One of the good things about writing a column is the opportunity to express an opinion, even when it disagrees with a co-worker. I want to disagree with my columnist Keith Hoggard, who recently blasted President George W. Bush because we found no nuclear weapons in Iraq. Keith’s condemnation of Bush didn’t surprise me because we know how he feels about the president. My guess would be that Keith leans toward being a Democrat. What surprised me is that my friend – and many others – believe there were no weapons.

All of us know Saddam Hussien is an evil man who kept a stranglehold over his people for decades. The inhuman leader basked in wealth while his countrymen lived in wretched poverty we can’t even imagine. His hold was so strong that even today his people are afraid to speak against the regime. Maybe the deaths of sons Uday and Qusay will help dispel that fear.

Before this fight began, Bush and his associates said Iraq had nuclear weapons and for two months threatened that we were coming. Saddam has been called every evil name in the book but no one has ever called him stupid because he isn’t. He is a shrewd man, not militarily gifted, but smart. Two months is enough time for the most intellectually challenged person to move or hide the weapons.

I believe the weapons have been moved to Syria or some other country that benefited financially for offering safe haven to the despot or have been hidden in one of Saddam’s many multi-storied underground bunkers. It is our job now to find them and exact retribution from leaders of any country which offered aid to Saddam. You also have to consider that no fight in history has been like this, when we tried to remove leadership with the least amount of damage or loss to the country and its people. If our military had gone in with everything it had, Saddam and his sons would have been dead long ago. But so would the rest of the country and its economy.

It breaks my heart to know that anyone has lost a child in fighting to overcome the Hussien family but this has been a necessary fight and we should never have waited this long to do what had to be done. It won’t be long before the United States will have to take action against North Korea because it is a threat to global safety. Whenever our country is threatened, we must protect our people.

What bothers me is that our country tries to arbitrate and stick our nose in problems all over the globe in countries that offer no threat to us. The United States cannot financially or physically continue to be flag bearer for the whole world.

George W. Bush has many faults (like not being able to pronounce nuclear) and I don’t believe half of what comes out of the nation’s capitol. But this was the right decision for the circumstances. We may never find the weapons in Iraq, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t there.