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A Better Country: Why America Was Right to Confront Iraq

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The book, titled "A Better Country: Why America Was Right To Confront Iraq" is published by Hamilton Books and tells the story of why we took Iraq seriously. Mr. Borden is a Democrat, and like so many others in his party, he's faced with the prospect that the facts behind the war have been dismissed, forgotten or twisted for political reasons. In 88 pages he outlines the intelligence, the arguments, the failures and the threat Iraq posed. What makes this book truly useful is that one can sit down for a single afternoon and rise from the chair with a healthy understanding of all aspects surrounding the Iraq war, making it a great place to start if you're out to change minds.

He begins by reminding the reader of the Carter Doctrine (yes, that Carter!) that declares, in no uncertain terms, that "An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force." He does this not to revise President Carter's reputation as a foreign policy failure, but to make the point that the stance taken by President Bush wasn't a first, it was in line with government policy going back decades. President Clinton's Iraq Liberation Act in 1998 was another dot on the line that ended at President Bush's desk, but the difference between the two was that the 43rd president wasn't willing to pass on the Iraqi threat like the 42nd did. Mr. Borden makes his points powerfully, and draws from history, documents and speeches to prove his case.

Every chapter, pithy as it is, continues in this methodical fashion. He addresses the failure to find WMD and the use of that charge by opponents. Another chapter centers on the promise of containment and the prudence of relying on the United Nations to disarm dictators. He wonders why anyone is surprised that the administration forced a democracy on the hapless Iraqis, and skillfully works through the Iraq War Resolution for those who haven't taken the time to read it. It's a book of thought provoking essays. It's also a valuable weapon against those who would rather not sift through the details.

It's worth debating whether we ought to have gone into Iraq, but no thoughtful deliberation can happen without the facts. The media in this country and around the world settled for a narrative that focused on equivocating America and her enemies, but there are few cases as stark as the one made in confronting a defiant tyrant in a country that had used WMD after 9/11. Whether this generation of Americans will look beyond slogans and platitudes for the answers to the moral questions that will define us, we can only ask that the wise do their duty. In that, Arthur Borden earns my gratitude.

In September of 2002, with the first anniversary remembrances of the 9/11 attacks taking place across the country, and with America obviously preparing to go to war to thwart another such attack, Arthur Borden began to notice some disturbing reactions coming from his Democratic Party, even among his own friends and colleagues. These reactions and the totality of the circumstances involving 9/11 and it's various related issues led Borden to study the issues more closely and led him to realize that he was now living "..in an America which is not the country where I went to college, served in a good war, and enrolled in law school.." The result of his studies is the book "A Better Country: Why America Was Right to Confront Iraq" released this year as a soft cover by Hamilton Books. In it's short number of pages (67 plus a handful of indices), Borden makes a compelling argument that not only was President George W. Bush right in going into Iraq and deposing it's despotic leader Saddam Hussein, but that this move was vital. He also makes the case for remaining in the country, and possibly for the need to extend the conflict into Iran in the near future. From the free flow of the oil that is vital to our national and the world economy, to a geo-political presence vital to securing peace and democracy, Borden moves through the many varied and important issues over the last few decades that led to the Iraqi campaign and the larger War on Islamofascism. Borden presents that both of the Bush administrations and the Clinton administration recognized the threat of the Hussein regime. These administrations recognized that it was reasonable to confront the Iraqi regime based on the longstanding and widely-supported 'Carter Doctrine' which recognized the vital interest regarding the free flow of oil from the Middle East. He goes on to present that a combination of intentionally biased liberal media attention, a near traitorous attitude by many Democratic Party politicians, and even the faux pas committed by the current 'W' administration led eventually to the public turning on this necessary war effort. His chapters on "The Missing WMD" and the Joe Wilson-Scooter Libby issue of the "Aluminum Tubes and Yellow Cake" are particularly insightful, revealing, and well researched. What Arthur Borden does with "A Better Country" is present a better narrative for this necessary effort in Iraq. The book is a short and easy read, but also a detailed and educational must-read for anyone interested in exploring the issues behind the necessary sacrifices being made by America's troops in Iraq over these last few years.

I just got this book today. I have not finished reading it yet, but I want to make one short point.



CARTER and CLINTON left Bush out to hang. They put those policies (Carter Doctrines and Clinton's "Iraq Liberation Act of 1998") in place to protect American interests in the Gulf Region and Bush just followed through. Clinton knew the public would NOT buy off on it.

President Bush sincerely went into Iraq, to not only protect the American interest in the region, but also for our National Security. Unfortunately, the critics and the Democrats (a.k.a. "Bush Haters") took an opportunity to promote their party and self interest.

Ted Koppel was on 'Meet the Press' in 2005. He is stated saying that the difference between the Clinton Administration and the Bush Administration is 9/11. If 9/11 happened under Clinton's watch, he would have invaded Iraq.

History is always being rewritten. We will look back and see Bush did the RIGHT thing for our country....not for the Republicans....not for dad, and definitely, not for the oily companies.

By the way, this book was written by a Democrat and a member of the "The Greatest Generation."

Mr. Borden, Sir. You are truly "The Greatest Generation" Thank you for writing this book.

Heed the warning, people.

A Better Country: Why America Was Right To Confront Iraq - a review

Book Review by Debbie at Right Truth, [...]


The book A Better Country - Why America Was Right to Confront Iraq, is a must read and I highly recommend it to all my friends. A Better Country is the Right Truth Book Club selection for September. I couldn't wait to start reading it, and finished in one sitting. This little 88 page paperback has no fluff, no filler, no glossy pictures -- from cover to cover the reader gets facts backed up by sources.
The author, Arthur Borden, wastes no time, no ink, no paper making his argument, -- and he does make the argument. Mr. Borden happens to be a Democrat by the way.

A few quotes to wet your appetite:
[snip] He [President George W. Bush] presented the nuclear threat as an approaching danger, not yet as an actual one, and he was resoled to prevent it:
Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud . . . . Understanding the threats of our time, knowing the designs and deceptions of the Iraqi regime, we have every reason to assume the worst, and we have an urgent duty to prevent the worst from occurring.

Though bush did not invoke the Carter Doctrine explicitly, he added that "the same tyrant has tried to dominate the Middle East" and that "two administrations -- mine and President Clinton's -- have states that regime change in Iraq is the only certain means of removing a great danger to our nation." (page 4)

[snip] It was later, almost three years after the Iraq war had begun, that the mainstream media addressed this issue significantly and in keeping with the Carter Doctrine. As Ted Koppel said with stunning candor on Meet the Press on December 25, 2005, "the only difference between the Clinton administration and the Bush administration was 9/11 . . . . If 9/11 had happened on Bill Clinton's watch, he would have gone into Iraq":

And the one thing that we are not talking about, because it somehow seems indelicate or unpolitic or even inappropriate, is the simple fact of the matter that, while we did not go to war because of Iraq's oil, we did, in act, go to war because it is absolutely essential to the national interest, not only of this country but also of the Europeans and of the Japanese, that the Persian Gulf remains stable . . . . [W]e need to have a stable Iraq in order to guarantee a stable Persian Gulf, and the name of that game is oil. Nobody talks about that. (page 5)

Those quotes are from pages 4 and 5, now you must read the rest for yourself. I will leave you with two short quotes and some food for thought as the United States and the world consider dealing with Iran's nuclear program and the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who wants to not only completely destroy Israel and all Jews, but who wants to destroy the United States and Western nations.

In President George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address he said:
Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words and all recriminations would come too late. (page 32)

In A Better Country, Mr. Borden rightly states:
[snip] As we should recognize after 9/11, complete certainty is practically impossible now that the threat combines terrorism and WMD.

If the President breaks faith with us, or if we break faith with the President, we become defenseless in a dangerously uncertain world. When the Democrats attacked the President's credibility, they aimed to deprive him of the powers of his office. They choose instead to believe in the U.N. They have argued since 2003 that the President broke faith with them. The truth is, they had refused from the start of his presidency to put any faith in him. The war in Iraq has divided us further because we were already divided. (page 67)


My friends, we live in a divided nation, yes, but we are all Americans. Is it possible to put these divisions behind us, to put the nation first ahead of politics? I pray we can my friends, because we face many threats in the years ahead. Iran is the next big threat we must face. Can we learn lessons from Iraq to defeat our enemies? First we must recognize and understand the past, what happened in the run up to Iraq, during the first years of Iraq, and what is happening even today.
We have a Democrat candidate for President who based his candidacy on pulling troops out of Iraq. As individual American citizens we have some tough battles and decisions ahead of us. I suggest you read A Better Country because Mr. Borden will inform you, he will make you think, he will give your sources to back up your discussions with others on the subject.

Now GO, buy this book, read it and share it with your friends and foes: Amazon.com $16.15. The best money you'll spend this month.