I don't like finding about more U.S. deaths in Iraq every time I check the news, but that's the reality of our times. Whenever I learn about one of my countrymen dying in battle, it feels like I've been smacked in the face with a two by four. Needless to say, my virtual face looks pretty damn ugly right now.
But I don't want to be cut off from the truth, and the truth is that this is a painful, costly and vital mission that must not fail. I'll be damned if I ever lose sight of that, or forget how crucial the work of our troops is in defending my homeland.
I have a problem with the way things are being handled in Iraq, but it is not the same problem leftists have. My problem is the realization that we should not be trying to win a popularity contest in Iraq, which apparently is our goal based on our actions there.
U.S. troops being forbidden to fly our nation's flag? I will never agree with such utter nonsense. It's a disgrace, an insult to those sworn to defend our flag and the nation it represents, and a crime against those soldiers who are denied their sacred right to die under the colors of their country.
We are in Iraq to impose a new government by force, not by acclamation. After all, Saddam Hussein won 100% of the vote in the last election, a fine example of "democracy in action", and we are there overturning the "will of the people" by such euphemistic standards.
As in past wars, including those in Europe, the west Pacific and more recently in Afghanistan, we are in Iraq to neutralize a dangerous enemy and convert that enemy to an ally. We have done it before, and we'll do it again as many times as we must. We have no other choice except our own destruction.
In the Middle East, nice guys do indeed finish last, and become the targets of opportunity for every bad guy or would-be bad guy in the region, a description which includes a huge number of people.
From a strategic standpoint, I believe our forces are making a crucial mistake in Iraq: we are trying to be liked. This is the wrong approach. As things stand, the Iraqi people fear Saddam's loyalists and Al Qaeda more than they fear American troops. This leads to disrespect, which leads to contempt, which leads to mobs dragging the bodies of U.S. troops through the streets.
Every incident where U.S. troops are killed demands ruthless reprisals, informed and directed by top-notch intelligence. The U.S. Constitution applies within the borders of the United States, not to foreign war zones. Swift military tribunals and public executions must reign supreme until Iraq establishes its sovereignty and is able to stand on its own. This can all be accomplished with brutal efficiency without violating the Geneva or Hague conventions, and the alternative is not only more U.S. casualties in Iraq, but possible mission failure.
If U.S. leaders and military commanders fail in Iraq because they were too nice or politically correct, I will never forgive them, and teach my children and their children to curse their names. Do not abandon the needs of our nation for your own vanity and ambitions, lest you earn and incur the undying wrath of your countrymen.
Iraq, and the world, must come to fear the U.S. military, not love it. While we may be Iraq's liberators, we must make sure that once our troops are gone, Iraq will never want to see them return for any reason. We must ensure that the prospect of American troops returning to Iraq is far less desirable than a return to Baathist totalitarianism. And that means we must be even meaner and nastier than the Baathists.
No one, anywhere, should come to favor the presence of American troops over solving their own problems, lest we be drawn into endless conflict leading to our ultimate ruin.
My advice is a bitter prescription, especially for a people we wish to have as allies, but history shows that our best allies are those whom we have defeated soundly and indisputably in battle. That truth may be unpalatable to some who are ignorant of history and prefer fantasy to fact, but it is nonetheless the truth, against which all contrary opinion is irrelevant.
Even our closest allies, in the end, should fear our wrath. Otherwise, they will themselves eventually become enemies, and possibly our masters.
It is long past time that we demonstrate beyond contention that contempt for the U.S. is not only unprofitable, but fatal. This means doing things we'd rather not do, including lining thugs, rapists and murderers up against walls and killing them. Once such beasts are either cowed or exterminated, then, and only then, our mission becomes feasible and our nation more secure.
Having established ourselves as a strong and resolute force for justice that cannot to be opposed by any means, we can move on and rid the world of the kind of savage scum that murder women and children simply for being women and children.
President Bush, I urge you, no, I beg you to change our military policy. Please, for the sake of our warriors, their families and all Americans, please teach all enemies of the United States to fear our troops!
Excellent.
This Administration is hell bent on wanting these people to be our friends and it is convinced it can build a country in our likeness. That's impossible and will never happen.
There it is.
Post of the Year!
If U.S. leaders and military commanders fail in Iraq because they were too nice or politically correct, I will never forgive them, and teach my children and their children to curse their names. Do not abandon the needs of our nation for your own vanity and ambitions, lest you earn and incur the undying wrath of your countrymen.
