Posted on 11/24/2006 6:46:08 PM PST by kristinn
I'm reading an astonishing number of comments on Free Republic these days by posters who have joined the ranks of the anti-American left in calling for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Some claim to have military experience, some claim to be patriotic Americans and some claim to be smarter than the rest.
These posters are joining the Murtha-Rangel-McDermott treason caucus. Oh, they say they love the troops, but their decision to abandon them in the field speaks otherwise.
Three years ago, the United States led an international coalition to rid the world of one of the worst regimes on the planet. Saddam Hussein was an international terrorist: He financed terrorism, he trained terrorists and he harbored terrorists. He waged war on Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Israel. He waged war on the people of Iraq, including genocidal campaigns against the Kurds in the north and the marsh Arabs in the south.
Saddam successfully subverted the Oil-for-Food program and was wearing down support for continuing the sanctions keeping him in check.
He had numerous contacts with al Qaeda over the years. He tried to assassinate a former U.S. president. He maintained research capabilities to implement nuclear, chemical and biological weapons as soon as the sanctions were lifted. There is evidence that some of these programs would have been operational within a year even with the sanctions in place.
The decision to remove Saddam and his regime as part of the Global War on Terror was correct.
Three-and-a-half years after Iraq and the world were liberated from Saddam and his terrorist regime, there are those on Free Republic who are clamoring to give up, surrender, cut and run, stab the troops in the back, betray the Iraqis, betray our allies in the GWOT, spit on the graves of our fallen heroes and join Cindy Sheehan, Medea Benjamin and Ramsey Clark in bringing about America's defeat in the GWOT.
It's only been three-and-a-half years--only six months since the freely elected government in Iraq was formed. In that time, what has been called a mini-Marshall Plan of construction and reconstruction has come to fruition. The Iraqis have held three national elections, they have held numerous local elections, fourteen out of eighteen Iraq provinces are relatively peaceful and stable.
Six months ago, when the Iraqi government was formed, the experts said the war would be taken to Baghdad because our enemies in the region could not abide the example of a free, democratic society in the Middle East. For once, the experts were right. The battle of Baghdad has been a prolonged Tet Offensive style operation of headline-grabbing attacks intended to sap the morale of Americans and Iraqis alike.
From what I've been reading on Free Republic lately, a lot of Freepers have fallen for the enemy's ploy and are howling like barking moonbats for our immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Some of that talk is couched in talk of 'we're fighting a PC war like Vietnam!' The soldiers I met in Iraq recently told Debra Argel Bastian to pass on a message to the Vietnam vets criticizing the war: With all due respect to your service, this is not Vietnam. It is not being fought like Vietnam. Please let us finish our mission.
But our enemy is playing the Vietnam ploy to great benefit. They know they can count on the American and world media to broadcast their propaganda. They work with leftist Americans to sabotage the war effort at home. They know these leftist Americans have allies in the Democratic party. They know they do not need a military victory--only political and psychological victories are needed to defeat America.
You guys are playing right in to their hands. Congratulations.
There are those who argue that murder and dictatorship is the mindset of the Middle East and that will not be changed by our actions. Funny how those who smugly denigrate the Arab peoples' capacity for freedom forget the wholesale slaughter of millions of Westerners by Westerners at the hands of Western dictatorships just a few generations past.
I hear complaints that the Iraqis aren't standing up. Yet, to use one common example, when police recruits are slaughtered in bombings, Iraqis line up the next day at the same recruiting center. The insurgency is small in number, but they are able to do enough damage on a daily basis to stretch out the time it will take to secure the whole of Iraq.
At this time of our testing, the American people are starting to go wobbly. Sadly, many Freepers are too. Our troops and their Commander-in-Chief are not, thank God. It's only been three-and-a-half years. The progress made has been phenomonal. Throw in the towel now, and you'll just have the terrorists follow us home. Everyone knows that, including you. I'm not willing to pay that price, not now, not ever, but you are.
Let me close by offering similar sentiments recently offered by two men 'in the know' on the situation in Iraq who are not giving up. First, Kurdish Regional Government Prime Minister Barzani: "When I was in the United States recently and read the negative news in the Washington Post, New York Times and in the network TV broadcasts, I even wondered if things had gotten so bad since I had left that I shouldn't return."
Next, Gen. Abizaid: "When I come to Washington, I feel despair. When I'm in Iraq with my commanders, when I talk to our soldiers, when I talk to the Iraqi leadership, they are not despairing."
Thank you for your post, kristinn, you are right on. All these reports of Sunni/Shite violence suddenly sound like desperation measures to me. Let's immolate a few people in public--shades of the Buddist monk's immolation in Vietman--horrify people even more. And the ignoramuses on the left attacking our President WHILE WE ARE AT WAR are giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Not only is he being attacked by foreign enemies, but also these scummy politicians, the liberal press--the new Fifth Column--and the ACLU.
It will be too late when their daughters and grandaughters have all the "rights" of Islamic women and all gays and lesbians have been slaughtered by muslim terrorists for their "unclean" lives, in the name of Allah. I hope and pray they will all wake up before it's too late. That's not the future we choose for our loved ones and for all Americans.
I saw Debra Argel Bastian on Neal Cavuto the other day--what an amazing woman. No doubt she wasn't in big demand by the MSM. I treasure my e-mails from your group while in Iraq. Bless you for all you do in the name of freedom.
BTTT
1. The Iraq war is probably the single biggest reason the republicans lost in 2006. Is Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the house worth it? After she and her cohorts raise the minimum wage, press liberal social causes, block Bush's judicial nominees, put Rangel is a real seat of power, let the tax cuts expire, pass an amnesty for illegals and God only knows what else, will it still be worth this war that is costing republican's support and votes?
2. Some conservative group (don't ask me which, I only passingly heard it on Brit Hume about a month ago) said that it's time to start thinking about getting out. Why? Because the goals have been met, and staying in Iraq now only costs more American soldiers and more money. Think about it. Saddam Hussein is gone. The WMD, which was a real threat, has been cleared. "Freeing the Iraqis" was never a goal, never was establishing a democracy.
3. The way this war is being fought leaves much to be desired. Instead of going door-to-door and costing American soldiers, why not use the air force to blow up whatever section of a city is a safe haven for terrorists? Stop fighting this PC, Vietnam-style war. Go all in or get out. "War is hell. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is the sooner it's over." -William T. Sherman.
4. I always was iffy about the "nation building" angle. That's never been a conservative position, and I don't think September 11, 2001 changed that.
It's getting time to just do what some generals, some politicians and Michael Savage suggest: partition Iraq. Make it so it's three countries. Iraq is not a sacred country with meaningful borders or anything, it's just been recently created. Give the Shites a section, the Kurds one and the Sunnis one and be done with it. They're never going to get along together.
bttt
What has happened since then is a steep slide into incompetence on the part of the Administration and an unwillingness or inability on the part of the Iraqi people to stop slaughtering each other and anybody else who happens to get in their way. The whole point of reasonable Bush critics is that the mess that the occupation has turned into didn't have to happen.
If the Iraqis can't get their act together then we should leave. We can go to de facto Kurdistan; they love us there. It is not our job to keep holding the Iraqis' hands if they can't learn to act like civilized human beings.
Suggesting workable alternatives for what is clearly a failed occupation policy is not defeatism or cowardice. It DOES NOT MEAN "Cut and run". It is being realistic in accepting that hey, maybe the way the Bush administration was running this thing before isn't working out so great after our troops have had to put up with three years of this BS because of Bush's shortsightedness and stubborness. To deny otherwise is to be either delusional, or stupid-and I know most Freepers aren't stupid.
bump
I suppose next we'll all be arrested for "defeatist comments?"
Republicans lost in this last election for just two reasons. One is corruption, and we all agree that's bad. But the other is Iraq, which has gotten so bad and so out of control that ordinary, real people -- not just the left-wing kooks -- were worried enough about it that they changed the Congress on November 7.
You don't have to be an America-Hating commie traitor to want us out of Iraq at this point. Many of us who voted for Bush in 2000 thought we were getting a president who would not use the military for "nation-building," and who explicitly said so over and over again as a criticism of Clinton. We feel a bit ripped off now -- even those of us who supported him again in 2004 because the alternative was just too horrible.
The American people do not agree with your views on Iraq, that is the message of November 7. It only makes sense that a lot of conservatives would feel the same way.
I appreciate the work you do here on FR but you're wrong on this. Hence, my "Lalala" remark.
Nice job. Support the mission, support the military.
Thank you, Kristinn. I'm 'bout ready to crack a few heads myself, though in reality, it's easier to ignore whiners of any political stripe and to just 'Keep The Main Thing the Main Thing.'
God Bless You for all that you do! :)
I also remember a lesser media-played visual of our military guys standing before a large painted billboard composed of Saddam standing proudly before the towers as the plane hit.
I always question when that was painted....
That's what has always stuck in my mind.
Thanks for posting this.
It's discouraging to hear conservative friends who are now talking about retreeat and falure. Three years of DBM propaganda has worn them down.
Thanks for the pep talk.
...
Thanks, finally some clear thinking on this thread.
Those ingrates wouldn't know what liberty was if it hit them in the face (and it has). The chances of us "winning Muslim hearts and minds" and watching as democracy spreads throughout their barbaric world is essentially zero. They respond only to the harshest of measures, and there's little doubt it'll eventually come to that. On and immediately following 9/11 most Americans understood that. Nowadays, few do.
They were having serious questions herehttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1743438/posts
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