How the Poles Will Defeat Iran

Mike Burleson

Glenn Beck has had a revelation. The popular talk radio host concluded that America went into Iraq not to destroy Saddam’s elusive WMDs but to spread democracy into Iran. While all this may be a bombshell to Beck, the idea is nothing new to President Bush or those who understand history.

America went into Iraq in 2003 on what turned out as a controversial excuse, though it seemed relevant at the time, after the very real attack on New York and the Pentagon on September 11th. Save for those known as “amnesiacrats” it is understandable how the president was concerned WMD would get into the hands of Al Qaeda terrorists through Saddam’s regime. Following the deaths of 3000 Americans, such a worse case scenario had to be taken into account, and countered by any means necessary.

After a brilliant blitzkrieg by US forces under General Tommy Franks, a feat which will be analyzed for years to come, the Americans crushed a former member of the Axis of Evil. Though a backlash among Democrats ensued after no illegal weapons were discovered, Bush insisted the operation justified as part of the Global War on Terror. Unlike many on the Left, the President understood a democracy planted in the heart of Muslim culture would not only benefit that country, but the entire Middle East and the world.

For such a bold plan to liberate a long oppressed people, history reveals many precedents. As recent as the post World War 2 period saw the rapid alteration of the former fascist nations of Japan and Germany into vibrant and free capitalist countries. There is however, a more recent example in Poland at the height of the Cold War. Once again, you have an ancient nation surrounded on all sides by oppressive dictatorships transforming itself into a Western style democracy.

Poland had communism forced on it by the Soviets under Josef Stalin after WW 2. The new government set about imposing Marxist policies on the nation, bringing farms and industries under government control and persecuting the Catholic Church. This latter practice was bitterly resented by the deeply religious Poles, even more so when one of their own became Pope in 1978: John Paul II.

The year 1980 was a momentous one in world history. In November Ronald Reagan, a fierce Cold Warrior, was elected in place of the ineffective Jimmy Carter as US President. That same month saw official government recognition in Poland of the first noncommunist labor union, Solidarity. The new union demanded higher pay, greater economic freedom, and political reforms, many of which the government granted.

Two years later, pressure from Moscow forced a crackdown on the reformers. Solidarity was outlawed and her leaders jailed, including the popular Lech Walesa. Despite this, the genie was out of the bottle. Reform movements soon spread to other communist dominated states within the Warsaw Pact for freedom and change.

In 1989, Poland conducted its freest election since before the war. Solidarity was voted into the legislature by a majority, and the next year the Communist Party was dissolved. Meanwhile the Berlin Wall fell and by 1991, the old Soviet Union ceased to be. From this history lesson, we see a tiny country in a sea of anti-democratic forces, defying those forces and eventually triumphing over them. The Poles became not only an example to its neighbors, but to the world when it joined the Coalition in Iraq, for a while the third largest military besides America and Britain.

An even bloodier, though no less desperate struggle is ongoing in Iraq. Many of those who once resisted Reagan’s successful attempt to defeat communism, Liberal Democrats in America and Socialists in Europe, are again impeding progress against terrorism. Even many who do support the fight say we are not fighting the right way, though they offer few viable alternatives. In some places its seems the jihadists are increasingly successful, such as in Palestine and Iran. Yet, even the intense rhetoric emanating from Tehran is a sign the dictators are fighting for their existence and fearful of an emerging democracy in their midst. Attacking the West and stirring up racial hatred is their only weapon against our ideals and freedoms.

Like the communists in Poland, those who try to stifle the spread of liberty among the long-suffering Arabs are doomed to fail, especially with an American president as their champion. Just as Poland’s example will see this vision come true in Iraq, so is George Bush keeping Reagan’s dream alive and well.

Read my blog at newwars.blogspot.com

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Mike Burleson is a regular columnist with Sea Classics magazine and an advocate of Military Reform. He resides in historic Charleston, SC. http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/honestnews/ http://newwars.blogspot.com/

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