My, What An Evil Oppressor We Are!

At the end of World War I, the Great Powers imposed the Treaty of Versailles on Germany as a form of retribution for the damage caused by the war. At the end of World War II, the United States imposed the brutally oppressive Marshall Plan as retribution for the damage Germany and Japan caused. And now, we are brutally oppressing the Iraqis by making them fill out claim forms if they think that we caused them damage. Over 2500 claims have been filed against us since the end of major hostilities.

Victorious nations around the world will be cringing at the wicked precedent we are setting here. To the victor goes the spoils, right? What kind of deranged victor pays the vanquished for damages caused?

Maybe the kind that has actually gone to war for (to an extent) humanitarian reasons. Maybe the kind that actually has true concern for the welfare of the innocents.

Maybe it's the kind of victor that is guided by an internal moral compass that can make judgmental distinctions between right and wrong.

Maybe it's the American people.

We said from day one that this wasn't a war against the Iraqi people, it was a war against Saddam and his cadre of loonies. That was the promise we made to the Iraqi people before we went in. And our moral compass says that if we damage the property or well-being of an innocent, we have to make it as close to right as possible.

In the case of property damage, we pay to repair the property; to make it whole again. In the case of personal injury, we are obviously taking a bit more thorough approach, not out of a desire to minimize the suffering of the Iraqi claimant, but to make sure that proper restitution is paid out or proper care provided.

Our accurate moral compass has also garnered other benefits for us.

The four main clerics in Najaf have lined up behind the US, calling for the rule of law and order. In the cities under the influence of the clerics, US troops have been welcomed as "liberators rather than occupiers."

But even more significantly, under the instigation of one young radical cleric there has been some discontent and calls for an immediate American withdrawal.

But instead of the Iraqis rallying to the anti-American rhetoric, they have instead made a public notice of their intention to defend the four moderate clerics.

If we were truly oppressive or unconcerned for the plight of the Iraqi people, the Iraqis themselves would have rallied around the young cleric Sadr. Our moral compass, our sense of right and wrong, has been helping the Shi'ites to feel more comfortable in working with us, rather than against us. They realize we're not perfect, but as the claims program shows, we try to make right our mistakes.

We must maintain the course our compass charts for us.