Surprising some of you perhaps, I don't expect I'll have too much to say about the day-to-day events of this war. The troops are in shape - they're the best-equipped, led and trained force on the planet, and they'll prevail handily, though not, of course without some casualties and mistakes. Good luck, guys and gals, and get your asses back here in one piece.

My confidence in the troops was bolstered even further a few days ago, after I happened to run into a few Marines that were recently back from the Middle East. We talked of many things, most of which I will not repeat here for obvious reasons.

One matter of particular interest to me was the prospect of urban combat, and whether the Special Republican Guard would fight or rout. After I expounded upon my worries, I was assured by one salty senior NCO that it didn't really matter. "If they fire at a Marine, they will die. Period." He then explained to me a few things that we've managed to cook up in the area of urban assault. Basically, the old idea of going room to room through the building is toast. If they get fire from a building, they will promptly remove the entire first floor of said building, and see if any of the enemy will survive the ensuing crash.

(As I am typing this, it seems that Saddam has fired off a few of those SCUD missiles he claimed not to have. 'Magine that.)

As for the title of this post, as I was listening to Bush43's speech in which he gave Saddam 48 hours to get out of town, it struck me that someday the Iraqi people will have a national holiday to honor the day that they got their freedom, their Juneteenth. Will it be the day that Saddam dies, or the day the war started, or when it ends?

I submit it should be the Monday the 17th, which is the night Bush gave that speech. (It'd give me another reason to celebrate Patty's Day, as if I needed one)

That speech was, in effect, their Emancipation Proclamation. "Free at last! Free at last! Allah be praised, we are free at last!"

The humanitarian reason has always been to me the one unassailable casus belli. Saddam's ties to terrorism, WMDs, our right to pre-emptive self-defense, reasonable folks could argue either side of those arguments, though I personally think each of those are credible arguments. Saddam manged to create a "perfect storm" of reasons to take him down.

While Saddam's violations of UN resolutions are without doubt, they were more a legal vehicle to get the rest of the UN world on board with the Anglosphere.

I think in his heart of hearts, Bush43 has always felt that way, too, though perhaps I give him too much credit on this issue. He never really pounded the table with the freedom for the Iraqi people issue until the very end, until it was clear that we were going to do it with our "coalition of the willing," and not with the UN. The theme rang clear in both his speech Monday night and the address he gave to the people last night.

It's also the reason that could have been his strongest with the American public. So, why did he downplay it so?

I believe he had to. It would have made the quest for a UN resolution even tougher, as every tinpot dictator realized that if the US, now uncontrained by pragmatic Cold War realpolitik, was truly committed to freeing people, and establishing liberal republics globally, that they could not help but be next on the Pax Americana hit list.

(As I type this, the news reports that the Marines of one of the Light Armored Recon battalions have engaged and destroyed two Iraqi armored vehicles with the 25mm chain gun of their Grizzly. "First To Fight." Heh. My pride in the competence of my former comrades is tempered with a bit of sadness. Why didn't those stupid fucking Iraqis just surrender?)

I was glad to see that the President has so strongly affirmed the US committment to rebuilding Iraq, and setting them on a course of political and personal freedom. He should be held quite firmly by the American people to that cause, and if he strays from it after he has Saddam's head on a pike, I'll be clamoring along with all the anti-war folk to get his on one.

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