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."
East and West Kirkuk? :-}
Yours IMHO is bit more of a push poll. :)
Kristinn, Torie sent Jim Robinson a poll. It lacked some information, so I corrected it and sent it back to him.
Jim, I looked at Torie's poll. It did not state enough info, so I corrected it and sent it back to Torie!
Torie, here is your corrected poll:
Regarding US policy in Iraq, do you think the US should:
1. Stay the course until a stable united Iraq has been achieved and the terrorists have been defeated.
2. Expand the war to Iran and Syria to defeat the head chopping off terrorists.
3. Support partitioning Iraq which wil not help with the terrorists situation.
4. Withdraw US troops from Iraq expeditiously so the terrorists can build a base inside Iraq so it can launch more 09/11/01 style attacks upon the U.S. in the future.
5. Don't know
Yeah, but politics is the art of the possible.
push poll. hmm. okay.
D2
:-)
1. Do you support staying in Iraq fighting the Cold War indefinitely, no matter how many trillions of dollars it cost the U.S. taxpayers and no matter how many U.S. soldiers are killed and maimed, because even the slightest chance for freedom and democracy for eastern Europe?
Thank you Jim.
I think it will make you feel somewhat better, ohio!
I am not an expert on the demographic geography of that town. :) The map of Bagdad however would be interesting, unless of course, we just let the map be created via an internecine sanquinary free for all, with the US up in Kurd country. I am not ready myself quite yet to go there.
I forgot to ping you to my post #1249...sorry.
No, Just when I see these polls, they do not tell us all the necessary information we need in answering these polls. So ....I think I might start a habit of correcting them.
Well said... I think there has been leftist insurgency on the Free Republic Web site. Free Republic is slowly moving from the political unknown to the mainstream.
Okay...thanks.
Do you support staying in Iraq fighting the Cold War indefinitely, no matter how many trillions of dollars it cost the U.S. taxpayers and no matter how many U.S. soldiers are killed and maimed, because even the slightest chance for freedom and democracy for eastern Europe?
Do you really think we fought the cold war to bring freedom and democracy to Eastern Europe?
Of course I advocated taking him and his crew down a long time ago. The Generals made a mistake there. Nobody's perfect though.
Partitions sound nice until the partititioning starts. Then things and unintended consequences get real messy real fast.
You posted that Saddam created a sense of 'iraqiness" in Iraq...right after a post saying that the Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds don't care about being Iraqis..
I assumed since you posted that...it was as a way to say he was good for something...
So, I asked if he should be back in power?? I was being facetious..I am sorry, I should have used my "/f" symbol.
I didn't say it would be a saunter in a rose garden. All the choices suck big time. Such is life. The issue is which sucks least?
Nah President Reagan was just joking when he told Gorby to tear down that wall. He didn't give a crap whether anybody gained their freedom or not.
Of course some did and many have become very good allies.
Maybe Reagan was right after all.
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