedom or what we will get is slavery and death!