Ping
Wow, very well said. God bless this man and all of our military who face everyday in a two way struggle, fighting an enemy and fighting all the naysayers back home. I can understand why he is tired.
Preach it, brother.
What Israel is experiencing now is proof positive a policy of cutting and running from Iraq would be a far deadlier proposition for the US in the long run than seeing the mission in Iraq through to the end.
Think back on recent history. In 1982, Israel had gone in to Lebanon to stop the kinds of terrorist attacks across its borders that precipitated the current conflict. They maintained a buffer zone presence within Southern Lebanon to prevent terrorists from having enough proximity to Israel to lob rockets and infiltration attacks across Israel's northern border.
However, as a result of an ongoing insurgent operation by Hezbollah forces against Israeli troops similar to that in Iraq, Israel's leaders slowly allowed themselves to be brow beaten by short-sighted Israeli public opinion, and the Clinton administration, into suddenly withdrawing from Southern Lebanon in 2000 without any guarantees by Hezbollah, Syria or Iran that terrorism into Israel would stop.
The result is what we see now. An emboldened Hamas and Hezbollah, with the latter having a vastly inflated reputation in Lebanon as a result of being able to claim they defeated Israel. With that came a greatly enhanced military capacity as arms and recruits flowed in to Hezbollah after Israel allowed itself to give in to a policy of Jack Murtha-like "retreat and defeat" in Southern Lebanon in 2000.
Yassir Arafat and Hamas, seeing how easily the Israelis were made to retreat from Lebanon, figured he could shed enough blood within Israel proper to force Israel to withdraw from Gaza and the West Bank. The result? The second intafada within Israel's borders that broke out in 2000 which left hundreds dead and later a terrorist mini-state within Gaza.
If we cut and run from Iraq, much as Israel is now being forced to confront the failures of its past policy of precipitous withdrawal we'll be back to fighting a far deadlier war against the exact same people in the same place in 6 years--only next time they'll be MUCH stronger and much more entrenched, as the Israelis are discovering to their chagrin about Hezbollah.
What we can accomplish in the next few years in terms of giving the Iraqi security forces the breathing space to become more adequate to the task of taking on terrorist forces will save us a far greater investment of blood and treasure later with what will be an inevitable confrontation with the results of our earlier impatience.
Before we make the same mistake Israel did in retreating out of Lebanon, we need to carefully exam the lessons the Israelis learned from that experience, i.e. that backing down from a fight with terrorists does not cause them to back down. They only grow more formidable as they use the cache of their perceived victory to gain recruits and international sponsors who will arm them to the teeth to press their cause. America retreating from Iraq would not guarantee us peace and the good will of jihadi terrorists, as some Democratic pols have suggested, any more than Israel's retreat from Lebanon resulted in peace and Hezbollah being mollified.
Great letter by LtCol Repya, he nails it.
I'm assuming that speaking such truth to power is probably why a 60 year old is a Lt. Colonel?... or maybe a member of the reserves? Nonetheless, I'm tired too and it was well written and makes some great points.
Ouch! Pity the media won't respond to that one.
You, me and a lot of others also
I haven't heard of that happening. Is he thinking of our favorite Kansas preacher?
I'm tired that some are more concerned about the treatment of captives than they are the slaughter and beheading of our citizens and allies.
The "some" that Lt. Col Repya is referring to includes his commanding officer, Gen. David Petraeus.
Great post kiddo!
bmup
Preaching to the choir...worth it anyway, ping :)
pingaling
You nailed it Joe! You have our %110 support!!!
I completely understand. I've been pretty much thinking the same thing.
A lot of people in this country do not deserve this man. I'll stop now for obvious reasons. (tears)
God bless our servicemen.