No Retreat, No Surrender

I know that there are many good people on the democrat side of the proverbial aisle. I can even make the leap of faith to think that some of the anti-war protesters are kind, caring people who mean well. Unfortunately, the world is full of cannibals who want to eat us and no amount of wishing can make the bad guys go away. It seems though, that the leadership of the Democrat Party are willing shills for the anti-America movement organizations Code Pink, A.N.S.W.E.R. and United for Peace and Justice. These organizations are anything but well-meaning. They all have their roots in the American Communist Party and their leadership have been bashing the United States in general, and the American serviceman in particular, for better than 40 years. Simply put, these organizations, and the democrat elite are invested in a US defeat in not just the war in Iraq, but in the larger War on Terror in general. It is the only way for them to prove to their satisfaction that they have the ability to influence events in the US and the world.

I have made mention of the anti-America movement attempting to draw parallels between Iraq and Vietnam. They have used the Tet Offensive and the current Surge in Iraq as evidence that we are an immoral, imperialistic, war-mongering bunch who needs to become more sensitive to the world's needs. Forget for a moment that Tet was a win for the US forces. I have blogged extensively on the historical inaccuracies of the Left's portrayal of the "loss" we suffered during Tet. Walter Cronkite said it was a loss, so it must have been. Actually, it was a monumental defeat for the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese; General Giap said as much at the time. Giap also is on record as having said that the American anti-war movement was the only reason for optimism after Tet, and was a resource to be harnessed. Giap and his staff listened daily to reports by the American media and decided that North Vietnam could win the war, not through force of arms, but by force of will. he reasoned that if the North could simply hold on long enough the American left would win the war for him.

Much the same is happening now in Iraq. Even though Bin Laden and Zawahiri have both released Islamic diatribes explaining the historical context of Iraq through the Vietnam prism, the anti-war left refuses to publicly accept complicity in defeat. Any rational human being would be expected to hear Bin Laden and Zawahiri's statements regarding the assistance anti-American rhetoric provides to them and immediately be chastised. Al-Jazeera routinely plays video of A.N.S.W.E.R.'s anti-war rallies and statements from the likes of Sen Harry Reid (D-NV) and Rep. Jack Murtha(D-PA). If a person was well-meaning and truly had the country's best interests at heart that would be cause for them to self silence their rhetorical protestations. Since it has only fueled the accusations and moronic comments by the democrat hierarchy and their attendants one has to presume that the statements are designed to cause a loss in Iraq.

The Surge in Iraq has been characterized as the Tet Offensive, or a holding action that cannot be sustained. The problem with that logic is quite evident though. Someone wiser than I remarked to me today that "To compare Tet to the Surge is dishonest. First, Tet was the enemy's last gasp effort pushing against us and we broke them. The Surge is us pushing against them and revealing that Al-Qaeda is the true Paper Tiger." Think about that for a moment. If the left insists on saying, as Sen Reid recently did, that the war is lost, are they not, in effect, saying that the American military, with all its vaunted might, is incapable of defeating a rag-tag bunch of terrorists? How could a person, in good conscience, say our military is the greatest to ever take the field and then say we have lost? The answer must lie in political machinations. Either the left-most wing of the Democrat Party has deluded themselves, or they are liars. No middle ground exists.

Somehow the American public has been lulled into complacency by American Idol and the trials and tribulations of Paris Hilton. The healthy skepticism we have always displayed has been replaced with partisan lines in the sand. If you are a democrat and a republican says something it must be a lie, and vice versa. An email I have received numerous times has a white-board in a Marine Corps barracks which reads: America is not at war. The Marine Corps is at war. America is at the mall. That notion could not be more accurate and it is a sad commentary on the state of the American public. Barack Obama, one of the leading contenders for the Democrat Party nomination is on record having said that, if elected, he would sit down with middle-eastern dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This in the same week that news reports linked Iranian Special Forces to American combat deaths. It was also the week that the US military reported there is no Al-Qaeda in Iraq. It is just Al-Qaeda. Apparently the left is prepared to believe anything the terrorists and dictators say, but nothing the Americans utter; unless it helps their cause. What it comes down to is this: either you believe that we should confront our Islamic enemies and kill them or you think we should talk to them. If you picked the talking route, you are also signing on to give up some more of your money to the public coffers, which won't matter for long because some man who wants to meet 72 virgins will eventually blow you up or cut off your head.

I, personally, am against talking to anyone who believes that flying planes into buildings full of civilians is a negotiating tool. I am for killing them, wherever and whenever we can. Iraq may not have had weapons of mass destruction and did not have any direct operational control over the events of 9/11. Iraq is now, however, the magnet for jihadists and, in the words of Bin Laden and Zawahiri, the "central front in the battle for worldwide supremacy." Iraq is the front lines in the battle for a worldwide caliphate and I have no desire to pray to Allah five times per day. My solution is simple: Unleash the dogs of war and let our men in uniform kick ass. The job of the Army is to win wars, not police streets. It is time for some good old fashioned military action, which will be borne by those who volunteered for it; the infantry. We may have chosen the venue, but we did not choose this fight. If Al-Qaeda and their compatriots want a return to the 6th Century so badly I say we accommodate their wishes and go medieval on them. Anything less is aiding and abetting the enemy. This is a fight we must win, or sacrifice all that we hold dear.

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.