Murtha Does It Again
By Doug Edelman (12/02/05)
After stepping in "it" about immediate withdrawal, and then putting his foot in his mouth about the state of our troops – Rep John Murtha's breath must really be atrocious today!
His latest diatribe: Murtha says most U.S. troops will leave Iraq within a year, and the Army is "broken, worn out" and may not be able to meet future military threats to the country's security.
I'd like to take a little issue with the Congressman.
The Army is hardly broken or worn out. Troops deployed in Iraq are re-enlisting in record numbers. If I were broken or worn out, I'd be looking for a breather. Equipment and technology continue to be rolled out to our deployed troops – in fact, new technology, which not long ago was not slated to field until years down the road, is already in the hands of deployed troops. And more is on the way.
I find it amusing, though frustrating, to track the comments of the left as relates to Iraq. Let's take a walk down memory lane:
George Bush has been chided since before the 2000 election as being a dunderheaded dimwit. And a pathological liar. (Interestingly, they didn't recognize his predecessor as being truth-challenged!) Yet, this lying dope managed to dupe the majority of these self-professed Democratic geniuses into voting to support a war they now call a mistake, unwinable, a quagmire and based on a lie. Mike Howard said it very well at http://www.theconservativevoice.com/rantings/: "I would hate to admit that the most stupid man on the planet hoodwinked all my guys."
And leave us not to forget that the Democrats were singing the very same song, in perfect harmony with today's Republicans, regarding Saddam's threat – BEFORE Bush took office, based on the intelligence available at that time. Again, deferring to Mr. Howard to make my point for me: "When the Democrats were making speeches proclaiming the danger of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction prior to Bush's presidency, who lied to them then? The Clinton administration?"
And how can we forget the litany of warhawks from the Democratic ranks after 9/11 and before the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom:
"Saddam Hussein certainly has chemical and biological weapons; there is no question about that." Nancy Pelosi
"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction." Ted Kennedy
"I will be voting to give the president of the U.S. the authority to use force if necessary to disarm Saddam because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security... Without question we need to disarm Saddam Hussein... These weapons represent an unacceptable threat." John Kerry
"Saddam has thumbed his nose at the world community and I think the President is approaching this in the right fashion." Harry Reid
But then it was fashionable to be pro-Bush, and hawkish toward Iraq. And we know that the Democrats are blown by the winds of fashion – known as polls. I wrote on this subject previously at http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?id=10095.
It's like watching a weathervane in a thunderstorm! First the dunderhead is wrong about troop strength. The Dems demand thousands of additional troops, saying the mission is impossible without drastic increases in "boots on the ground". Bush held his ground, "staying the course" – but without the massive troop increases. But now the Dems are telling us we're essentially done, so we can start pulling 20,000 troops out immediately! Well let's see: By my reckoning, that would mean we DIDN'T need the troops they harped about before, doesn't it? I mean, we got to the place where, according to the Dems, the Iraqis can carry the ball by themselves (our ultimate goal – isn't it?) freeing us to start withdrawal, right? Could the Dems have been wrong about troop strength?
Oh… we DIDN'T accomplish that yet? The Iraqi's AREN'T ready to take control of their country without our aid? Umm… isn't that WHY we're still there? Hmm. Maybe Bush is right about that too?
But again, it's not about a real winning strategy. It's about making Bush look so bad that the Dems can regain power. There is no priority higher; not even the stability of Iraq, the threat of terror, or the security of our nation. Any success by George Bush is a nail in their coffin – so he MUST fail, no matter the consequences! http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?id=10246
The Democrats love to invoke the spirits of 2 long dead ghosts. Watergate, and Vietnam. Both have been so successfully played as Republican failures, that if they can create a seeming correlation between any current issue and either of these specters, they will do so gleefully. So, the Plame non-story becomes "Plame-gate", or "Libby-gate" or "Leak-gate". Iraq becomes Vietnam.
But in this day of alternative media, SOMETIMES the true story gets out and knocks down the house of cards built by the mainstream media. Mona Charen managed to bring the story of Marine Sgt. Todd Bowers to light. Bowers witnessed firsthand the operation of mainstream press in Iraq. He was interviewed, but he was misquoted to imply the very opposite of what he was saying in support of the mission. He noted reticence on the part of the press to photograph or report anything which reflected positively on the mission and their accomplishments. Conversely, he saw an eagerness to find and broadcast anything negative. The ideas of aimlessness, quagmire, failure and futility were at the heart of anything being broadcast out of Iraq. The playbook of the Left is opened to scrutiny.
The shame is, there IS INDEED a correlation to Vietnam in the Iraq conflict. The press is the willing accomplice of those who WANT us to lose. There is pressure from the Left to again pull over and get out of the car, when we're at the far turn of the final lap, and we're in the lead! As in Vietnam, our soldiers are not being ALLOWED to win the war! And it has nothing to do with war strategies, Iraq or the welfare of our VOLUNTEER soldiers. It's all about regaining political power, and hatred for George Bush.
If there is such concern on the Left for our troops in harm's way, why don't they hear what the troops have to say? The troops SUPPORT their mission. They believe in it. They SEE it working. They re-enlist to KEEP doing it. Their greatest fear is not of the so-called insurgency. Their anxieties are expressed in their worried question: "Do you think they'll pull us out before we finish the job?" If John Murtha and his kind have their way, the answer is yes. We must not allow that to happen.
Copyright © 2005 by Doug Edelman
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