The anarchy close to home

KENNETT, Mo. -- There is no doubt that America will prevail in our government's efforts to remove the threat of Saddam Hussein's regime. It was only a few days ago that our president unleashed the power of the greatest military force in the history of mankind and the world looked on in wonder as new weapons of destruction were unleashed upon a nation that could not have been prepared for the deadly weapons that are capable of destroying more human lives than once existed on Earth. It was an awesome and terrifying display of military power that sealed the fate of Hussein's government and changed, if for only an historical moment, the annals of our history.

No one can possibly foretell what will happen next as the free world seeks to protect itself from those who would not only emulate the threat of a Saddam Hussein but may quite possibly be even more dangerous to national security and peace among nations. Indeed, as the United States assumes an even more powerful image than it had before March 20, there will likely be future challenges that demand both the notice and attention now afforded Iraq.

Let there be no doubt as to the presence in many of the world's national neighborhoods of the threat of evil and the virtually singular power of the United States to challenge and overcome these troubling dangers. Like it or not, Americans have given tacit approval to the role their government will play in the preservation of world order and peace. Subject only to some future administrations elected on a platform of U.S. withdrawal from world diplomacy, the policies of President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will prevail well into the future, dependent only on future opinion polls and the ability or willingness, or both, to spend taxpayer dollars for political and military correctness.

Surely no one in America can honestly oppose policies designed to restore or extend the protection of all human beings from danger, oppression and the dangerous aspirations of fanatics such as Saddam Hussein. An oppressed minority or even a majority in any part of the world has suddenly become unacceptable, even if the means of eradicating them by military action is viewed from the outside as benign and nonthreatening.

The charade presented by overly ambitious and evilly disposed world leaders will certainly continue even as the present military offensive winds down. The world will experience no shortage of those who see oppression as the best, most effective way of gaining and holding their power, and the United States has become, like it or not, both the repository and dispenser of law-and-order and political-economic-religious freedom. We turn from this responsibility at greater risk to ourselves and future American generations.

Just as this column was being prepared, I received information that will soon be released at the 14th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect that will be held in April in St. Louis. Information from this conference will reveal disturbing trends on how our great American society treats -- or mistreats -- its children. The results of a study by the Missouri Children's Trust Fund found that there is far more maltreatment of our children than is presently realized. The study discloses the direct costs of just one type of this juvenile mistreatment -- Shaken Baby Syndrome -- in our allegedly civilized state of Missouri. The result of this study will shock you:

Missouri spent at least $6.9 million, or approximately $32,000 each, on the 214 identified SBS victims. These direct costs included $4 million in Medicaid expenses, $1.9 million for Division of Family Services expenditures, and nearly $1 million for Department of Mental Health care and treatment.

For this single syndrome, the United States spends $94 billion annually in response to abuse, an expenditure which amounts to $1,451.66 per family per year and $258 million daily.

These statistics confirm only too well that some Americans who expressed concern about the care and safety of the victims of Saddam Hussein's regime were barely or not at all affected by their own culpability toward their own children and family members.

Indeed, there appears to be a capacity of sickening willingness by many of our fellow citizens to inflict abuse on young children, including physical, educational and emotional neglect, physical harm, sexual abuse and emotional abuse -- all patterns of behavior that impair our children's emotional development and sense of self-worth.

In 2001, thousands of Missouri's children suffered some type of maltreatment and, according to Missouri's Foundation for Children Abuse Prevention, 3,458 children were subjected to parental neglect, while 2,170 children were victims of sexual abuse, and 2,101 became victims of physical abuse, with 918 suffering from other forms of harm and neglect.

The statistics are even more terrifying when viewed nationally, with 862,455 children falling victims last year to all forms of maltreatment, with 23.2 percent of the victims aged three years or younger.

It seems almost preposterous to object to official cruelty in other worlds when there is such a preponderance of it within our own civilized world, carried out by red-white-and-blue American "patriots."

Our forefathers built an America of great expectations, and this spirit has strengthened our resolve and inspired our souls and hearts, here and around the world. We told those who would listen that America was always the future and the world believed us. After all, great nations do not ignore the safety and well-being of their most vulnerable, their children.

Great nations rise from the strength of their children. It is a truth we dare not ignore.

Jack Stapleton is the editor of Missouri News & Editorial Service.