Six Years

It is good to remember people and events that taught you something. I think most Americans would say that they learned something about themselves or others because of 9/11. I don't feel obligated to commemorate the event since I was so far from it when it happened, knowing nobody who died and probably nobody who was related to someone who died. I do feel obligated to point out some of the terrible things that have sprouted since that day and the awful way in which some people, including our representatives, choose to "honor" those that died.

"Now I believe, myself, that the secretary of state, the secretary of defense and you have to make your own decision as to what the president knows: that this war is lost, that the surge is not accomplishing anything," Reid, D-Nev., told reporters.
(www.foxnews.com, April 19, 2007)

The last troops arrived June 15, 2007, according to Al Jazeera. Two months before the plan was even instituted, Harry Reid proclaimed our troops to be failing. Furthermore, Patraeus has demonstrated that the surge did produce results.




Those words were supposedly "a botched joke." I don't think John Kerry is so inept as to trample his words that badly. Not to mention his past treatment of the military and current treatment of this one speaks volumes as the the truth of the "botched joke."



"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the – of – the historical customs, religious customs," Kerry said Sunday. "Whether you like it or not ... Iraqis should be doing that."

Words mean everything. Words describe how we are feeling and how someone else feels. They are also used to describe situations and make connections to other ideas. Duh, right? Well, Senator Kerry used the words "dead of night, terrorizing" to describe what our soldiers are doing and then to say that Iraqi's should be "terrorizing" their women and children. Is his contention that our soldiers are terrorizing people and thus terrorists? Maybe, maybe not. I suppose it is possible that he was only talking about the specific act of breaking into homes? I doubt it seriously because the act of terrorizing is an act of causing terror. Who does that? In addition, what is the difference between terrorizing and war or security? War is terrible and it does cause terror. But in the context of the global war on terror, terrorists do these things, not soldiers. These soldiers do not break into people's houses and murder and/or maim and/or behead the Iraqi's. They root out terrorists and terrorist strongholds. Why would our soldiers even bother to break into every person's house looking for something that 9 times out of 10 isn't going to be there? Are they causing terror? Only insomuch as war causes terror, but by breaking into people's homes, no, I don't think so. Plus, tack this quote to the rest of Kerry's descriptions of our soldiers and that adds some weight to the argument.

"We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there."
Barak Obama (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Decision2008/wireStory?id=3475874) August 14, 2007

So that's all our military personnel are doing over in Afghanistan? They are "just air-raiding villages and killing civilians." What a patently disgusting comment to make. Accusation, I should say, since there is no (uh huh, NO) evidence to suggest that we are over in Afghanistan bombing people's villages and killing the citizens and that's it. And this man is running to be a president? Is he even half qualified to run the military?



Senator Schumer, before the report was released by General Patraeus, made the above statement. He stated that our troops were "(unable) to protect these tribes" of Iraq. Maybe if you lived in a Third World nation, you could say that the military is inept. But how is it that the most powerful military in the world is inept in securing Iraq, whereas those great warlords did it. It's an outright lie. The Iraqi people are turning in terrorists because they are sick of being bombed by them. They are sick of the kidnappings, and the fighting. They are helping more and more to stem the tide of bombings and killings with the help of our troops.



Moveon.org with willing accomplice New York Times printed this full page ad on the exact day that Patraeus was set to begin his testimony. They (moveon.org and NYT) had no real idea what Patraeus would be saying and what he would be recommending. But apparently that makes no difference to those with only politics on the mind. General Patraeus (was) confirmed unanimously by the Senate. Such people who call him a liar today called him qualified in the beginning. What changed? Iraq was going badly at first and now its going better. So instead of praising the progress, or even dismissing it, Patraeus has to have his character and integrity assassinated? It's disgraceful to even utter the words our Congress has about a 4 star general who is succeeding in his mission.

These are just a few examples of borderline traitorous speeches made by some of our elected representatives and a political group. Granted, I tend to register "conservative" on the scale, but if Republicans (who have hardly been that conservative) were doing this and a more conservative political group was defaming an honorable general, they would get the same labels and the same criticisms. It is wrong. Wrong because this general has a clean service record. Wrong because our troops are still fighting the war and if we are still fighting then it is not lost. Wrong because the destruction of the mission leaves our troops with yet another loss to be ginned up for comparison (think Vietnam). Wrong because we promised the Iraqis a better life with freedom to choose what they want to do and be. And most important of all, it's wrong because the United States does not accept defeat. We do not just accept defeat and walk off licking our wounds. If we lose something, we get back on the horse and ride. It is one thing that separates us from them.

So the next time you may be thinking of just quiting because its cost us more money than we thought or more lives than we wanted, remember that America has the capability to do what it sets out to do. Remember that our word is on this and our reputation is on this and what else do we have if not that? And remember that our people are on that battefield still fighting on, still working to make sure that we finish what we started. Exercise your freedom of speech by choosing not to exclaim that the "war is lost" or that you believe the military is raping and pillaging Iraq. And certainly don't do that if you want to be called "patriotic" as well. It is not patriotic to speak for and work for your country's loss.