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."
Thanks. I agree. I just wish Rummy had heeded the advice of Gen. Shinseki and increased troop strenghth in the aftermath of the shooting war. God bless our American forces!
There have been some on the threads that say she will win and no one can stop her so I figure they are the members who voted for Ms. Clinton. First time I saw someone praising her, I almost choked on my Coke I was drinking. I will ping you if I find any more!
Come on over to the Canteen,OWF..I ignore the old Buchanan mossbacks and the armchair generals...and read Sandrats posts..The Dose and the Finest help me keep sane and unbanned! I am so grateful for your family's service to our country.
The great Freeping at Walter Reed is another great thread..There are a lot of us that stay away from the cut and runner posts. We are here..just not fighting back like you do..
And they swear they will not vote for Rudy either. They say they don't even care if Hillary wins in '08.
The Neo Isolationists should try looking at a map of where Iraq is located.
Until then, would they please stop pretending they have any clue at all on Military Strategy? Counter Insurgency is not Total War. As been pointed out to you repeatedly. Learn the different.
We have all ready won in Iraq. Now it is just a matter of mop up. The main battle in a Counter Insurgency is to see which side can develop a viable political structure that can break or contain the other side. We have done that. The other side has not.
Maybe what all the Neo Isolationists need to do is simply shut up and quit screaming their dogmas long enough to actually learn even the most basic facts about Iraq.
Try reading this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Security_Forces
http://icasualties.org/oif/
http://icasualties.org/oif/IraqiDeaths.aspx
Hawk is the traditional term for pro-war, FYI.
But I'm glad to see you are as intelligent and capable of defending your point as the rest of your faction -- whatever you want to call it. How about "long-term occupationists?" Or "stay-the-coursers"?
Amen!
And thanks be to God that our military is not as weak as the freepers who bash their mission.
We will win this in the end because of the determination and grit of those who put their lives on the line for this country, and in spite of the lily livered quitters here who want to run in the face of a challenge........even if it means sacrificing the protection of the country that our troops are providing for us by being in Iraq.
Then you would have to agree that a "Sharia" Constitution stands in contrast with ..."so they can keep the minority fanatics from seizing control and establishing an islamic type "republic"."
Also, Somalia and more and more of the African Continent, going Islam, S. American ties to Iran, etc., doesn't really constitute "...where they can be kept busy so they don't have a full compliment for domestic shenanigans.", unless you mean that we "aren't fighting here"? So I guess you can see that "victory" isn't as easy to define as one would think. Just my take on the whole thing. Victory will be defined by US, and WE can declare victory at our leasure, being that we are the toughest guy on the block. Cut and Run wasn't even a good campaign strategy. We will not win the PC War of attrition, the numbers just don't support it. Blackbird.
I got to about post 350 when I thought, my word, Bin Ladin's strategy is working. How well he knows us.
I'm with you. True FReepers stand with you. The others are wolves in sheep clothing. Nothing FReeper about them whatsoever.
I've defended my point a hundred times on this forum. I was just responding to your inarticulate, ineffectual slam of those of us who support the war we are winning in Iraq.
Interesting that you should insult those who defend the war on a thread with an article that does just that.
Did you read it, Old One, or did you just come to bash those of us who don't agree with John Murtha?
How exactly would you know whether the troops question the mission? Unless they behave like John Kerry did, it's unlikely the media will know to broadcast it.
Great!! Way past time for this. I am getting tired of the doom and gloom, too. I stopped watching the news and was getting my news from FR. But it seemed like there was so much infighting here, it was getting almost as bad.
Good Grief!!!
Huh? Up through WWII, our armies destroyed entire enemy cities (both here and overseas) during war. Ever heard of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Dresden? How many Indian villages were wiped out in the 1800s? This false "least amount of casualties" stuff is a modern idea brought on by the Leftist media. It's a straightjacket designed to prevent us from winning wars.
Until we became "moral warriors" our mindset was this: we don't like to fight wars but when we do it is without mercy until the other side gives up.
You have NAILED it here, carton. Deserves to be repeated louder.
This enemy is not just evil, it is clever, and has succeeded in demoralizing far too many who claim conservatism.
PRAY for our troops! They now have to fight the American people as well as the enemy.
I dont need to reread anything. I agree with much of what was written.
I just think it's a BIG mistake to ignore the problems we obviously have in the communications department in the White House.
I dont need to read anything to know about this communication problem. Just look at the results of the election. Are you really happy about that?
Im not a critic of the US being in Iraq. I supported it and I will continue to support it BUT only as long as we are allowing our troops to go after the enemy without worrying that our government go after them with lawsuits and murder charges. I refuse to support our young soldiers to be sitting ducks being shot at from a Mosque because politicians will not allow them to engage the enemy unconditionally.
There may be "cut and run" republicans. In fact, I think many of the republicans who claimed they didnt vote because the GOP was not conservative enough on spending... I think they actually didnt vote because of being "cut and runners" from Iraq. This is sad. And it's wimpy.
The last thing I want to see is for us to leave Iraq before the job is finished. But I am only one. You are only one. The WH needs to improve on getting its message out to the American people. They need to do that and FAST! Or we will lose the propaganda war like we did in Vietnam.
Only difference is... The VC didnt follow us home...THEY WILL.
The problem is thew WH's communication department.
I think instead of winning the hearts and minds of Arabs, Karen Hughes should be working in the White House winning the hearts and minds of Americans and the media. No more of this "liberal media" crap. Saddam Husein is and always has been an evil man in the world. If suddenly Saddam's evil ways is now being questioned.. then we know where the buck stops.
I believe the majority of the comments on this website with "cut and run" messages are not FReepers. We have been invaded by "DUers" trying to to stir controversy by mixing in lies, half truths, and yes sometimes honest criticisms of us and this administration.
It began before the election by introducing "wedge issues" to try and split the conservatives. It worked pretty well.
If you go to DU you will see that they have taken preemptive action so that only tested and approved people can post or respond to messages. They don't want any inconvenient facts posted to their website.
I suspect the mods are aware and are letting it play out.
Simply amazing how desperate the DC Old Club Boys's club is to repeat all the same errors of the Vietnam War. We sent 500,000 troops to Vietnam at one point. How did that work out?
More troops does not solve any of the problems here. It provides MORE targets for the Terrorists, puts more people on the firing line with neither the training nor the mindset for Counter Insurgency ops all the while marginalizing and retarding the efforts of getting the Iraqis to the point they can stand on their own two feet.
It also future polarizes the ground situation and drives large segments of the population into the hands of the terrorists. The Liberators quickly become seen as an Army of Conquerors.
The American troops in Britain prior to D Day cause enormous friction with the locals. And that was with a fairly heterogeneous society facing total war. How much worse do you think that friction would be in a place like Iraq?
Counter Insurgency is not Total War. People should quit trying to apply their Conventional War dogmas to an Asymmetrical mission.
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