Good News / Bad News
By Doug Edelman (06/29/06)
Good news coming out of Iraq is bad news for the Left, and the Mainstream Media is getting desperate! Their standby "go to" story for beating up on the President - Iraq - is turning a corner. The President's approval numbers are rebounding.
The Left feels they must then respond to weaken the President so the LeftMedia then tries to attack Bush's flank by publishing classified information – and a backlash blows back in their faces. Then they resort to publishing an embarrassing report about Rush Limbaugh and Viagra – which again blows back in their faces as even liberal pundits like Jayne Weintraub find it a cheap political ploy.
Public opinion is beginning to shift away from the "Iraq is a quagmire and a failure" mentality that the LeftMedia wishes to promote in it's daily broadcasts and publications. The Mainstream Media is falling in public opinion as the President's polls are experiencing a bump.
While the liberals continue their "Withdraw Now" drumbeat, the reality is that we truly are making progress toward a troop drawdown. The bad news for the Left is that it is made possible by successes in Iraq, and it would not be an embarrassing case of tail-tucking retreat for the president.
As the Liberals mark the "milestone" of 2500 killed in Iraq, as if the only thing happening in Iraq is the extermination of our troops one by one – the reality is that our objectives in Iraq are being accomplished one by one. And as that occurs, the size of our deployment in Iraq can be drawn down in a manner that is orderly and responsive to the situation on the ground. Isn't that what the administration has said all along?
During the Clinton presidency – over 7500 US service men and women died while on active duty. Most were non-combatant deaths due to accidents, illness etc. But the loss to the family, friends, and to the service is no less than one who dies in combat. So there were 7500 military deaths during Clinton's 8 years; and what great mark was left on the world by Clinton's presidency? Technology given to China to advance their missile capability? Ignoring Bin Laden and passing on an opportunity to capture him? Emboldening the terrorists by the Somalia Skeedaddle?
Yes, we have tragically lost 2500 brave military men and women in "Bush's War". But what have we accomplished?
The toppling of the regimes of the Taliban and of Saddam Hussein took place early on. Soon after, Saddam's sons were killed. Bin Laden has been reduced to a fugitive cave-man. Saddam was captured cowering in a hole.
Infrastructure has been rebuilt. Schools have been built. The Iraqi and Afghan people are beginning to taste liberty. They're beginning to give us their trust and aid. Despite insurgents blowing up police stations and recruiting stations, Iraqis still come to enlist and to train as police and security forces. More and more good and actionable intelligence is coming from the Iraqi citizenry.
Free elections have been held. An elected government is in place. Iraqi security forces are becoming trained and operational. More and more of the security responsibilities are being taken by Iraqi nationals. As has always been stated by the administration – as the Iraqis stand up, we can stand down.
Al Zarqawi was found and killed thanks to good intelligence provided by Iraqis. The raids which coincided with the attack that took out Al Zarqawi netted further intelligence, in the form of documents and computer hard drives. More and more of the leadership of the enemy are being found and killed. The fact of the matter is that we are indeed winning the war!
There is no doubt that there will continue to be insurgents and terrorist attacks. As we have seen in Israel for 58 years… terrorists don't go away. But Iraq is becoming more and more capable of providing its own security, running its own government, and fighting its own battles with the terrorists. We are accomplishing the objectives we went in with – and our exit strategy is and always has been to accomplish the mission, and to draw down in a manner that is responsible and is responsive to the situation on the ground. We are now approaching the time when a troop drawdown will be possible without retreat.
Will we withdraw completely? Not likely! It's been 61 years since WWII ended and we're still in Germany. We're still in Korea. I would expect a presence to remain in Iraq for some time. But still, the time is not far off when the vast bulk of our forces will be withdrawn from Iraq and deployed elsewhere because they are achieving the goals of their mission.
To withdraw our troops with a HUAH, instead of with their tail between their legs in disgrace and defeat is a terrifying prospect to the Left and the Mainstream Media. Expect them to behave hysterically.
Copyright © 2006 by Doug Edelman
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