Tim Belshe Columnist

When I found out that I'd be writing a column that would run on June 30, I was immediately thrilled by the idea of writing about something as it was happening.

I would be able to write my first column about Iraq on the same day that the Iraqis gained their sovereignty.

I would show people around the world, or at least around the student union, how it is possible to admit our failings while still recognizing the greater good.

I even had a great context for a headline that I'd been dying to use for months. It seemed as though it was divinely willed.

Then Paul Bremer had to go and move the transfer ceremony up two days, laying to waste my carefully laid plans. Kiss my grits, Paul.

So, on to the first part of this column: liars.

Although a lot of people would like nothing more than to call Bush a liar, it would be pretty hard to pin that word on the president.

After all, we caught Billy Jeff Clinton on tape, and we never could convict him on that perjury charge.

At least the Bush administration isn't quibbling over the definition of common words.

Besides, it's not hard to imagine Saddam Hussein trying to develop weapons of mass destruction

In fact, no one can deny that he had them at one point, since we know that he gassed his own people during the Iran-Iraq war.

That brings us to guns.

There are a great many people disturbed by the violence involved in removing Saddam Hussein.

Although no one should be happy about the violence of war, let's keep in mind the greater good it served.

Saddam Hussein will never harm another human being again, and the people of Iraq are now free to govern themselves.

Regardless of whether we ever find anything more dangerous than a BB gun in Iraq, the freedom of her people alone ought to be worth the bloodshed.

As dismal as it may seem, there are things in the world more important than human lives.

If you doubt this, let's consider the alternative.

The only other suggestion at the time was to follow the French strategy of continuing ineffective inspections, which was obviously nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt at protecting their own investments in Iraq.

Putting aside the fact that the French haven't brought anything more than nostalgia to the international negotiating table for the last hundred years, their plan was still foolish. Saddam Hussein was the root of the problem, and any solution that left him in power was blatantly misguided.

As for money, I can't tell you how tired I am of hearing people whine about Dick Cheney's involvement with the oil industry.

Though it may be hard to believe, there are actually people out there who believe the sole reason we went to war in Iraq was for oil.

Their argument always seems to hinge on the past ties of several Bush administration officials to oil companies.

It's sad to see these people at a university, as they obviously lack basic reasoning skills.

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that there are people in the Bush administration with ties to oil.

Like it or not, oil is a major component of the American economy, so it seems reasonable that at least some of the people in government will have worked in the oil industry at one point or another.

The same is true of any major industry, be it education, construction, medicine or just about anything else you can think of.

In order to have a truly unbiased government, you'd have to stipulate that no one that ever had another job could hold office.

And even then, the government would probably be biased towards the unemployed

It shouldn't be hard to see how the notion that we went to war in Iraq solely for oil is purely moronic.

We may not actually be any safer, al Qaida may still be out to get us and the worst may be yet to come, but at the very least, we have to admit that on June 28, many Iraqis saw a day they never thought they'd live to see.

Whatever your feelings about the president and however much you may hate your government right now, you have to admit that we have accomplished some measure of good in the world, albeit stained in blood. That's not to say that we've finished our task or that we should be eager to take on another, only that there just might have been a point to all of this after all.

Tim Belshe would like to give a shout out to all the Scapers out there recognized the headline of this column. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.