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."
Excellent post!
My husband is a Viet Nam vet.
I remember those days, too.
I pray history doesn't repeat itself.
Thank you!
This I don't understand. What I'm saying is that with my military training we were always taught that the terrorists liked soft targets and avoided the hard.
It seems to me that our troops in Iraq are the hard targets. In other words why haven't they targeted us, the homeland, the soft target?
Good post devolve, I am out of town and just checking in.
"Thank you for reading this."
Thank YOU for writing this.
Great article.
The American people are descended from heroes.
If Americans wouldn't throw in the towel at Valley Forge, at Anzio ("stand and fight"), at Normandy ("the boys of Pont Du Hoc"), at the Battle of the Bulge (19,000 dead in 5 weeks), at the Pusan Perimeter, and at Pork Chop Hill, surely we can provide "increased devotion to that cause for which they [i.e., our almost 3000 troops killed in Iraq in 3 and 1/2 years] gave the last full measure of devotion."
Actually we finished the job. We're just waiting on the Iraqi Government to take over. Has the Iraqi leader left to meet with the Iranian President yet?
To our knowledge, something like 200,000 people died at the hands of the secret police, 20,000 in Kurdish massacres, and 30,000 in post-Gulf War uprisings. And if you want to count Iraqi causalties in the Iran-Iraq War, that's 575,000 in the Iran-Iraq War. That's over a period of 25 years, and it doesn't quite add up to a million.
But I'd argue that we should keep the military casualties out of it in both cases -- including both the Iran-Iraq conflict and the insurgents we've been killing in this conflict. Just look at what life is like for an ordinary civilian Iraqi. This was my only point in bringing up the death toll: Is it more or less dangerous now in Iraq to go out for a pack of smokes?
The answer is obviously that it is more dangerous now.
could it be that tracking the terrorists by monitoring their overseas contacts and following the money, which Bush has staked everything on, has actually worked?
When will that job include killing enemies like Sadr?
I hope that "yes" was directed at the first of the three questions.
We'll,ya didn't really have to post "No comment",if you had no comment;)
Ever hear of the Iran-Iraq War? Iraq didn't win, but they held their own and it became a stalemate.
I did nothing of the kind. I merely said your gotcha game didn't work. I never said you started the game. The other fella still hasn't answered the question, by the way.
"Who on this thread has made remarks that are really just Republican in name only?"
Okay, you got me there. I will, however, justify my naming of the other two FReepers because this thread specifically refers to an entirely separate thread as being full of "cut and run" types. So why limit it to just the 400+ posts on this thread? There are plenty of examples of RINOs/Pubbies/Country Club Republicans, but very few examples of "cut and run" FReepers. But what do I know? There are some here that would probably call me a "cut and run" type.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Since I mentioned it, I guess I'd heard of it. Would the Iraqis have had the wherewithal to use poison gas again, as they did to save themselves in the war in the 80's?
I'll support your right to be wrong if you allow me to point out that you are wrong....
It could easily be argued that many who are killing the innocent were and are supporters of Saddam, others are people he let out of jail ....but then I guess that is the fault of the US government.....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.