Whatever happened to Iraq?
It has been weeks since congressional members of the Democrat Party attempted to besmirch the honor of General Petraeus, or falsely accused our brave troops of genocide, torture, and rape. It has been weeks since the Drive-by Media has excoriated President Bush or claimed failure in Iraq, and weeks since the Democrat Party has called for the defeat of America. What has changed?
Well, several things have changed. Realistically, there have been so many recent developments that it is difficult to quantify them all in one brief article.
Politicizing the war means harming troops
First of all, it must be made clear that Americans are winners. We're competitive, love a challenge, driven to succeed in whatever we do, and by nature are generally a happy, positive-thinking, can-do lot. Most of us also remember the consequences when a biased, agenda-driven media and a radical socialist segment of our population assisted in the fall of South Vietnam, the loss in vain and shameful waste of more than 58,000 American lives, the denigration of our military personnel at home and abroad, and the multi-national genocide in Southeast Asia that followed Congress' abandonment of an ally and abetment of Communist-backed regimes.
As a result, most Americans are sick and tired of the negativity. They are weary of the daily barrage of Drive-by Media gloom that hammers them even when they know that good things are happening in Iraq. They are tired of the Democrat Party leadership's incessant insults and accusations made against our wonderful boys and girls in uniform, heinous charges that have repeatedly proven to be false. Despite the negativity and lies, and although Americans never like or wish for war of any kind, they want to finish the job and win - not lose.
Quite simply, most Americans have had enough of the lies and of American troops being killed and wounded directly due to the politicization of the Iraq War and attempted polarization of the American people. Of course, this cannot be verifiably qualified; as we all know, opinion polls can and most always are manipulated to reflect desired outcomes. It is merely an observation made by one who closely follows local reaction to current events.
Good things are happening
Not that you could ever tell from the Drive-by Media, but positive developments are blossoming in Iraq, and have been for the past several months. American combat casualties are at the lowest level since the onset of hostilities. Tribal and religious factions within Iraq itself, once belligerent toward American troops, are now uniting with American units to destroy the Islamist al-Qaeda terrorists, Syrian-backed foreign terror units, Iranian-backed foreign terror units and regular Iranian Army troops, and native Iraqi anarchist groups.
As a result, the frequency of IED (Improvised Explosive Device) and sniper attacks has been drastically reduced, and even eliminated in many of the provinces. Most metropolitan curfews have been lifted, and schools are functioning once again. Manufactured goods, utilities, food, and energy products are no longer extremely scarce or impossible to find - local commerce has begun to flourish.
Politically, the Iraqi governing coalition seems to be hanging together and actually functioning reasonably well, to the surprise of many Drive-by Media pundits. Iraqi military and police volunteers are still queuing in long lines for recruitment, and the sectarian Shia and Sunni religious strife that was and to a great extent still is fomented by Iran and al-Qaeda has been all but eliminated, as sectarian leaders see the foreign Islamist radicals as a far greater threat than their Iraqi religious brethren.
In southern Iraq, such a degree of relative peacefulness now exists that Great Britain is contemplating the removal of its entire military operation, rather than merely reducing the number of forces. Of course, as America's staunchest ally and unlike the Democrat-led Congress, Great Britain will do so in full cooperation with the Bush administration.
Does that mean Iraq is now stable and ready to stand alone against its foreign insurgent enemies? Hardly. But what these conditions do indicate is that Iraq is now taking tentative steps toward self-sufficiency.
Congressional democrats betray themselves
But by far the greatest single development for change was the shameful excoriation by Congress of an honorable American - General David Petraeus. Long before the good general was scheduled to give a congressional report on the state of Iraq, Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi led their party, its media allies, and their radical fringe cash cows in a premeditated smear campaign designed to discredit Petraeus and thus by extension, President Bush.
Except for the outright use of the word, Democrats and the Drive-by Media labeled the general a liar and charged him with "cooking the books" on Iraq to protect the president. They charged that his report was written by the White House and that he would come before the congressional committee and meekly comply with whatever he was ordered to say by the administration. Democrat Party grievous mistake number one.
"... it seems that [the Democrat] Congress does not have the votes to stop this strategy of success from going forward..." -- Independent Joe Lieberman
During the hearing, the Democrat Party's radical bomb-thrower allies - MoveOn.org - funded by the anti-American socialist billionaire George Soros took out a full-page ad in The New York Times. The ad labeled the general as a liar and a willing dupe of the Bush administration. Further, the MoveOn.org ad accused this loyal, honorable, much-decorated soldier of betraying his country and the American people. Betray Us, Petraeus indeed. Democrat Party grievous mistake number two.
Well. General Petraeus, integrity and honor plain for all to see, delivered an honest assessment -- his own personally written assessment -- of the surge strategy's limited but growing success with dignified responses. He also respectfully and with gentlemanly restraint weathered blistering accusations and what amounted to a cross-examination in a hostile environment.
Petraeus' principled demeanor and candid responses trained a powerful spotlight on the real motives driving the committee members, thereby turning the tables on his partisan congressional inquisitors and completely humiliating them in front of the world.
It is important to note that the editors of the biased bird cage liner, The New York Times, eagerly printed the ad for their Democrat allies at half price, thereby also angering the once-ethical rag's regular advertisers. Democrat Party grievous mistake number three.
In a box with only one way out
All this time, we have listened to Democrat Party leaders Harry Reid, Mrs. Clinton, Barak Hussein Obama, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Charles Schumer, Dick Durbin, John Murtha, al-Gore, and their ilk do their best to bring about America's surrender in Iraq. We listened as they vilified our president and our boys and girls in the military. We listened as they roared their demands for withdrawal of the troops and defeat in Iraq.
We listened as they threatened our troops with cutting off their funding in a time of war with troops in the field, and vowed to reduce the military's supplies and materiel during a time of war with troops in the field. We listened as they swore to their radical supporters with the large checkbooks that regardless of cost in money, lives, national prestige, economic stability, or the increased vulnerability of our citizens and infrastructure to terrorist attacks, we would retreat from Iraq.
Because we listened, Americans now know that the Democrat Party embraces and yearns for defeat. This is all they have screamed for, schemed for, dreamed for - and now it is what they are known for. Defeat. Surrender. Terrorist appeasement. America's humiliation at any cost.
And they are now stuck in a quagmire of their own making. Stuck because there is but one avenue of retreat for them from this position, only one way out remaining: America must lose in Iraq.
The fringe groups who hold the purse strings and therefore play the tune to which they must dance are insistent that these Democrats live up to their promises. They insist that America surrender immediately. MoveOn.org and Media Matters, another George Soros-funded propaganda machine developed with the aid of Mrs. Clinton, are delirious with anger that the Democrat Party has not delivered the long-promised defeat and positively apoplectic that the Democrat Party presidential candidates are now saying that our troops will be in Iraq until at least 2013! They are stuck.
"... Standing in the way [of retreat] is the stubborn refusal of President Bush to change course..." -- Democrat Speaker Pelosi
Despite congressional majority, the Democrat Party realizes that it is without the support of the American people, represents a position anathema to American principles, and does not have the congressional votes necessary to shut off Iraq funding and force an American surrender in Iraq. They are stuck, and their salvation now depends entirely on a United States defeat.
As Independent Senator Joe Lieberman wryly opined about the successful strategies General Petraeus was employing, "[The Democrat Party] Congress does not have the votes to stop this strategy of success from going forward." On the quagmire side of the equation, Democrat Speaker Pelosi complained, "Standing in the way [of retreat] is the stubborn refusal of President Bush to change course." It seems that socialists now equate moral conviction and faithfulness to one's word and the principles of freedom as "stubbornness."
Defeatism still alive and kicking
Due to trapping itself in a situation where political survival depends upon an American defeat and an increase in the amount of blood spilled by our brave boys and girls in the field, the Democrat Party cannot change course. They not only owe the bomb-throwers who helped them to power, they need Soros' billions to buy the presidency in 2008.
That is why on September 17, Democrat Harry Reid met in New York City with representatives of his party's radical support groups such as MoveOn.org, Win Without War, and Media Matters. Reid tried to reassure them that the Democrat Party was doing all it could to bring about defeat in Iraq. Unlike General Petraeus, Reid was not successful because Democrats lack the votes to force an American surrender, yet are nevertheless financially tied to this radical base that demands nothing less.
Just this week, however, the Democrat majority forced passage of a resolution condemning Turkey for their genocide against Armenians more than 100 years ago. The Turkish government was outraged and recalled its ambassador to the U.S. Why, you ask? Because NATO-ally Turkey allows American troop rotation planes, munitions, and support resupply to use its airspace, military air bases, and communications centers. Denial of such use by Turkey could seriously compromise the United States mission and jeopardize the safety of American troops.
This calculated snub of a loyal American ally is yet another example of just how desperate the Democrat Party is for salvation through defeat. It remains to be seen whether Turkey will unwittingly play into their scheme.
What does not remain to be seen is just how treacherous, how despicable, how near-treasonous the Democrat Party will be to consolidate its stranglehold on American liberty.