Posted on 05/28/2004 8:51:29 PM PDT by FairOpinion
Lately, it seems that not a day can pass without Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Al Gore, John Kerry and their ideological soul mates in the mainstream media making acerbic comments about how the Bush administration has handled the war on terrorism. For those of us who disagree with them, it is easy enough to "attack the attackers" and many people, myself included, have done exactly that. However, in and of itself, that is not an adequate response. Instead of debating whether or not the war on terror has been a failure, the truth, that war on terror has been an overwhelming success so far, must be told. Despite what we hear daily from the "nattering nabobs of negativity" in our country, we should be proud of the magnificent job that George W. Bush, his administration, our troops, and our intelligence services have done fighting the war on terrorism. In perhaps the two most perfectly executed military campaigns ever waged on this earth, our troops smashed the Taliban and Saddam Hussein's regime, freeing 50 million people from tyrants who had made the lives of their people into a living hell.
In Afghanistan, we were told going in that the war would be long, difficult, and perhaps even unwinnable. A lesser man than George Bush might have gotten weak kneed at the prospect of sending our troops into a "mountainous Vietnam" and found some sort of excuse not to go. But, not only did we take the fight to our enemies in Afghanistan, we bombed Al-Qaeda's camps, decimated the Taliban, drove them out of power in less than two months, and sent our enemies running to Pakistan and remote caves on the Afghan border, where they live even today as hunted men. This is even more impressive than it sounds since our defeatist press was crying "quagmire" & "Vietnam" as we bombed our enemies into oblivion.
Then in Iraq, we removed Saddam Hussein, an anti-American tyrant & sponsor of terrorism who started two wars of aggression in the region while he simultaneously raped, tortured, and butchered his own people with a zeal matched by few figures in modern history. Once the war began, the performance of our military was again incomparable. Saddam's forces were defeated, scattered to the four winds in less than a month, even as the press, a week into the war, was again baying the dreaded "V word" loud and often.
Since then, the occupation of Iraq has been tougher than anticipated, but our troops have performed superbly under the most difficult of circumstances and Iraq is on track towards Democracy. As expected, the press has obsessively focused on the negatives: looting, violence, & Abu Ghraib. But on June 30th, sovereignty will be handed over to the Iraqis and in January of next year, the Iraqis are scheduled to have national elections to go along with the local elections that have happened across most of Iraq already. A cesspool of terrorism & anti-American hatred is being turned into a democracy, one that may help push the whole region towards freedom, because of the rock ribbed leadership of the Bush administration and the brilliant and determined performance of our soldiers on the ground.
But wait, there's more! Even if there were a terrorist attack inside the continental United States tomorrow, our intelligence agencies and the oft demonized John Ashcroft should be praised for successfully defending the homeland from Al-Qaeda for more than 2 1/2 years of war. How many people would have believed that was possible on September 12, 2001?
Of course, it may have been easier than some had expected to protect our country from Al-Qaeda since roughly 2/3rd's of Al-Qaeda's leadership has been captured and around 3000 rank and file members of Al-Qaeda have been "incapacitated" since 9/11. Perhaps that's also one of the reasons why, in 2003, annual international terrorist attacks dropped to their lowest level since 1969.
Furthermore, formerly "terrorist friendly" nations like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Libya are now fervently pursuing terrorists inside of their own borders. And speaking of Pakistan and Libya, a nuclear arms ring based out of Pakistan is now out of business and one of its best customers, Libya, has now given up its WMD programs and is attempting to rejoin the family of nations. All of this is thanks to George Bush's diplomacy.
However, all of these triumphs for America are ignored by grandstanding politicians and a hostile press which incessantly snipes at the Bush administration, usually over comparatively minor issues. What must be understood is that they're missing the forest for the trees. Despite the setbacks and difficulties we've experienced, President Bush has accomplished more on the foreign policy front in less than one full term than the last 4 Democratic Presidents, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, and Clinton, did combined!
All this brings to mind a Theodore Roosevelt quote that's a favorite of mine, "It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out where the strong man stumbled, or where a doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, and who comes up short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause. The man who at best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, fails while daring greatly, so that his place will never be with those cold timid souls who never knew victory or defeat."
"The man in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood" is one George W. Bush and waging a war on terrorism in an age when defending America has become a partisan issue must certainly be considered "daring greatly". We are lucky to have such a man in the White House, because like other great American Presidents of times gone by, he is leading America towards victory in a worthy cause.
"In Afghanistan, we were told going in [by stupid libs who hate both our freedom and our miltary] that the war would be long, difficult, and perhaps even unwinnable."
The libs were wrong.
AGAIN.
BTTT
bump to the top.
bump !
This is one of the reasons why I never listen to or watch the news anymore. I get my news here and even then, I give myself regular breaks.
The major media can all shove it all up their collective rears as far as I'm concerned. They'd just be putting it back where it came from.
Dittos to all that you said. It is truely heart-warming to read an editorial that not only does not demean President Bush, but instead lauds him and our troops for what they have ACCOMPLISHED. Needless to say, I despise the media.
The article is impressive, and should be repeated.
But frankly, Bush could take a swat at a housefly and pass Bill Clinton on national security. The bar wasn't set too high there.
Thanks for the post and heads up !! Good article!Lately, it seems that not a day can pass without Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Al Gore, John Kerry and their ideological soul mates in the mainstream media making acerbic comments about how the Bush administration has handled the war on terrorism.
"George W. Bush’s Vietnam" ... quagmire ... "Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management, U.S. management" ... Bush bad ... Democrats good ... blah, blah, blah ! ....
However, all of these triumphs for America are ignored by grandstanding politicians and a hostile press which incessantly snipes at the Bush administration, usually over comparatively minor issues. What must be understood is that they're missing the forest for the trees. Despite the setbacks and difficulties we've experienced, President Bush has accomplished more on the foreign policy front in less than one full term than the last 4 Democratic Presidents, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, and Clinton, did combined!
[Expletive deleted] !!!
Sounds like the makings of a new most wanted "card deck" to me. Any artists out there?
Michael Moore
Any Baldwin, or all of them
Streisand
Air Amerika A** Wipes
on and on...
And speaking of Pelosi:Exposed: Pelosi's Socialist Ties
Pelosi leader of 'Progressive Caucus'
From those links, these excerpts ...
"DSA/USA, the 'Democratic Socialists of America' are the U.S. arm of the Socialist International. They share the symbol of the fist holding the rose, and they share the tasks to be accomplished — in our case, an altogether different America ...
"Some time ago — the date is missing from the descriptions — 58 members of the U.S. House of Representatives formed a subdivision of the Democratic Socialists of America and called it the Progressive Caucus. Their statement of purpose, as well as their membership list, formed an integral part of the dsausa Web site (www.dsausa.org ). The membership list appeared on the screen with the continuous background of the fist holding the rose, should anyone have missed the connection with the Socialist International."
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the likely [she is now] new minority leader in the House of Representatives, serves on the executive committee of the socialist-leaning Progressive Caucus, a bloc of about 60 votes or nearly 30 percent of the minority vote in the lower chamber.
The Democratic Socialists of America's chief organizing goal is to work within the Democratic Party and remove the stigma attached to "socialism" in the eyes of most Americans.
"Stress our Democratic Party strategy and electoral work," explains an organizing document of the DSA. "The Democratic Party is something the public understands, and association with it takes the edge off. Stressing our Democratic Party work will establish some distance from the radical subculture and help integrate you to the milieu of the young liberals."
While I do worry about Iraq and or troops, this article is far closer to the truth then anything ABC, CBS, NBC or CNN tells us.
BUMP!
Amen, indeed...
Anyone capable of remembering, and putting in perspective, world events longer ago than day before yesterday should know this. That the mainstream press does not act as if they knew it says to me that they are more partisan and perverse than they are ignorant.
BTTT
The one point in the article that I find off-mark.
The truth of the matter is that the grandstanding politicians and the hostile press are doing their damnedest to hide the forest behind the trees.
bump!
The Democrat Party is the main element of the Political Wing of the Socialist Movement. The Liberal Elite Press is a large part of the Media Wing of the Movement. The teachers union and Leftist professors are part of the Indoctrination Wing of the Movement, etc, etc.
Florida election 2002 taught many of us this lesson.
It became clear early on in the election year that Florida's press was putting out mostly DNC "opinion" - and fake polls, as "news", while ignoring the very real accomplishments, endorsements, and reliable polls - facts - "news" re. Jeb Bush.
It didn't take us long to realize that Gannett Florida, a major Fla. political news source, was not only pro-DNC, but actively anti-Jeb Bush.
We still sent letters to the editors of local papers, phoned local TV news outlets, but then bypassed the press, and found and shared the news with others through the net - homeschoolers, church groups, neighbors, Veterans groups, friendly media - and it worked!
The domestic opponents couldn't monitor our efforts (or control with spin), and still don't know what happened.
But we do.
May and June '03, post embeds, I hounded members of the press, pols - daily phone calls, mass-emails - asking them to please listen to the primary sources and to report the daily good works of the troops. There were daily amazing reports from the primary news sources - those who run and fight the war - humanitarian work, and bad guys removed - neglected daily by our press. Check my homepage, scroll down past news, for earlier CENTCOM links. We can all make the case against our domestic so-called allies in minutes re. their bad reporting, and how they misled the world then - in those early crucial weeks - giving international cowards a chance to pull out promised support in troops and $$$ and emboldening our enemies. There is no defense for the press-pols. They KNEW they weren't reporting the whole truth, and were not supporting the troops on Capitol Hill - parroting the press's misinformation to their own misinformed constituents.
Bypass the press.
Put out the facts.
It takes time...and patience...but it works.
Thank God for FR, fellow Freepers, and freedom-loving allies around the world.
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