Year Five

Today is the fifth anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I distinctly remember watching on television the beginning of the initial bombing. "Shock and awe" was the phrase used in the run up to psych out the Hussein regime. I was neither shocked nor awed by the video shown on television. I thought at the time that it should have been at least twice as much, the old Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force, but no one asked me.

I was not in favor of war in Iraq but I knew Hussein had to be removed. My husband had forged friendships in country and he said 'we have to help them'. So, I was resigned to our action.

In 2004, Obama said, "There's not that much difference from President Bush, at this point." That of the war in Iraq. Now, to hear Obama's speeches, nothing has gone right and it's the standard lines of 'Bush's war' and flowers to the MoveOn crowd.

As John McCain fact finds around the neighborhood, in the region, walking the walk as he does, he is met with swarms of well wishers. The people clamouring to shake his hand, clap his back, hug him all with big smiles on their faces. Privately, the leadership in Israel, for instance, wishes for a McCain administration. Nothing in public will be said in deference to remaining out of our election process. Publicly they reference public polling that shows strong favor for Hillary. Obama is a distance third in choice.

McCain is coming off his eighth trip to Iraq. Along with him were Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, a long time McCain supporter and Senator Joe Leiberman, a strong advocate of the Bush Doctrine in all things terrorism. The three musketeers forging bonds of friendship abroad that will pay off later.

Hillary has been to Iraq twice and Obama once. Obama was there before the surge and only for two days. He cut his time in Iraq short and went on to Israel and Jordan, according to the group in which he traveled.

What are Hillary and Obama doing today? They are both in their own little competition trying to one up each other as to who will surrender on the ground first. Obama can't seem to make a speech without referencing his opposition to the war in Iraq, since his speech in 2002 of which he is so proud. He blasted Hillary again today for voting for the war. He mocked McCain for saying we couldn't leave when things were going poorly, yet we can't leave yet now either as things are so markedly better.

Obama doesn't get it. Or, if he does, he is in no way deserving of the office of Commander-in-Chief.

Hillary is Hillary. Say anything, do anything, to accomplish her goal. No one expected any less from her and we have not been disappointed. She is a woman without a core, no value system, no ability to stay with her gut. She is not an honorable person. She in no way is deserving of the office of Commander-in-Chief.

Obama admits today that the conditions on the ground are better as time goes on. The surge is working. He criticizes the political structure in Iraq. So does everyone but he and Hillary are particularly critical. Why? It's their way out of Iraq. They say, well, look at the politicians. They aren't coming together and putting the country back together. They have to unite.

Easy for them to say. Criticism is the easy way out. Childish behavior from adults who know better.

More Junior officers are re-upping than originally thought. The Army is not "broken" as stated by so-called experts. Maj. General Bob Scales (Ret) has been the first out of the box to say he was wrong to characterize the Army as such a year ago. Re-enlistments remain high, he said. They continue to go back because of the bonds formed. A true band of brothers.

So, by Obama saying the military is stretched too thin, for example, he refers to the actual forces, not offering the suggestion that the number of actual members of the military are increased. That is the solution McCain and others who do know about the military and its needs point out as a much needed action. McCain would increase the military and spend the money to maintain equipment and build new equipment. Obama advocates a cut in military spending, much like the bad old days of the first President Clinton. For all the critics of the military equipment and safety gear available as the war on terror is waged, a continuing omission is that the supplies were diminished during the days of the so-called peace dividend as the Cold War ended. Former President Clinton's administration took it upon themselves to gut the military and reduce the number of active military. We were simply unprepared as a nation to wage two wars at once.

The Bush administration has been unable to communicate the importance of removing Saddam Hussein and his sons. The aftermath was not planned for and the President didn't remove Rumsfeld quickly enough to shorten the war on the ground. All history.

Many documents have been recovered from terrorist safe houses in Iraq. They show clear links to developing plans between Hussein and terrorists in other countries, such as bin Laden. Hussein was already on record as paying families of suicide bombers in Palestine. The threat to Israel was clearly established. Removal of Hussein was our policy as a country, put into place by the Clinton administration. Remember the no-fly zone? Our pilots shot at? The Oil for Food scandal? Seventeen U.N. resolutions?

Facts are stubborn things. I wish more were out there from the administration.

Obama advisor Susan Rice is correct - neither Hillary nor Obama are ready for that 3 am telephone call.