The battle lines are being drawn - and America is, in my view, moving towards an acute political crisis. Take this to the bank, critics: We will not back down. We will not, as it were, ignobly allow you to engineer American defeat as we did back in 1975. We are in this to win. Period.
To clarify - we did not "go to war" in Iraq: Iraq is a campaign in the larger War on Terrorism, which began when 3,000 Americans were murdered on 9/11. This is a war we did not start, but we will finish. Furthermore, we did not lie to get America involved in the liberation of Iraq; we have conducted ourselves in this war in a more humane manner than any other war of the past; we are not in this fight at the behest of Israel, in order to enrich defense contractors, or to steal oil - we are in this war because we must fight those who seek our destruction.
There is no substitute for victory - if you are not working for victory, then you are working for defeat, which is precisely what the enemy wants to do to us...and that, of course, means working for anything other than victory is to give aid and comfort to the enemy.
Anita, Anita, Anita....
WHY, tell me why, WHY doesn't the PRESIDENT say this?
He's got the Oval Office! He's got the Bully Pulpit!
He sits and let BAD generalizations become the accepted truth.
Every time I hear some pundit or another say...."it was a mistake to go to Iraq"...I dream of a President with enough courage to look the American public in the eye and say...."Whenever you hear the lame expression "mistake to go to Iraq"...please remember a nice fellow-Saddam Hussein. Who is dead now, hung by his own people".
On and on. He let that weapons of mass destruction go on by, he let this resolution go on when he should have been all over the place in front of the American people, talking about the danger of defeat, telling the soccer moms just what was going on.
Sorry. This President lost this war for us just as much as any other thing you can name.
I've learned that American CAN be defeated and one of the ways to defeat this country is to have a President who doesn't defend either himself or the actions he takes on behalf of the country. I'm very bitter about it as I truly believe that Bush could easily change the dynamic of the nasty political dialogue in this country. So far as I am concerned, HE is as guilty as any Democrat.
I end by throwing in that even that silly Wilson/Plame/Russert thing should have been stopped before it began. All the president had to do, seems to me, is point out early on to the American people that NO crime was done, no LAW was broken, that he's stopping Fitzgerald to save American taxpayer dollars.
I think Bush and the pubs in the House of Lords cost us this war as I really think we're going to lose this thing.
All because of a total lack of communication and honesty with the American people. Who really DO understand such as defeat and victory and really would align seriously behind our president, I really believe this. But Bush sat by and let it happen. He's got the right ideas but has no idea how to align the force behind him.
The last thing America needs is another Vietnam: nor something destined to be called “Iraqnam.” Republicans who voted in support either forgot the lessons of history or they never learned them. Democrats who voted no are from the South and may only be trying to give themselves cover. This vote was nothing but pure politics.
Democrats want to create an “Iraqnam” to further their political agenda. Just as they did in Vietnam, Democrats want the United States of America to lose in Iraq, and lose in our war against terrorism. Democrats failed to support Vietnam and Cambodia. Today Democrats want to abandon Iraq using the same excuses.
Why can’t Democrats support America and what we believe in? Many say they do not question the patriotism of Democrats, but I do. The Democrats are anti-American and must be beaten in 2008.
Democrats make statements that this is “Bush’s war” but if so any defeat will be the “Democrats Defeat” if they fail to support the war, the troops and our Commander in Chief as we fight against radical Islamic extremists. Democrats such as Representative Waxman and Senator Schumer, who have both declared the action in Iraq as a failure and disaster represent the current Democrats position for defending America. They would cut and run, no matter how much it hurts America or our standing as the world’s only super power. These people are fair-weather patriots who support America when they have to but are secretly paranoid cowards who put our nation at risk.
I personally do not believe Americans want another black eye similar to Vietnam, but even worse because of the impact of this happening in the Middle East. I cannot believe Americans want another thirty years of beating ourselves up and disgracing ourselves in front of the whole world. I refuse to believe Americans would put our children and grandchildren at risk by providing aid and comfort to our enemies today.
That’s really the bottom line. Either we win and extend freedom into the Middle East or we lose and suffer for decades as radicals kill Americans and work to destroy our country. Democrats may have forgotten the lesson of 9-11, I have not.
He does realize, does he not, that those critics are from HIS DEMOCRAT party?
If so, and he really means what he says, then why on Earth is he continuing to caucus with them? Does his words REALLY mean what he thinks and feels? Is he so much of a wimp then to let his party over rule his convictions?
Say it ain't so, Joe!
Listening to Murtha and Levin and reading Senator Lieberman's words....and waiting for Brit (yes Juan Brit is smart)
Senator Lieberman closed with a call for unity, “Whatever our differences here in this chamber, about this war, let us never forget the values of freedom and democracy that unite us and for which our troops have given and today give the last full measure of their devotion. Yes, we should vigorously debate and deliberate. That is not only our right, it is our responsibility. But at this difficult juncture, at this moment when a real battle, a critical battle is being waged in Baghdad, as we face a brutal enemy who attacked us on 9/11 and wants to do it again, let us not just shout at one another, but let us reach out to one another to find that measure of unity that can look beyond today’s disagreements and secure the nation’s future and the future of all who will follow us as Americans.”
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