I’m writing in response to the column; “Where are we leaving Iraqi women?” in the March 18, 2009 issue. Saying that Iraq, including Iraqi women, were better off under Saddam Hussein is about like saying Germany, including German women, were better off under Adolph Hitler. Life for women whose families were Sunni and members of the Baath Party I’m sure had its many advantages. The fact is that the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein made the lives of Shiite and Kurdish women, children, and men miserable. Ms. Susskind wants the people of the world to forget the thousands of Kurdish civilians that were gassed to death by the Iraqi government in the 1980’s or the persecution of thousands of Shiite civilians that were being literally starved to death in the 1990s by the Iraqi government. She wants the world to forget the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and what the Iraqi government did to the women of Kuwait, many of whom have never been found to this day. Ms. Susskind wants the women and men of the United States to forget about the rape rooms and torture chambers run by the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein and his two sons.

Have there been tragedies in Iraq the last six years? Yes. The fact remains that foreign fighters came in through Syria, and Iran provided IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices), support, and training for Shiite militias.

The United States government has made its share of mistakes and blunders in Iraq, but our government, and the new IRAQI formed Iraq government, has finally taken the responsibility to finish what’s been started so that hopefully future generations in this country and Iraq won’t have to spill their blood to stop another blood thirsty dictator from threatening their neighbors, it’s own citizens, or the people of the United States.

Sincerely,

Randy Saliga

Prosperity