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."
The ignorant, MSM guzzlers are now arguing with the guys who are actually THERE.
It's unbelieveable!
Context clues are helpful, Jim.
What don't you get about the fact that things ARE being accomplished in Iraq?
yes, I was reading some of it.. ma'am you are one "tough" lady!
you will be REALLY read for sanity island tongiht wont you?
It's not just Dems that are repeating this tripe sadle. There are a lot of so called Conservatives that have yet to understand they are not getting the entire story from the DBM.
I have never claimed that our military forces have lost the war in Iraq. They have not. What I did say (and do maintain) is that we have lost the war on the home front: that the war has been mismanaged from the start, and that as a result the American people do not support the war.
(Plus there is a certain honor in being insulted by the dregs of FR. You know what I mean?? ;)
Let me repost what I said in #1,778. We will test your reading comprehension:
I am not a cultural relativist. I agree with Lord Acton - liberty has not existed long outside of Christianity. Until Muslims reject their wicked ways, they will not develop and ordered and free society. It is that simple. Read your Bible sometime. The prophets made similar points to the Israelites many, many times.I did not deny the power of God to change hearts. I do deny the power of our military to change hearts. If you read your European history you will know that armies never changed hearts. Clovis, Charles Martel, Charlamagne and others all failed. But humble people without weapons who have given their lives to God can change hearts.
Well, make that dumb people then.
Thank you for posting this. I lifted it up because it is profound, and bears reflection, especially for all the hindsighters. Yes we can and should review tactics constantly and not be afraid to alter strategies, acknowledge that errors have been and will be made, as in every other war in history; but we need to recognize that we cannnot know what fruits our labors will bear if we but persevere in the overall effort. If a Democrat Congress had not run rabbit, ate sh*t and howled at the moon in 1975, George Bush might have been visiting a thriving, prosperous, free ally last week rather then a ramshackle post-Ho 'ho-house on the make.
.it will just make him mad at how many clueless people there are back here in the states.
You're right about that.....he just doesn't understand how people cannot *get it*....but he knew that before he left.
And I get 'coward' and 'liberal.' When I debate the left about abortion I get called a conservative but I actually think of myself as a Christian radical who wants us to move dramatically forward, not back. When you adopt a set of positions, you are going to find yourself labeled. If you think Iraq can turn into a semi-civilized state, you will be called a neocon. That's how it works.
I see no difference between a Pat Buchanan and a George McGovern pacifist myself. They're both self-centered cowards, IMO........and followers from both sides of the spectrum hang around FR.
That's how it works if you don't know what in the world you're talking about.
You're a mixed up kid with an enormous chip on your shoulder and really bad theology, and I for one, have had enough of your nonsense.
Good bye.
Arrogant and ignorant, mixed with really bad theology. Good day.
I guess I missed the chapter about spreading Christianity with the sword. Is that the Gospel of Ann Coulter?
So.......can I add deliberately misleading to arrogant and ignorant?
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