This is the last, best chance for victory in Iraq. I don't know if the surge of troops into Baghdad and other areas will be successful. I know the effort must be made.
The politicians and media opposing the war effort in Iraq do not understand that a victory in Iraq is a win for America, not a win for President Bush. The low poll numbers on the support of the war and the president, after the American public has been beat over the head on a daily basis with nothing but bad news and cynical media figures with an agenda, have emboldened the nay-sayers at the expense of our country. Maybe the cynics just are not able to comprehend the big picture. Loathing an administration on a purely political level does strange things to thought processes.
The speech last night laid out the troop surge and the fact that now the Iraqi leaders must step up and meet certain benchmarks for the U.S. to continue to support them. In the past, the benchmarks have been met, whether it was voting, writing a constitution or the like. We, as Americans not Republicans and Democrats, must show faith and support this one last time.
Senator Dick "Gulags" Durbin recited the Democrats response to the speech. He thinks the new direction the American people want in Iraq is surrender and retreat. Senator Barack Obama, fully clothed this time, the least experienced on the Foreign Relations committee, was interviewed on CNN. CNN, the network loved by our enemies, asked no hard questions of the current heartthrob of the left. He said we must immediately 'redeploy' to other countries. Redeploy means surrender and leave.
Durbin and President Bush agree on one point - the government of Iraq must now stand on its own. I'm sure Durbin would never have uttered that statement if he realized that was a part of the President's speech. Durbin has no intention of showing any support for the sake of American victory. He has been consistent on that all along. He was shocked when he gave his speech on the floor of the Senate a while ago and slandered American troops by stating they were conducting Gitmo as the gulags under the Soviets. C-SPAN picked up the speech and I remember I was watching it at the time and my jaw dropped. Fortunately others saw it and as a result of the following press days later, he had to issue an apology, complete with tears at the thought it might influence voters against him at the next election.
The Dems pledge their support to the military, every resource they will need, we are told. Except for funding and support of the mission. Or faith in their success. With support like that what else do those in the military need?
Senator John McCain, the father of a Marine in Iraq and a former POW in Vietnam, thinks the plan will succeed. He supports the plan of clearing and holding. He understands better than most that if we surrender now, chaos will spread around the region. This is the last chance for Maliki and he must perform.
The argument is often made that when the funding was cut for the war in Vietnam and the troops came home, that was final. The enemy didn't follow us home. The case is different now. The enemy will follow us home this time. They were already here, on September 11, 2001 and in 1993, before that day. Elements of IslamoFacism continue to tell us that the goal for their world view is the elimination of Israel and then bringing down America. I can think of no other reason to succeed in Iraq.
The American media is too heavily invested in a Democratic president in 2008 to bring more than the worst of the news out of the region. They are planning on President Hillary Clinton and her husband, their best bud, Bill. In the coming days, you will see members of the Republican party who are not in favor of more troops in Iraq to be given the red carpet treatment. The media will interview them with relish and hold them up as fine examples of patriotic politicians. I doubt no one's patriotism. This is difficult stuff. The problem comes in with the fact that the terrorists are gleeful over the divide in this country. They will simply wait it out.
What is needed is for the country to come together. Not forever, I'm not naive. A presidential election is on the horizon. Many current Senators are running as well as some in the House. They will not put country over personal ambition, unfortunately. This one last effort is worthy.
"Despite all the hardships, however, we Iraqis were able to raise the rudimentary pillars of our nascent democracy by writing a constitution, electing a parliament based on that constitution and granting a vote of confidence to a government through that elected parliament. It is not fair to look at Iraq as a collections of failures without identifying its successes. The birth of a new nation is not easy, but just as your nation has become a beacon for democracy, we hope that Iraq will one day do the same". - Tariq al- Hashimi, Vice President of the Republic of Iraq
3 comments:
The politicians and media opposing the war effort in Iraq do not understand that a victory in Iraq is a win for America, not a win for President Bush.
I think they do understand it, but just don't care enough to put America's needs over their own political ambitions, which is far worse. Kennedy, Durbin, Reid, Pelosi, ... I truly believe they will strive for American failure unless and until there is a democrat in the white house, and I believe they know full well what they are doing.
President Bush is risking it all politically. His speech last night was an all in gamble, with his entire reputation and legacy riding on, of all things, Iraqis. There is no political calculation in this. If he wanted a political out, the ISG gave him all the cover he needed. No, he is quite plainly putting what he thinks is best for the country before politics, and taking all the responsibility and blame for the outcome. He's doing it out of duty, for the beneift of the country, because he thinks its right. He may be wrong, and he may fail, but the man has courage.
These other jokers on the other hand, risk nothing. Instead of joining Bush to fight the enemy, they instead fight Bush at every turn, never yet offering any useful suggestions of their own, and giving consistent comfort to the enemy. Why? For their own political benefit, nothing more.
In my book these people, Kennedy, Reid, Pelosi, Durbin, have lost all claim to being considered patriots. Patriotic people can criticize how we got into this war, how we have waged it, and wether we should continue it. But these cynical, shallow, self-serving buffoons at the top of the democratic party just want America to lose until they can take credit for the victory. There are no words to express how despicable they are.
It's really difficult to support this effort by this President when you believe in your heart that we created this mess we're in now by going in initially, and the reason that Iraq has grown exponentially in value to those who would seek to do American harm is in large part because of the weaknesses instilled by virtue of our initial invasion three years ago. I know we don't agree on this point, (and that you love me anyway because you are just that awesome ;-)) but I think Bush's legacy was written in the sand a long, long time ago, and we'll be left to sweep up the remnants for years, maybe even decades, to come.
Andrew Sullivan wrote an excellent piece on this today, here.
In the interest of full disclosure, I voted for GWB. The first time around, at least.
This is a war like no other we have ever had. It is a religious war, whether you want to believe this or not. This is where I differ with the President. His take is that most who follow Islam want peace and it just isn't so.
This is a war to the death. All Christians of any religious affiliation, anywhere in the world are the targets.... in fact, atheists are targets too. ANYONE who refuses to convert to Islam is considered an Infidel and must be killed. Anyone who believes that "they won't follow us home" has taken their personal freedom for granted too long.... so long that it now puts all Americans at risk. Islamists do kill their own... but they firmly believe that is a glorious thing!
The followers of Islam are fully prepared to die for their cause. Yet, we are no longer prepared to die for our freedom.
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