Posted on 01/15/2005 7:10:37 PM PST by churchillbuff
YORK In his latest column for Knight Ridder newspapers, famed war correspondent Joseph L. Galloway, a Bronze Star winner, calls for the United States, following Iraqi elections on Jan. 30, to "declare victory and begin leaving."
He joins the rather small band of commentators or editorialists advocating withdrawal.
Last month, in a USA Today column, founder Al Neuharth called for the United States to leave Iraq "sooner rather than later."
Galloway, co-author of "We Were Soldiers Once... and Young," won a Bronze Star in Vietnam after saving the lives of several soldiers and has covered nearly every major conflict since, including the current one.
In his current column he writes that if we stay the course in Iraq "we're likely doomed to an even bloodier and more costly defeat in a country divided along ethnic and religious fault lines and headed toward civil war. ...
"The problem is that there is no way we can win -- defeat the insurgents and install a stable, democratic, friendly government -- and bad things are going to happen anyway. There is no way Americans are willing to pay the price even of stalemate, never mind an unattainable victory. ...
"Why can't we win? Because we charged in with false premises and bogus assumptions. Because for every insurgent we kill, two or three more join the cause. Because even our advertised victories -- like Fallujah, where we apparently had to destroy the city in order to save it, or Samarra or Ramadi -- only turned the entire Sunni population against the United States and its Iraqi allies. ...
"If we learned nothing else from the bitter history of Vietnam it should be that there are places and people who won't accept change and won't quit fighting until even the most powerful nation and army in the world wearies of the killing and dying. ...
"As we approach the second anniversary of our invasion of Iraq we need to be discussing and debating what we are gaining, if anything, from this war and what we are losing."
Excellent summary! "Misunderestimation" has always been the Bush political "strategery."
Thanks, folks. I appreciate what ya'll are doing here on FreeRepublic.
Dubya: Meek, you're right! FreeRepublic.com IS the "Best site on the 'Net!"
"Joe Galloway.
Was he on the ballot in November?"
I did not find his name on my ballot. I voted for President Bush as CIC. He won,too.
Pray for our troops who will be delivering ballot boxes, election materials and trying to protect against terror attacks at the polls.
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2005/01/aiding_and_abbe.html
Aiding and Abetting the Enemy
Below is an essay by Lieutenant Colonel Tim Ryan - a Task Force (Battalion +) Commander in Iraq - who has some words about the Fourth Estate:
Thanks, folks! :^)
Thanks. The key is that our opponents are repeating their Afghan elections mistake. They built that election up as "not being possible" and that it would have "too much violence" and that "the country wouldn't participate in the vote," etc.
They are rehashing all of their failed spin from the successful Afghan elections over to the impending Iraqi elections. The entire press corps believes that there will be enormous violence in Iraq against the elections, just as they wrongly told us would happen in Afghanistan.
Oh sure, there will be a little violence; possibly 4 or 5 car bombings, a suicide bomber or two, some random mortar rounds...I mean, there are 48 attacks per day on average in Iraq that wind up killing 1 or 2 Americans and a dozen or so Iraqis. We'll see some level of violence at that plateau or perhaps a bit more.
But look over to the calm, peaceful, beach paradise of Rio de Janero, Brazil. Everyone knows that it's a tranquil utopia, after all, we only hear glowing tales from the liberal news media about Rio's bathing beauties and tourist bargains.
But on average *each day*, there are 110 adults shot dead in Brazil (mostly in Rio's slums). Far more are wounded every day. More still are beaten, knifed, drowned, poisoned, and car bombed.
But we in the U.S. and Asia and Europe are denied the perspective of what violence looks like in Rio versus the chaotic, war-torn quagmire of Iraq (where fewer than 20 people in sum are killed every day).
Does anyone doubt that Rio could hold a successful election today?! Of course not.
But people doubt that same thing about Iraq, even though there are fewer deaths each day during the current WAR than in Rio during their PEACE!
Such is the power of the press. Who among us would think twice about sending our children on a vacation to Brazil, yet how many of us would hesitate to do that same thing to Iraq?!
We are being denied the true reality of both Iraq and Brazil, and this denial has caused many to form conclusions based upon slanted facts. This is not the fault of the average Joe on the street. If the facts were given plainly to such a man, he'd form accurate conclusions. But those facts aren't being given to him accurately; they're being slanted.
Which is to say, everyone is making the same mistake about Iraq's elections that were made during the pessimistic run up to Afghanistan's elections.
...And once again, the predicted violence before and during the elections is going to be anti-climatic.
Which brings me back to my key point: the lack of subtantial violence during Iraq's elections at the end of this month will PROVE the media hype wrong. AGAIN.
If you want one talking point: ask any reporter what it will mean if the Iraqi resistance fails to damage the election turnout.
Yep. Thanks for that info. I had no idea about Rio de Janeiro. What a heckhole that place sounds like.Nothing the media does surprises me anymore. They may shock me sometimes, but they don't surprise me.
I also recall early on in Afghanistan, when the coalition forces began the operation, and it didn't go quite fast enough for the media's way of thinking that it should, they were fast to pull out the "quagmire" card then, too. As I recall, about 3-4 weeks later, we "OWNED" [controlled] Afghanistan for the most part.
The elections in Iraq will be a success and the Liberal media and the Liberals in general will have egg on their face,
and they will look really bad in the newspapers the next day!NOT!! The media will move on to the next "Republican caused disaster". Probably how Bush is gonna rob grandma of her social security, or something.
ha! Yeah. Exactly! :^D
I've been a regular reader of Joe's column for a couple years. He never supported this war, from what I remember.
I think he's stuck in the Vietnam mentality, and has become even more pacifistic since growing older. I've noticed this phenom. in older warriors. They seem to discount selective facts...
Maybe Joe is hanging out with too many Hollywood types.
My brother is a senior this year and is going to Marine bootcamp July 5th. His MOS will have something do to with UAVs.
I still have 3 long years before I get to go...
"My son is one of those now in uniform. He has completed one deployment to Afghanistan. I expect he'll be going back, either to Afghanistan or to Iraq or to wherever he's needed.
From among the young men and women who serve with him, that I've met, I've not detected anything in their character or resolve to cause me the slightest concern they might falter -- not one little bit. Quite the opposite."
May God bless you and you dear son. Tell him this American respects and supports him. I dearly appreciate what he and other like him are doing. I am a father also. I am 50, but married late in life. I have a single child, my son who just turned 9 years old. It is my prayer that when he
is of military age he will serve also, and do so with honor and pride. However, I will be selfish and say I hope this current crop of fine young folks can finish this so my son won't have to.
Tell your son also that I feel ashamed that I am unable to be there to help.
"My brother is a senior this year and is going to Marine bootcamp July 5th. His MOS will have something do to with UAVs.
I still have 3 long years before I get to go..."
With young men like your brother and you, I know we will prevail. God Bless you both.
haha! :^DI'll see your three bumps and raise you three!
bump! bump! bump!
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Armchair General Magazine's War Forum "WE WERE SOLDIERS" Thread:
HAL G. MOORE: The Legacy and Lessons of an American Warrior
http://www.war-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14752&page=1&pp=15
.
bump!
'Pulling out' = surrender.
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