Never Hit Softly

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
William Shakespeare

The Senate Majority leader, Harry Reid, has called for a time table for troop withdrawal in Iraq. This is, ostensibly, because the Iraqi government has not met the benchmarks we have set for them. I say we, but, truthfully, it is the micro managers in Congress who have set these goals. I will not bother to reiterate the myriad of reasons why pulling our troops out precipitously is a bad idea for the country as a whole. The Left just ignores the very real threat radical Islam poses to the country. In their defense though, they do have Global Warming threats with which to contend. Now that's really scary stuff. I also will not spend much time on the civilian casualties that will result from a Coalition Troop withdrawal before the country is stabilized. Let's just say, be prepared for film of terrified civilians being cut down by jihadists. Picture the Iraqi citizenry begging to be allowed to cower on tanks or prostrating themselves on airfields as the American helicopters lift off. Think the Fall of Saigon and you'll have some idea of what to expect. The real casualties will be among American men, and yes women, and it will be brutal, bloody and, possibly more than we can bear.

As an Army retreats from a hostile force it moves in a nearly straight line. It is hard to protect the flanks and, frequently, small elements are cut off from the main body. All the while Al-Qaeda and militant jihadi opportunists will snipe at them, detonate IEDs and confront lightly armed units. You could very well witness an entire platoon of Americans butchered on the evening news. The terrorists will not hang back and wait for us to leave. They will press the attack everywhere at once, and soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coast guardsmen will pay the price in blood.

The Left will gleefully talk of their victory as our troops are pulled out, but if you mention the civilians left behind they will be more sanguine. "Oh well," they will say "they brought it on themselves. We were there long enough for them to stand up. It's not our fault." Never mind that these self same hypocrites are the ones calling for action in Darfur to end the genocide; a genocide perpetrated by militant Islamists. That's different, will be the argument. Darfur is a humanitarian effort. Last time I checked, no one in Darfur had attacked the United States and there was no imminent threat of attack, so I cannot see how they can use that argument for Iraq, but still proselytize for Darfur. I, of course, not being a liberal am probably not bright enough to figure it out. More likely, hypocrisy is the liberal stock in trade because after all, they are down with the struggle for oppressed people; just not oppressed people freed by a republican President.

The millions of civilians that will perish will be seen as just so much collateral damage caused by a rogue cowboy who over-stepped his bounds. "Not our fault," our liberal friends will say as they prepare another round of organic carrot juice. What will be harder to ignore, but just as easy for them to disavow, is the American military losses. For years now I have witnessed the ultra-left call soldiers "baby-killer" and have seen vitriolic signage exhorting soldiers to shoot their officers. This though comes in tandem with people swearing they support the troops. How these two things are mutually possible is beyond my limited cognitive power.

What is not beyond my cognitive powers though, is the fact that a precipitous withdrawal, under fire, puts our troops into a special kind of harms way. Many more mothers will receive their Gold Stars should this reach fruition. It will be more than I can bear. I have listened to these blow hards in Congress, shaken their hands at ceremonies and watched them kiss babies. All the while they plot the betrayal of men and women they put into battle, only to cut the legs from under them when it became politically expedient. I loathe that type of bovine excrement and the lemmings in the nation who follow them, gleefully, are simply too much for me to tolerate. We need to convince these honorable men and women of the Legislative Branch that, whatever the reason we went there, we are in Iraq and we need to win. Al-Zahahiri, Al Qaeda's number 2 man, released a 90 minute video tape only yesterday calling Iraq the central fight for Islamic sharia law dominance. Yet Harry Reid sees only a civil war. This is the fight of the ages and we are in danger of losing our way of life. This war must be won. I promised a Gold Star mother recently that I would not let her son's, Sgt Brian Romines, sacrifice to have been in vain. I am prepared to do whatever it takes to support our brave men and women over in The Box. We have not lost Senator Reid, and I, for one am offended that you would say so. I would bleed on the flag to keep the stripes red. Is that too much to expect of an elected official? Sadly, the answer to that is probably yes.