How much more time, one Marine asked, should the Iraqi government be given to achieve the political unity necessary to stabilize the country?
(File)
AP
Posted on 08/13/2006 10:40:35 AM PDT by Dubya
AP) FALLUJAH, Iraq The top U.S. general dropped into this volatile city Sunday to hear what was on the minds of Marines doing battle daily with a resilient and deadly insurgency. Some of what he heard sounded like a sign of creeping doubt — not about the Marines' mission but about the wider purpose it is supposed to be serving as the U.S. war death count tops 2,600.
On his first visit to Fallujah as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Peter Pace stood before 1,300 troops — mostly Marines — and assured them that the American public supports them. And he predicted that Americans would continue to support the war.
"I think sometimes when you are out here at the tip of the spear, you wonder what's going on back in the United States and do you all still have the support of your fellow citizens," Pace said. "The answer is, yes, you do."
Public support for the troops doesn't extend to the Iraq war itself, however. More than half, 58 percent, said in a Newsweek poll out this weekend that the United States is losing ground in Iraq and opposition to the war has been growing.
During his meeting with the troops, the general also took questions.
How much more time, one Marine asked, should the Iraqi government be given to achieve the political unity necessary to stabilize the country?
"I guess they have as long as it takes," Pace replied, quickly adding, "Which is not forever."
Pace argued that setting a deadline by which the United States would withdraw its support would risk pushing the Iraqis into political decisions that are unviable. On the other hand, he said, "You do not want to leave it open ended."
Another Marine wanted to know if U.S. troops would stay in Iraq in the event of an all-out civil war. Pace repeated what he told a Senate committee last week: a civil war is possible, but not expected. He did not say what the United States would do if it actually happened.
Another asked what the United States would do if the Iraqi government did not support extending the U.N. resolution that authorizes the presence of American and other foreign troops in Iraq. Pace said the Iraqis already have said they favor extending the U.S. mandate, which expires in December.
One Marine wound up his question about the pace of U.S. troop deployments to Iraq by asking, "Is the war coming to an end?"
Pace didn't answer directly. He said Pentagon officials and military leaders are trying to keep enough troops in Iraq to achieve the mission of training Iraqi troops to take over the security mission, while avoiding having so many that it creates an Iraqi dependency.
There are now about 133,00 U.S. troops in Iraq.
At each stop on Pace's two-day visit to Iraq, which included Baghdad and Mosul as well as Fallujah, he thanked troops for their service and assured them that the American public still supports them.
Pace did not explicitly mention the political debate in Washington over when to withdraw from Iraq, but the senior commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq, Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer, said in an interview Sunday that he is concerned about the effects of that debate.
Asked about the tenor of some of the questions put to Pace by Marines who seemed to harbor doubts about the long-term viability of the U.S. military mission, Zilmer said he is confident that virtually every Marine here is satisfied that their work is noble and just.
"But they are not immune to the discussions they see in public communications," Zilmer said. "Like all of us, they want to be assured that what we're doing is the right thing for the nation. Watching the Iraqi national government develop here has not been easy."
Zilmer noted the calls by some in Congress for a U.S. troop withdrawal to begin this year.
"That plays back here," he said. "People hear that. It does create the question: Is there the national commitment behind what we're doing over here?"
How much more time, one Marine asked, should the Iraqi government be given to achieve the political unity necessary to stabilize the country?
(File)
AP
Marines' Hymn
From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli,
We fight our country's battles in the air, on land and sea.
First to fight for right and freedom, and to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title of United States Marine.
Our flag's unfurled to every breeze from dawn to setting sun.
We have fought in every clime and place, where we could take a gun.
In the snow of far off northern lands and in sunny tropic scenes,
You will find us always on the job,The United States Marines.
Here's health to you and to our Corps which we are proud to serve.
In many a strife we've fought for life and never lost our nerve.
If the Army and the Navy ever look on heaven's scenes,
they will find the streets are guarded by United States Marines.
But are our Marines going to be continually restrained into fighting a PC war?
It looks like they are.
I hope everyoe will pray for them.
And I pray that they will make it back alive.
Dub Sgt USMC
What is a Veteran
Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye.
Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.
Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem.
You can't tell a vet just by looking.
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.
She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.
He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.
He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.
He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies
unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU".
"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the
freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protestor to burn the flag."
Father Denis Edward O'Brien/USMC
The reason the Marine Corps has survived 230 years is the willingness of its members, from the commandant down to the youngest mess cook, to do exactly what the President asks unto death. From time to time there may be debate and even bitching. But ultimately they will lock and load and march into hell.
Very well said. When I was a Marine I would have.
Semper Fi
50-56 Korea
Treasonous b*st*rds in the MSM put this crap out there (that we're losing ground in Iraq) day after day, then they do their little polls and... LO AND BEHOLD!... people think we're losing ground in Iraq!!! Amazing, isn't it?
NO FREE PRESS IN WARTIME!!!
I only hope the administration knows something we don't, but the recent 'cease fire' agreement in Lebanon seems to indicate that we are in full retreat back to Clintonesque claims of diplomatic success that mask underlying strategic failures.
I guess all the 'axis of evil' rhetoric was just that, rhetoric. How many more times will we complain about Syria's and Iran's actions and do nothing? It's pathetic.
A bit of editorializing from the Ass. Press writer. I've come to expect the same.
Those mean ole news people.
The one thing you have to remember is: Bush is President and not king or dictator or emperor. He walks a tightrope between doing what is right and doing what they allow him to do or get away with. He may be the leader but he is like the train engineer who gets to oil the gears and blame if the train doesn't run but he never gets to toot the whistle.
He does what he politically can. I can not remember any one person in recent years who has done some much and taken so much crap doing it. I admire his courage to press on day after day getting blamed for everything that goes wrong and credit for very little that goes right.
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, 2006 - Five soldiers were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent days, another two were wounded, and the Defense Department has identified four earlier casualties who died supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Two Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers were killed yesterday when a roadside bomb struck their dismounted patrol south of Baghdad.
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