"President Bush: We Owe This Man!"

www.Chronwatch.com ^ | April 14, 2003 | Fernando Oaxaca

[TCSparkman]

"President Bush: We Owe This Man!"

Posted by Fernando Oaxaca Monday, April 14, 2003

It is Day 23 of Operation Iraqi Freedom, which began on Thursday evening, March 20, 2003. Less than three weeks have sped by since the ''Decapitation Strike'' of bunker-buster bombs dropped from an American B-1 flying over Baghdad, guided to a building where Saddam Hussein, his sons, and other Iraqi leaders were supposedly meeting. The resulting Iraqi casualties of that night attack are not known yet, but the violent overthrow of Saddam¹s Iraqi Regime soon followed. Today that regime change is viewed as a good thing by eight out of ten Americans.

''What happened in the last three weeks is unprecedented in military history,'' says Dr. Victor David Hanson, the distinguished CSU Fresno professor of classics and history, writing today in ''National Review Online.'' Perhaps just as unprecedented has been the indomitable leadership of President George W. Bush and the brilliance in planning the war by his military and civilian team. Not unprecedented but almost taken for granted, however, has been the incredible courage, the professional excellence, the unexpected maturity and the continuing high morale of the armed forces of the United States, so heavily made up of barely post-teen volunteers! And, they seem to idolize their commander-in-chief.

Perhaps an unquestionable indicator of this impressive and uncommon melding of presidential leadership with youthful dedication to a difficult task is found on today¹s front page of the usually less than supportive New York Times. An article describes how an American tank shell killed two allegedly civilian Iraqis in an unidentified car speeding towards the American vehicle (only days after the suicide bombing which killed 4 GI¹s in Najaf). It then reports the anguish of Army Cpl. Jeff Mager, 22, the gunner on that Abrams tank crew, as he recounted the incident to the Times reporter

The Times notes but does not comment on Corporal Mager¹s Abrams gun turret which carried the words, ''Bush and Co.!'' What a clear demonstration of the bond between American GI¹s doing the nasty scut work in this far-away conflict and their commander-in-chief, President Bush, thousands of miles away giving the toughest, major commands. As the ''Bush and Co.'' sign speaks to us, we have also seen evidence of that bond in his tear-glistened eyes and near-cracking voice when speaking on TV of, or to, the individuals in armed service. He comes through so obviously reminded of the unavoidable cost in the lives and wounding of young, fighting Americans in armed conflict. To the cynical few, this may sound maudlin.

But, like almost all Americans, the President is not immune to the feelings of anguish and irreversible loss in the pit of our stomach when the dreaded statistics of combat deaths are made known. As one reviews the names and ages of the dead released by the Department of Defense, it is the number in their early twenties and late teens that tear at the heart and forcefully remind us of the price of freedom and what grief so many parents must be enduring.

Yesterday, accompanied by First Lady Laura Bush, Mr. Bush passed out Purple Heart Medals to wounded Marines and soldiers at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. Afterwards, when he made short remarks to the few press people there, one could not miss his apparently grayer hair and what seemed like new lines around his non-TV-prepped eyes, giving dramatic evidence of how the President too has suffered from the burden he carries as he has led, and leads in this Iraq War.

America owes this man. And like it or not, the world owes this man. Convinced of the seriousness of the dangers our nation and others face, smashed into our senses by 9/11, President Bush has been leading a war on apathy and self-interest not just here in the United States but abroad. His graying hair is not solely from age. It is from dealing with great patience and an incredible stick-to-itiveness as he has driven an American public, previously glued to TV re-runs of ''Friends'' or new ''Survivor'' episodes, to recognize that suicide-bombers in North Hollywood or Long Island are not impossible. His graying is also from searching for national unity on dealing with the menace of Saddam Hussein. It comes from not exercising his better judgment, giving way to needless acquiescence to his unyielding critics, appealing for support and being summarily rejected by ex-KGB honcho, Vladimir Putin, or greedy duo Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder or perhaps more painfully, finding no help from formerly reliable amigo Vicente Fox.

Read the entire article at http://www.chronwatch.com/featured/contentDisplay.asp?aid=2273

[TCSparkman]

We do owe George Bush, as does the rest of the world. He accepted his responsibilities and has performed a service to the world at large. One can only wonder where we would be if we had to go through these times with Gore as our leader...

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[Yo-Yo]

And, they seem to idolize their commander-in-chief.

Aw, c'mon. I'm sure they would have idolized President Gore every bit as much if only a few more chads were dimpled.

</SARCASM>

[God luvs America]

We do owe George Bush, as does the rest of the world.

The liberals, "intellectuals", and cowardly your-a-peons...I mean europeans will never do it or admit to it; they're above it all..or so they think!

[teletech]

Yes, we owe President Bush & we also owe Tony Blair and we owe every Coalition country that stood with us in this struggle. I salute the brave men and women of ALL the coalition countries that fought on the battlefield in Iraq.

[WaveThatFlag]

And we owe Tony Blair as well. He's a liberal, but he's a stand up guy.

[FReepaholic]

I can tell you that I feel safer today than I have felt since September 11, 2001.

I know the risk is still there, but I believe that terrorists all over the world are viewing the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns as a "wake-up call".

They'll think twice and three times before making more attacks.

[konaice]

I mostly agree with the article, but there is one bit of Leftist fiction parroted here:

"the armed forces of the United States, so heavily made
up of barely post-teen volunteers"

The average age of the US military is over 30 years of age.
These are not young kids, these are professional volunteer soldiers.

The left would have us believe we sacraficed the blood of the disadvantaged class to win this war, but its just not true. The young, and the hispanic and the black are underrepresented in combat positions (7%).

[Focault's Pendulum]

Uh...what exactly do we owe him? He's doing the job we hired him to do.

He does it correctly....the way it's supposed to be done. Do we owe him extra because the eight years prior to him were a disaster.

I'll thank him, profusely...but I.... don't owe him a damn thing for doing things that are supposed to be done.

[f.Christian]

In "The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy," he argues that the prevailing vision in the press, academy and politics has become so ... dogmatic --- that it has lost touch with reality.

Mr. Sowell labels the competing visions "constrained" and "unconstrained." The constrained vision argues that perfection is impossible, that social policy consists of structuring incentives for self-centered men, that life is a series of trade-offs. This vision is represented by the likes of Adam Smith, Edmund Burke and Alexander Hamilton (and of course, Dick Cheney and the Bush administration mindset).

[freekitty]

Well said. President Bush is a remarkable man.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Kudos to you for getting through a Sowell book. I like listening to him but his writing is murder.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

a Sowell book. I like listening to him but his writing is murder.

Only one Sowell book? I've read a dozen of them.

The man is a genius. Where, pray tell, can one listen to Sowell on a regular basis? I saw him on C-Span once, and Brian Lamb stipulated that trying to get Sowell on the tube was nearly impossible. Sowell agreed, saying that he thought his forte was print, and he didn't want to spend much time on radio/TV appearances.

[Argus]

Fernando Oaxaca is WWII veteran, a draftee who never got beyond the grade of sergeant, a retired businessman, an Internet writer, and an unabashed Latino conservative. He may be reached by e-mail at lamextex@ix.netcom.com.

Wonder if this guy's a Freeper?

[xm177e2]

Dr. Victor David Hanson

DaviS

[Lopeover]

We do owe President Bush. Thank you Mr. President.

[el_texicano]

We do owe this man. As Presdent, he has served well above and beyond the call of duty. No person can face the constant carping, and outright lying of the hateful DemocRATS and the sanctimonious liberal elite without it taking a toll on them.

One thing can be said of this man, he has LED and he has led us in the right path. The contrast to the previous administration only serves to highlight and emphasize the difference in character quality and honor.

[chainsaw]

One can only wonder where we would be if we had to go through these times with Gore as our leader...

There would not have been any contolling authority.

[Wolfstar]

Fabulous article. We do owe President George W. Bush. If, at this pivotal moment in history, we do not rally to his side to support his reelection next year, then we are not worthy of this great nation he has worked so hard to protect. In any case, the presidency of George Walker Bush is already one of the most momentous in our nation's history. In terms of importance (notice I'm not using the more subjective word 'greatness'), this Bush presidency ranks with those of:

• Washington, because he set a number of precedents which lifted the American presidency from just another monarchist head of state to something quite unique in all of human history.
• Jefferson, primarily for the Louisiana Purchase, which opened the way for the United States to become a continental, then hemispheric, then world power.
• Lincoln, obviously for the Civil War.
• Wilson, (in my opinion, one of the worst U.S. presidents) for direct election of senators, the income tax, the disasterous Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations, which morped into the UN.
• FDR, for his handling of WWII (otherwise another terrible president, in my opinion).
• Truman, for his guts in using the bomb, his magnanimous handling of the immediate post-war period, and for firing Douglas MacArthur. Truman mishandled Korea, but insubordination in the senior military is dangerous to our Constitutional system.
• Ronald Reagan for winning the Cold War.

Precisely where among these seven most momentous U.S. presidencies GWB will rank in the fullness of history is still a story to be written, but it is unquestionably in this league already.

[dalebert]

Great to know we have a President we know is on our side.