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."
You, sir, are amazing!!
Do you know that every intelligence service and government in Europe, the Middle East, and our own "knew" that Saddam had WMDs?
Even captured Iraqi Generals said that they always thought that they had it and that Saddam deceived them to prop them up against a US invasion.
Why didn't you say something when RATS like JFnK, Hitlery and others declared that Saddam had to be dealt with because of "his" WMDs? What about the Klintoon administration and the Senate vote on "changing the Iraqi Regime"?
Wise up, sir, and try to be better informed of the last few years of history.
And they are posting on this very thread.
But I like the term AINO. Rings true......
And HOOOAH!! Back atcha!
Even Bush has said he wants our troops to leave Iraq ASAP.
Hmmm...very strange that you say that. Seems like you, would atleast agree with me and our president, that we should see a victory as soon as possible.
What's wrong with a victory ASAP? After all, we do have Iran and Syria to deal with,. It seems like the quicker we get Iraq on its feet the more conserned the Iranian and Syrian President would be.
Sorry, I have to disagree with you. I dont think we should purposely be dragging this on. We should use Iraq as a base to go into neighboring Iran and Syria as soon as possible
I am sorry that people here would post those things about our military. Honestly, I haven't seen it. I've only seen total support for them. We may disagree in HOW to support them. But those kids come first. Most of us want to see them be able to DO THEIR JOB and come home.
It doesn't matter who agrees or disagree's with this war. We all have our opinions, but that doesn't change the fact that it should be WON. We have the best military in the world but we don't let them do their job. THAT is what sickens me.
God bless your child. Don't let the idiots get to you. It's not worth your time or energy.
Give your child a big hug and please tell him/her THANKYOU, THANKYOU, THANKYOU!!!
sorry the link didn't work; it still works from Google with keywords: "Bush, Iraq, 2002." Bush said it was part of the war on terror which had brought as many deaths here in one morning as (I join you in mourning) have occured in 3 1/2 years of fighting.
Also, there's no loss of support for the military on FR. There is a real difference between a FReeper who doesn't like what's going on in Iraq, and a Left-wing nut who hates America and wants us to lose.
On FR, we all love our troops, however we feel about the war. Many of us have been praying for victory despite disliking the conflict -- unlike the leftists who have been hoping we'd lose so that they could make a point about the conflict.
We don't spit on our troops or encourage them to shoot our officers, like the leftists do. We don't want to de-fund them or denigrate them as stupid because they chose to serve, the way the leftists do.
Shoot, this thread is tame compared to the border threads.
The question I have is, why the HE** isn't Bush and Company screaming about these things from the roof of the White House on a daily basis? Someone oughta tell him that it might help the war effort to sell his side to the American Sheeple.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
I agree with your post. My problem with the Bush WH is that you actually still have to post the mission... to FREEPERS! Imagine how the average not so informed American must know.
Where's the buck stop
lol! I NEVER go to the border threads anymore. You can literally FEEL the bullets whizzing over your head! :)
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Good grief, I don't need a lesson from you johnnie, I have bonafides. I asked you what your bonafides were. Answer the question. Blackbird.
I have never heard anyone defend this "magnet" theory of Iraq with anything resembling good sense, and there's nothing like that in all the 1000 posts on this thread either. If that had been our reason for going into Iraq, as your post asserted, then why did the administration never use that to explain the war to the American people? You haven't answered any questions, you've just posted someone else's bad argument.
Although I agree that one of us is posting based on emotion, I disagree as to which one it is.
I have a son in Iraq and I'm not offended by well reasoned comments and I want the debate to continue. The answer to free speech is more free speech.
You may be here to get a warm fuzzy feeling but others are not.
As far as I know, FR has not become a chapter of the mutual admiration society.
He knows far more than you about what's going on there (as does anyone who has been there).
As for the 'hopelessness' - that is your own personal weakness speaking in buckling to the pressure of the anti-American MSM. There is nothing 'hopeless' about a war that we are winning.
The fact that the terrorists are fighting so hard in Iraq is an indicator of its importance and a call to be even more resolved, not a symbol of its failure and an excuse to run away from it.
All I know is that if I keep reading this kind of trashing of our mission, then I will no longer be at home on FR.
Well, here's a link to the Address to the Nation Bush gave at the beginning of the war:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-17.html
The rationale is buried down near the bottom, "The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder.".
As to the democrats, You can't even begin to fathom my loathing for them. Like I said, (Okay, I'll name him) Wesley Clark is, in my opinion a clintonite.
Hear this: We need to conduct some very precise operations to eliminate those who stand in the way of "democratization" (Whatever form that takes) of Iraq. The troops on the ground need 110% of our support. We need to bump up our infantry forces, give them the green light to hunt down the enemy wherever they may be, we need to understand that the "civilian" who stands in front of a "combatant" is, in fact, a combatant as well.
There is a place for what have been referred to as "Free-fire Zones" What do you think we did in Falluja? That being said, in the main, we need to be more precise in our actions, you can't defeat an asymmetrical enemy from 50,00 feet; you have to get up close and look him in the eye and when you do, you need to kill him as efficiently and quickly as you can. Sometimes you have to be politically incorrect in doing so; you need leaders who understand this and are willing to take the heat.
hahahaha.My favorite threads to be on. I'm twisted...have to be. I have however, won several purple hearts. :-)
I dont think it would be smart for the WH to announce that to the enemy
How do you know what he was banned for?
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