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."
Nancy Pelosi was correct in her assessment that this is a "war" that cannot be won, only managed.......because this is not a war, it's another BS holding action.
We are still in Germany.
soo...your solution is???
You tell us....you know it all...President Bush knows nothing...so YOU tell us the solution.
You are kidding, right?
1338. I do not really like polls either. So if you would like my personal answer, I will give it.
Since our enemy, jihadism, concieves istelf as the new nazi third reich:
Flatten 'em. not one blade of grass standing. Just destroy the enemy, period. This will be the only thing that the enemy understands outside of his monstrous bloodleting hate.
Total destruction to the enemy. That's all he will understand.
Thanks for your kind words...I ain't goin' away again.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
I think the operative words are 'reasonable' and 'discussion'.
The left has yet to engage the American people in a discussion yet, and their rhetoric is anything but reasonable.
The left, and the MSM have been engaged in leaving any backdrop or history from any discussion of the situation there in Iraq, the middle east, et. al.
Muslims, since 672, have been one of the most destabilizing and lethal forces yet unleashed on the face of the earth. 26 of the 29 current armed conflicts have Islamists as one of the antogonists.
Buddy, there IS only one position on our war in Iraq, and that is to do what it takes to win it, and while doing so, getting locked and loaded for the coming land war in Iran.
So, to answer your question directly, yes it is unpatriotic, and wholly ignorant of you to argue any other position against the current conflict.
You can quibble about tactics or strategy, but not about why we are there.
Hope that clears it up for you.
Cut the PC bullcrap and run the bastards down and kill 'em!
Germany was not three Isamic tribes who hate each others guts till death. The only thing the three hate more than each other is us. Now grab your Bush song book and join in "We are the world we are the children".
I am sorry...but I would like to read the thread you have referenced...because other than kristinn not being Texan...you haven't given me enough information to know what the heck you are talking about!
I take great pains to use that name as little as possible, if ever.
I'll use it in quotes only. The dude is a camera hound and a media
hound and I'll not help him promote his own self aggrandizement.
but you did in the previous ones.
Did I? My bad.
Yikes!
"Yes, I agree, We DO need a draft."
The military has a way of making young people into productive, responsible, patriotic citizens.
Okay...so you are ready to flatten 1 BILLION Muslims???
If not....how do you choose which ones to flatten, and which one not to flatten?
We can learn from Putin.
Gosh...you know, I was trying to have a grown up discussion with you.
You are what makes this thread and website STINK!!!
CAN YOU NOT HAVE A DEBATE WITH A FREEPER WITHOUT DOING STUPID CHILDISH INSULTS????
Just in case anyone may be interested :)
U.S. commitment to Iraq is finite
By NATASHA T. METZLER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - American support for the fledgling Iraqi government is not unconditional, and Iraq should expect changes in the U.S. role, incoming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Saturday.
"In the days ahead, the Iraqis must make the tough decisions and accept responsibility for their future," Hoyer, D-Md., said during the weekly Democratic radio address. "And the Iraqis must know: Our commitment, while great, is not unending."
Hoyer's comments were taped Wednesday, before an escalation in sectarian violence in Iraq. At least 215 Shiites were killed in bomb and mortar attacks Thursday in Sadr City. Shiites retaliated Friday by burning six Sunni Arabs alive and killing 19 others in attacks on Sunni mosques.
Once in power, Hoyer said, the Democrats hope to work with Republicans and the Bush administration to change direction in Iraq war plans, "because, clearly, the current strategy is not working."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061125/ap_on_go_co/democrats_iraq_2
You and me both.
Even if it was a good idea, which it is not, Iraq is not ours to divide. They elected a sovereign government, you will recall, and the Iraqis themselves don't consider this option.
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