Victor Davis Hanson: Iraq, and the Truth We Dare Not Speak. We must win American hearts and minds

NRO ^ | April 27, 2007 | Victor Davis Hanson

[Tolik]

I read your report on your adventures in the Pali-land and contrast with Israel. Thanks, good job!

You probably know Michael Totten independent journalism that is 2 heads above MSM: http://www.michaeltotten.com/

His reporting on Kurdistan is amazing. I wish it was reprinted by all (yeah, right...)

[mathluv]

'The problem is that a majority of Americans think we are in Iraq for the Iraqis. '

That is a true statement, thanks to the DBM. Too many seem to forget what happening on 9/11. We have let the left demonize our fighting back against those who want to kill us and our way of life.

[Rutabega]

What wonderful photos!!! I haven’t seen those before, and will be running them off to show to my seventh grade students today—SUPER!!!!!!!! (Thanks :))))

[drzz]

Thanks for the (great) link !

[PGalt]

I think they do, and that the record of brave Iraqi reformers is worth the effort — both for the sake of our future security and so as to adopt a new moral posture that respects Arab self-determination.

OK

Voters may not like particularly a Harry Reid, but in frustration at the violence, they sense now that, just like them, he also doesn’t like a vague somebody over there.

That's not what the bundle of contradictions called Harry POS Reid is about, is it VDH?

Garbage

Enabler

Resign Harry POS Reid

[newcthem]

As usual great piece................

Most of us have a lot less problems with the moslims in Iraq, than we do with CAIR, muzzy taxi drivers and store clerks in Minneapolis telling us how we are supposed to live, when they have come here since they can’t stand to live in the sh*tholes they have created in their own lands.

[drzz]

WHAT AMERICA ACHIEVED IN IRAQ : http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1803707/posts And also remember the Saddam's atrocities : http://drzz.over-blog.org/article-4440852.html

[drzz]

WHAT AMERICA ACHIEVED IN IRAQ

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1803707/posts

[Tolik]

First of all, let me use the opportunity to thank you for your work on translating Iraqi original documents for all to see. Its absolutely indispensable! Can’t thank you enough.

“The problem is that a majority of Americans think we are in Iraq for the Iraqis. We are in Iraq first and foremost to defend our freedom and our way of life.”

Yes!

Now, to defeat the traitors in Congress, we need to win elections. When Iraq is one of the deciding factors, we need to win the info-war at home: show that we can win, are winning, and its crucial for our own future, not just a charity for Iraqi and others. We are democracy and when Congress cuts funding (Vietnam) we are just screwed. Unless there is a second Civil war here, its how we will continue to function: win elections.

[drzz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f_K0jFvF60

[drzz]

If there was no such embarassment in the US establishment about 9/11, it would be clear to the American people why their troops are in Iraq :

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1sx7x_saddams-secrets

[Bahbah]

Thanks for all of your hard work, drzz.

[drzz]

Thanks !
drzz
http://leblogdrzz.over-blog.com

[Bahbah]

I have visited and will continue to do so :)

[Valin]

There are dozens of tragic ironies in Iraq. The fostering of democracy by a Republican president only alienated his dour realist base. Yet his idealism did not even win as recompense faint sympathy from supposedly Wilsonian Democratic opponents.

I guess it’s true that, no good deed goes unpunished.

[Valin]

But such a legitimate and necessary rationale depends also upon general empathy for the Middle East. We are embarking on this new course in the hopes that the American lives sacrificed and our treasure spent are for a friendly people that appreciates our efforts. I think they do, and that the record of brave Iraqi reformers is worth the effort — both for the sake of our future security and so as to adopt a new moral posture that respects Arab self-determination.

From Turkey
TURKEY: SECULARISTS PREPARE STREET RALLY AGAINST GUL’S PRESIDENTIAL BID

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.409186216&par=0

Istanbul, 27 April (AKI) - Turkish secularist groups have scheduled another mass demonstration on Sunday, this time to protest the likelihood that the current foreign minister Abdullah Gul, and a leading member of the Islamic-rooted ruling party will be elected president of Turkey. The planned demonstration follows a rally in Ankara on 14 April in which hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets against what was then thought to be the intention of prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to run as president.

Erdogan on Tuesday after consulting his governing AKP (Justice and Development Party) announced he would not stand and that Gul would be the party’s presidential candidate.

Secularist groups also oppose Gul’s bid citing the foreign minister’s shared pro-Islamic views with Erdogan. They warn that an Islamic rooted president would threaten the country’s secular modern identity as moulded by its modern-day founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in the 1920s.

Sunday’s rally which will be held in Istanbul’s Caglayan Square is supported by the Kemalist Thought Organization (ADD) and over 100 other associations. Demonstrators will march under the slogan “Unite for the Republic Before It Is Too Late”.

As with the Ankara protest, a large number of women who are uneasy over the AKP’s stance on women’s place in society, are expected to attend Sunday’s rally.

If Gul were elected the next president of Turkey, his wife who wears the Islamic headscarf would present the state with a protocol problems since Turkish laws prohibit the wearing of such Islamic dress in public buildings and at official functions.

On Friday parliamentarians were scheduled to begin the presidential vote but the process could be threatened by procedural disputes.

[Cuttnhorse]

Great photos drzz; thanks.

[Sicon]

The Council on American-Islamic Relations claims that one American in four surveyed said Islam was a religion of hatred and violence and held extreme anti-Muslim views.

Hmmm, that figure seems awfully low. I would have thought it was closer to 75%.

[Liberty Wins]

"Turn on the television and the reporting is all hate."

We need far more articles like this to counteract the totally false picture created by the MSM.

[Carry_Okie]

We are embarking on this new course in the hopes that the American lives sacrificed and our treasure spent are for a friendly people that appreciates our efforts. I think they do, and that the record of brave Iraqi reformers is worth the effort — both for the sake of our future security and so as to adopt a new moral posture that respects Arab self-determination.

At least Hanson has touched a critical fulcrum.

When Iraqi liberation is considered by itself, I am certain that most of them appreciate it all right, but that doesn't mean they'd line up with us to defend Israel against Iran or even stay quiet. Were we to enter serious conflict with Tehran, there's no telling what the Iraqis would do. Historic precedents suggest that such accounts of good will are usually ephemeral.