Posted on 11/13/2006 11:45:24 AM PST by kellynla
On the radio a couple of weeks ago, Hugh Hewitt suggested to me the terrorists might try to pull a Spain on the U.S. elections. You'll recall (though evidently many Americans don't) that in 2004 hundreds of commuters were slaughtered in multiple train bombings in Madrid.
The Spaniards responded with a huge street demonstration of supposed solidarity with the dead, all teary passivity and signs saying "Basta!" -- "Enough!" By which they meant not "enough!" of these murderers but "enough!" of the government of Prime Minister Aznar, and of Bush and Blair, and troops in Iraq. A couple of days later, they voted in a socialist government, which immediately withdrew Spanish forces from the Middle East. A profitable couple of hours' work for the jihad. I said to Hugh I didn't think that would happen this time round. The enemy aren't a bunch of simpleton Pushtun yakherds, but relatively sophisticated at least in their understanding of us.
We're all infidels, but not all infidels crack the same way. If they'd done a Spain -- blown up a bunch of subway cars in New York or vaporized the Empire State Building -- they'd have re-awoken the primal anger of September 2001. With another mound of corpses piled sky-high, the electorate would have stampeded into the Republican column and demanded the U.S. fly somewhere and bomb someone.
(Excerpt) Read more at suntimes.com ...
bttt
Ouch! That hurts....
Steyn ping!
Of Iraq he says: "We think we can just call off the game early, and go back home and watch TV." We have, and this election proves it, lost our nerve.
Again, Steyn nails it. Firing Rumsfeld was probably the right thing to do, and should have happened a long time ago. Even thought I think he should have been removed earlier, doing it immediately after a lost election was an unworthy act. Were I still in uniform, and still in Iraq, I'd have not taken that well. If for no other reason, the troops deserved better than seeing their boss deposed in a brazenly political retreat.
article: "It's difficult to conceive of any more public diminution of a noble cause than to make its leadership contingent on Lincoln Chafee's Senate seat. The president's firing of Rumsfeld was small and graceless."Dead on.
I wonder if Mark Steyn would be willing to run for President. Thanks for posting his latest nail hitter, kellynla.
BTTT
I agree. He should have been given the choice to resign back in August or July, or wait until the end of December, just before the new Congress took over. I am of the belief that Rummy wanted to go because he had enough. However, it made Bush look small, petty, and Pelosi's dog!
The Viet Nam war was lost in America not Viet Nam and the same will apply in Iraq if the "Cut & Run" Leftists have their way...again!
ping
Mark Steyn was born in Canada and therefor cannot be president. A bloody shame really.
The GOP lost last week not just because of anti-war sentiment from the left, but because of anti-war sentiment from the right. The left never wanted to be there in the first place, while the right has no patience for a half-@ssed military campaign in times like this.
The left may never have wanted to be in Iraq in the first place but their representatives voted to be there. Where were their voices then? Surely you agree with Steyn that Rumsfeld "certainly shouldn't have been tossed on Wednesday morning" (under the bus)? He goes on, "The president's firing of Rumsfeld was small and graceless." He nailed it.
I would have tossed myself out on my own @ss over the limitations the Beltway political class had put on the execution of the war.
That truly is the bottom line. How does the saying go? "Those who do not understand history are destined to repeat it". Or something like that. Deja vu.
Millions of South Koreans are free because Truman sent our troops over there.
30,000 US troops died in Korea
in 3 years under Democratic President Truman
10 times as many men died under Truman (30,000) as have died under Bush (3,000) in approximately the same length of time (3 years)
The voters and the media have proved that Americans do not have staying power. Our enemy now has it confirmed.
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