Posted on 08/12/2006 2:47:04 PM PDT by SandRat
BAGHDAD, Aug. 12, 2006 – The will of the United States is the only question in whether the nation’s effort in Iraq and Afghanistan will succeed, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today. “There is no way to militarily lose this war,” Marine Gen. Peter Pace said, speaking to reporters traveling with him while en route here. “The only way we can lose is if we decide that we just don’t want to do it. And if we decide that, that would not end the involvement, it would simply shift it from its current battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan to our home.”
Pace said support for the war is a concern for him, “because the American military fights the wars that the nation wants us to fight. The American people’s will is a very important part of that,” he said. “I have faith in the American people’s ability to find the right boundaries.”
He said Americans need to remember the events of Sept. 11, 2001. The United States did not start the war, he said,but “if we were to come home, the war would simply follow us home. I believe the American people would understand that.”
Pace, a Vietnam veteran, said the American people are still very supportive of servicemembers. He assures soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines he meets during trips of that fact.
Americans must understand that this is a long war, he said, and it is not of U.S. choosing. “Our walking away would not stop the enemy from following us home,” he said. Al Qaeda extremists have been very explicit in their aims, he noted; they want their ideology to triumph, and they want the freedoms and liberty personified by the United States to end.
“Americans are slow to anger, desirous of living peacefully, but also have a point that if you cross it, they raise up a strength that our enemies will never understand,” he said. “That strength was manifested on 9/11, and it will continue.”
The chairman said a dialogue about U.S. involvement in the war is important. “But there shouldn’t be one about whether we will defend ourselves,” he said. “As a nation, our enemies must know we will do this as long as it takes. We fought the Cold War for 50 years, we’ll fight this one for 50 years if we have to.”
General Pace sums it up in language even idiots can understand. Note to Democrats, this is not Vietnam.
This all true but...The LIBERALS control many facets of our society now. From the media, to education to the halls of congress. World Wars I & II would never have been won today due to this. I'm sorry but there are TOO MANY forces at work in (and out) of America to undermine it. It's not a matter of if, but WHEN!
Pace is right, of course.
But America has demonstrated that, since 1960, if we bleed, we leave.
Vietnam, Beirut and Mogadishu have certainly given credence to that idea.
Our rich and well-educated elites have turned against the idea of America and construct us as a racist, sexist, imperialist, oppressive society interested only in ruling and exploiting those who cannot defend themselves.
We need to win at home before we can abroad.
McVey
Sad but true. And we can do it. I don't quite know what to make of that recent "poll" that 60% of fewer than 1,000 Americans feel Iraq is going in the wrong direction. I'm sure it's all of the 52% or 54% of the dems who were polled (we all know it's always more than 50% dems) as well as, probably, about 10% of the Republicans who feel we should have turned Iraq into a glass parking lot four years ago and aren't being forceful enough. (I'm kind of in that 10%.) I pray for the safety of our troops, and for the success of their mission, whatever and wherever it may be.
Good read here on work to be done home side:
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2006/08/ct_blog_experts_on_closing_the.php
Then as long as nearly half of our people are Democrats, we cannot succed.
I ought to save this to my desktop so I can copy 'n paste it a zillion times a day.
Ping
Thanks for the post and ping.
Excellent piece by General Pace and it didn't take six hours in front of a Senate Committee to say it. He doesn't spin the simple truth.
General Pace simply rehashes what has been said so many times over the past five years. However. I am in total agreement with what he had to say.
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