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."
see 848 by wku; BTW most of his arguments seem as critical of Bush as yours.
Good point. I'd like to hear the response of those who fling out slurs like "cowards, Murtha, Commies" on this thread.
Or, find a statesman like President Reagan to bypass the fighting and take the message directly to the people. But that's easier said than done, I guess.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Thank you for your service.
|
It has to do with fundamental support from the mission in Iraq being withdrawn by many posters.
And how much sense does it make to have a son who's a vet and going back, and not look at threads on Iraq? C'mon. That's ridiculous advice.
There has always been dissent and debate, but the majority of freepers have supported the mission. If that has changed, as it has appeared to have done, then FR has indeed lost its support for our troops and those of us with family there need to move on.
Yes, I'd like to see the list of WMDs that were found by our troops after the war when we had unfettered access. I'm not talking about some ancient 1990 junk, I'm talking about real WMD weapons.
You miss the point. Saddam was found to have plenty of chemical and biological WMD before the war and we was suppose to destroy the weapons and prove that he did.
Because didn't prove that he destoryed these WMD, he and his weapons were an unreasonable risk.
LOL! You think Anthrax is junk. The I believe it represents an unreasonable risk.
Other items that he had that he didn't demonstrate the removal of:
BOTULINUM TOXIN, AFLATOXIN, MUSTARD GAS, SARIN, VX...
The rest of the world is watching the planet's only superpower...
"There is no cut-and-run FReepers here, Kristinn."
I don't know where in the hell you came up with that comment. I have read comments form several of them on this thread.
So loyal and steadfast in their sense of duty, country and honor are they that they will sacrifice their lives, their health, their all. How can we not support them? How can we not trust their fealty?
They have not staged mass protests after leaving the battlefield to protest the war. They have the spines which too many here, on the home front, seem to be lacking.
I stand in awe of them.
Each and every one.
God Bless them.
The Al Qaeda connection plus the WMD together represents too great a risk.
I'm not a country clubber and I'm not for open borders. But by trying to label me as "one of the other ones" you are doing exactly what I'm talking about.
I also vote all Republican and I never stay home.
Whether I hang out at the country club or the pool hall is not relevant.
We can have differences of opinion on some subjects as long as we all stand for the same core principles.
If I agree with 80% of what you believe and 95% of your core principles(allowance for religious and cultural differences)I believe we are on the same side.
It's not our military's fault if they're in a no-win situation. We trained them to do what they did in 2003, which was kick a$$ and take Baghdad, and they did it stunningly well. But our political leaders obviously didn't plan it well enough, and now our military is a perpetual occupying force.
I remember voting for a guy who said this:
"The vice president (Gore) and I have a disagreement about the use of troops. He believes in nation-building. I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders. I believe the role of the military is to fight and win war and, therefore, prevent war from happening in the first place."
That was Bush in 2000. He was also criticizing Clinton for not having an "exit-strategy" in Kosovo. I really liked that guy's foreign policy, after watching Clinton go into Haiti and Kosovo with little or no rationale. I'm disappointed now.
|
Thanks... I'd probably choke on the threads, too... anyone praising that woman hasn't researched her or her beliefs or her involvement in the administration we endured for eight years.
LOL!
Yes, what's with the bad mouthing of country clubs by some conservatives (not that I would waste my time in one)? It seems like a class envy based term and achievement mocking term.
Thanks for the post, I was starting to think no one was left.
That's like saying that people should stop worrying about crime in our city, because only 100 out of 100,000 people are mudered every year.
By the way, the last politician to call someone a "neo-isolationist" was Al Gore, and he was talking about George W. Bush.
I was a child in WW2 Some do not seem to realize the difference in arms since then...or in wars!
I was patient with the "turn it all into a glass parking lotters" after 911..It was a very emotional time and I had a loaded bomber picture on the refrigerator door..Frustration and feelings of revenge were natural..I considered it shorthand for "let's go get em and make them pay". I find that some are quite serious about using nuclear bombs!!
There is simply no way to win a war like this by "carpet bombing" and creating a fire storm that burns down a city...
We always need troops on the ground ..and May God bless them and protect them.
I read news from Iraq here that I never hear in the media..
It is a war we must have patience with..I believe it is a war we are winning..I believe we are in for a very long war on terror..We have not had an enemy before that thinks suicide is a great way to go..The Japanese resorted to that late when they were losing.
.I fear for this nation and our troops if the cut and runners and the media prevail.
I am so grateful to all who serve our country.
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.