The War On Terror Is Not A Game
By Joe McLaughlin Posted in National Security — Comments (11) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Last week, we saw Harry Reid instigate an all-night session in the Senate, debating legislation that would force a premature withdrawal of the troops from Iraq. It was an example of the worst kind of high political theater, involving legislation with potentially devastating consequences for our prosecution of the War On Terror, and the lives of the thousands of innocents in Iraq whose main line of protection is the presence of US forces in the country.
To those more concerned with getting our policy in Iraq right, and not engaging in political games in order to win votes, the consequences of setting an arbitrary, premature deadline for withdrawal of US forces are obvious: thousands of innocents slaughtered and a more destabilized Middle East that will undoubtedly require our return in the near future.
Read on . . .
Those who propose a rapid withdrawal, not linked to achieving our national security goals, advocate changing course mere weeks after the last troops deployed as part of the "surge" were introduced to the combat zone. Such micro-management of the battlefield by Congress betrays our troops and history has shown it to be a recipe for disaster.
But if the scene witnessed last week in the Senate was bad, the picture is equally disappointing in the House of Representatives. Mere hours after President Bush released the initial assessment of progress on benchmarks for the war required by Congress, the House passed a resolution calling for withdrawal by next spring. As has been his habit, Congressman Walter Jones—against whom I am running in North Carolina’s Third District Republican primary next year-- again voted with the liberal left in support of this short-sighted measure.
Jones continues to descend down one of the most puzzling political paths in recent memory. This journey has led him from serving as a Democrat in the State House, to a converted Republican who strode into Washington in 1994 with much promise, riding the wave of the Contract with America. Today, Walter Jones’ path has him ignoring his constituents and instead walking shoulder to shoulder with Nancy Pelosi and Cindy Sheehan, the most liberal elements of the “Blame America First” movement. He is barely recognizable as the man our district sent to Washington 13 years ago.
Our elected officials and our nation must find the fortitude to defeat the radical jihadists who seek to destroy our way of life. We must learn from the lessons of history, in particular that weakness in the face of tyranny is a fatal flaw. We must resist the urge to give up in the struggle on the basis of opinion polls and instead, as a nation, we must summon the will to prevail. The bravery in Baghdad must be matched by courage in Congress—especially by Republicans representing constituents who are themselves serving on the front line in the War On Terror.
Joe McLaughlin is a conservative county commissioner and a retired Army officer running for the Republican nomination in North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District. For more information please visit our website www.joeforcongress.com
That does have an awful nice ring to it.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
Let's get Congress Crank-ed up!
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CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.
There's a reason Gary Ackerman runs unopposed in my district.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
he'd probably be willing to come down and campaign for you.
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CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.
"We must resist the urge to give up in the struggle on the basis of opinion polls and instead, as a nation, we must summon the will to prevail."
Who exactly is this we? It doesn't seem to include the public majority who are unhappy with the administration of the occupation.
Attacking the shortsighted plan to totally withdraw the troops by spring is a great idea. It makes an easy target. Just don't confuse disdain for that measure with endorsement of the current strategy.
that we need to endorse the current/working/winning strategy aka "The Surge"?
"It's a book about a man who doesn't know he's about to die, and then dies...
...But if the man does know he's going to die and dies anyway. Dies, dies willing, knowing he can stop it, then...
Well, isn't that the type of man you want to keep alive?"
Karen Eiffel, Stranger Than Fiction
I think it requires not just endorsement, if you favor it, but public justification. There's a limit to how long an unpopular war can be sustained in a democracy.
I don't have a quarrel with "working", BTW. I've a quarrel with "winning", because we've strangely decided that Iraq's government doing good things is necessary for our success. Maybe some of our soldiers can be spared to visit their Parliament, and speed things up a trifle. :)
I don't have a quarrel with "working", BTW. I've a quarrel with "winning", because we've strangely decided that Iraq's government doing good things is necessary for our success.
It's not.
People confuse:
1) "Winning" in Iraq, and
2) Winning the overall GWOT
We've already won the first one. It's over. It's done.
It's the second one that's the primary issue. If simply taking out Saddam Hussein were enough to stop the Jihadists, we would have been out 3 years ago.
The fact is, it isn't - the only way the strike a substantial, long-term blow against the Jihadis is to undermine them, every place, every chance we get.
Setting up a serviceable democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan goes a long way toward doing that.
Whether real majorities of the American people are short-sided on this issue is besides the point - the current policy is the best way to mitigate the Jihadist threat, LONG-TERM.
In fact, it was only a few months ago that we learned what "victory in Iraq looks like"
http://www.redstate.com/stories/special_events/according_to_the_us_milit...
It's not a game to Reid. It is survival to keep the special interest groups money coming. Job security, political survival. That is why we need systemic changes in Washington. Our elected elite are on the wrong incentive program.
Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you. Washington Elected Elite
John Edwards, that paragon of honesty and virtue, told me all about it. It made me want to go fight poverty instead. Poverty doesn't shoot back with 7.6mm ammo.
"Scott Thomas" - The New Republic's Winter Soldier