Operation Iraqi Liberty

Thank goodness for O.I.L.

Here is what freedom will look like in Iraq:

• Social justice is the basis of building the society.
• The state must ... implant moral values ....
• The state shall guarantee for women the appropriate services related to pregnancy, childbirth, and the period after childbirth and provide her free health services as well as adequate nutrition while she is pregnant and nursing.
• Iraqi citizens have the right to enjoy security and free health care.
• The state is responsible to support the provision of work opportunities for all qualified and pay monthly salaries for all unemployed for any reason until opportunities are provided in the case of disability, handicap, or illness until the malady ceases.
• There is no tax or fee except by law [note: well, that's a relief!]. The basis for taxes and public expenditures is social justice [oh, goody, better than some other ... basis].
• All natural resources and the [resulting] revenues are owned by the people. The state shall preserve them and invest them well. [Well, heck, we ought to just require American mutual funds to "invest well". That would be a good idea, no?]
• Citizens may not own, bear, buy, or sell weapons, except by a permit issued in accordance with law.
• The state shall guarantee the realization of social and health insurance for the child from his birth until he completes his university studies.
• The state shall guarantee the realization of the social guarantee necessary for citizens in case of old age, disease, inability to work, or if they are homeless, orphans, widowed, or unemployed. It shall provide them social insurance services and health care and protect them from the talons of ignorance, fear [shades of Woodrow Wilson!], and want, providing them with housing, and special programs to train them and care for them.
• The state and regional governments shall combat illiteracy and provide their citizens with the right of free education at the various stages.
• There is no censorship on newspapers, printing, publishing, advertising, or media [hey, this sounds alright!... but wait: ] except by law. [uh oh]

Sample provisions and square-bracketed comments via Stephan Kinsella.

To paraphrase Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, the American so-called "Civil War" emancipated slaves while enslaving free men. Was it a good thing? Even if you believe that a war was necessary for emancipation, it still seems to me that the answer is far from straight-forward. And if you don't think that a war was necessary, then the answer definitely shifts more toward the negative.

Saddam Hussein is evil. I have no trouble saying so. I don't care how much Dubya overuses the E-word -- it still applies. The Baathist government was even more evil than many other governments. Again, I don't hesitate to say so. I don't know anyone who would defend the way Saddam Hussein or his government treated their enemies. But I dare say that the majority of Iraqi citizens enjoyed more freedom under Saddam's men than they will under Dubya's.