Iraq Five Years Later > FreedomsWatch

Monday, March 17, 2008

Iraq Five Years Later
By Megan Ortagus :: 24 Comments :: Email to a friend

This week, Americans and Iraqis mark that fifth anniversary of the US lead coalition that toppled the brutal 24 year dictatorship of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

After five years as a nation at war, the grotesque politicization that surrounds the debate on America’s pressing challenge – the way forward in Iraq – is increasingly alarming. In light of the generational struggle we face against the forces of radical Islamic terrorism, the battlefield of Iraq remains the central front in this complex fight and should be judged through that prism.

On Sunday in the Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby reminded us of a quote from one of America’s most stalwart military leaders, General George S. Patton.

“Americans love a winner,” Patton growled, “and will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win – all the time…the very thought of losing is hateful to an American.”

Does Patton’s ringing endorsement of the strength of American fortitude still stand the test of time?

Although Patton’s words surely do not describe the many weak-willed pundits and politicians ready to abandon Iraq at any cost, after witnessing first-hand the new “greatest generation” of American GI’s in Iraq I feel confident that their strength, sacrifice and perseverance will continue to define what makes America great.

The last five years have taught us that war is never easy, and that victory requires the unshakable iron will of our civilian and military leadership – and the support of the American public. Those who claimed the Iraq War was lost did so prematurely. We must remain cautious in our optimism; yet the reality of what is happening on the ground in Iraq and the strength of the American fighting force give us cause to hope again.

Comments

By bevperl @ Monday, March 17, 2008 8:00 PM

Keemoshallow:

Again, what don't you understand about Death To America? Most Americans will Never Forgive and Never Forget.

Again, I remind you how safe you have been since 9/11, thanks to our brave American Soldiers. I celebrate our victory everyday! God Bless Our Soldiers!

By nfdel @ Monday, March 17, 2008 9:50 PM

keeeemosabe!

I read your comment and you seem angry. You touched on several topics and wandered from the facts at hand about success and victory on the battlefront in Iraq. I understand your frustration since victory in this particular theater in the war against Islamic tyrany means defeat for you and and your cause against our President. You are still angry about the 2000 election and have to get over it. The cost of your anger is wishing ill against your country. For that your patriotism should be challeneged. Although the conflict in Kosovo initiated by Clinton holds no strategic purpose for our national security is still a noble cause and our troops deserve our support there. I always wondered about getting invovled there, but I do support the troops and their mission in the region. By the way, what's our exit strategy? :)

You certainly have the right to your opinion. It has been bought and paid for in blood.

Sincerely,

Infidel

By keeeemosabe @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 12:45 PM

>>>>By bevperl @ Monday, March 17, 2008 8:00 PM
Keemoshallow: Again, what don't you understand about Death To America? Most Americans will Never Forgive and Never Forget. <<<<
Sounds to me that you will be the happiest when the carpet bombing starts in Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestinian territory, since those "Death to America" demonstrations have happened in all those places at one time or another. Some people like nothing better than carpet bombing, like General Lemay and you, for instance?

By bevperl @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 1:18 PM

Keemoshallow:

The surge is working and since 9/11, your little self has been safe. I attribute that to Bush's resolve to keep us all safe, and he has done so inspite of foolish and reckless liberals.

George Bush is a good and honorable man who brought class back to the White House; no renting out the Lincoln bedroom and the only woman he goes to bed with at night is his wife. I will miss him.

By nfdel @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 2:46 PM

Keeemosabe says, "Foolish and reckless is exactlty what Dubya's Iraq policy has been. Any safety here is in spite of his policies, not because of anything that happened in Iraq."

You' make outrageous statements such as this without one ounce of proof to support it, at least not any that hasn't been roundly debunked time and time again.

As I said in my first comment, that you have yet to address, the cost of your anger is wishing ill against your country. For that your patriotism should and will be challenged.

"Any safety...is in spite of his policies." This is just plain sad. You need anger management. Were you hoping that something bad would happen so you could blame it on President Bush? Just asking ;) You libs should think before you spew hate.

By bevperl @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 3:45 PM

Keemoshallow:

You are silly, and I suppose all this safety your little self has enjoyed is due to the FISA stalling burka wearing little Ms. Nancy and her reckless liberal friends.

Facts are facts, my President has not backed down and we are safe. Millions of Iraqis love our Soldiers and the freedom they bring and they certainly do not miss Sadaam. The man was pure evil and I'm glad my President took care of business.

God Bless George Bush and God Bless Our Brave Soldiers.

By keeeemosabe @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 4:39 PM

>>>>>>>>Millions of Iraqis love our Soldiers and the freedom they bring and they certainly do not miss Saddam. <<<<<<<<<<
Hmmmm The same ones (as in Fallujah!) who were planting ied bombs for $50 paid by alQaeda are now paid $300 a month.
Their "love" is cheap. They need money or else they starve. They have no choice. Their loyalties shift with who is in the neighborhood. The Iraqi parliament may likely be the passive part of the Islamic struggle against the West. Do you think they love us more than their Islam? Do not kid yourself.

By nfdel @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 5:26 PM

Keeemosabe, your insults are as hollow as your rantings. You wander off topic when asked to defend your ridiculous statements, and instead grasp at another washed up old argument. (yawn) At this point, it's fair to assume that you are unable to back up what you say.

So in addition to anger management, I think you also could find a History class useful, and maybe the exercize of writing a paper on the subject of "UN Resolutions and the Pitfalls of Violating Them". Just try'n to help you out...(less time on brain-dead leftist blogs would be good for you, little buddy)

To address your most recent ramblings, here we go:
<<al qaeda in Iraq is there now ...(not before)>> NOT TRUE. Much evidence has been found that confirms there was a connection and training camps in Saddam's Iraq.

<<..and Iran awaits in the wings to pull its politcal strings and make part of Iraq its own by proxy>> and yet libs insist that we leave Iraq to allow Iran to take over!! There's a plan.

<<our miltary readiness is wasting away>> This is debatable; however, it would help if we had less useless-idiot libs incapable of serving their country.

<<And our borders are as open as ever.>> finally, a truthful statement, I agree the open borders are a huge problem since long before GWB.

Infidel--making the crooked straight

By keeeemosabe @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 5:50 PM

<<al qaeda in Iraq is there now ...(not before)>> NOT TRUE. Much evidence has been found that confirms there was a connection and training camps in Saddam's Iraq.
My reply: show us some links pal. Chickenhawk Cheney
is likely you only source...and rabid righty black helicopter sites..nowhere else..............
<<..and Iran awaits in the wings to pull its politcal strings and make part of Iraq its own by proxy>> and yet libs insist that we leave Iraq to allow Iran to take over!! There's a plan.
My Reply: and Dubya made it all possible by taking out Iraq, the counterbalance to Iran. pure Genius!
Sorry, pal. Any lucid observer can see you are in over your head.

By keeeemosabe @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 1:30 PM

>>>>>>>The surge is working and since 9/11, your little self has been safe. I attribute that to Bush's resolve to keep us all safe, and he has done so inspite of foolish and reckless liberals<<<<<<<<<<
Foolish and reckless is exactlty what Dubya's Iraq policy has been. Any safety here is in spite of his policies, not because of anything that happened in Iraq. To maintain so is just silly.

By keeeemosabe @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 1:34 PM

>>>>>>no renting out the Lincoln bedroom and the only woman he goes to bed with at night is his wife<<<<<
Oh, that's the big picture huh, Dubya is soooooo moral. He is responisble for much unnecessary death in Iraq... by foolishkly invading a non-alQaeda entity and then by dumping the Powell doctrine. So verrry moral.

By bevperl @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:59 PM

Keemoshallow:

You must be dopey...no attacks since 9/11, I picture you scratching your head and saying, well gee whiz, I wonder why we haven't been attacked since 9/11???

God Bless George Bush and God Bless Our Soldiers! Thanks for keeping us safe since 9/11. What happens from this point, we will be sure to look to burka wearing Nancy and her reckless liberal cronies with their lowest approval ratings ever in the history of our Congress.

By keeeemosabe @ Friday, March 21, 2008 9:38 AM

To "The Patriot",
Seems the only "issue" you feel qualified to challenge me on is my statement obout righty politics being boring. Let me explain. Usually on all the righty radio and Faux News shows like Hannity insanity and Colmes, the righties ramble on unchallenged because there are usually 2 or 3 righties overtalking "balancing" point of view. In righty radio callers are screened to the point where 95% are self-identified "dittoheads". The "hosts" claim any common sense position to be theirs and all nonsense to be of the left. They mostly claim to know what and how other people from the "other side" think, thereby making grotesque overusage of straw man technique, where a false and weak premise is trotted out and knocked down with great flourish. And no substantive guests from the other side are present to challenge the nonsense.
This forum does sometimes give the other side a chance to be heard. Some of the authors/editors though can't handle hearing a true airing of the issues and remove posts that are too challenging to their sensibilites orbelief system. But most posts are uncensored and do allow the other side to explain and illuminate the mysterious lefty side of an issue. Perhaps this is the only forum that some righties have ever heard from a member of the other side's point of view, from the horses' mouth, though I don't really claim to speak for the whole of the left, because many phony viewpoints presented are falsely id'd as left are only strawman stuff and raw demogoguery.

Now you bring the whole "discussion" to the point of ridiculous posturing. You have repeatedly repeated the only "point" you have. You epitomise boring. You have brought boring to an exciting new level. I now look forward to new heights of boring as only a self-id'd righty could do.

By dbaskett @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 9:04 AM

Liberals don't want to understand or listen. It's either their way or no way. In their world, the sky is green and tinkerbell rules.

God Bless America and President George W. Bush!

By keeeemosabe @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 4:17 PM

Ok clueless nfdel:
What in IRAQ has happened that made us safer here? al qaeda in Iraq is there now ...(not before)...and Iran awaits in the wings to pull its politcal strings and make part of Iraq its own by proxy, and our miltary readiness is wasting away after troops get "stop-lossed" over and over again. ..And materiel gets ground to dust....And our borders are as open as ever. What is safer about these things, genious?

By keeeemosabe @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 4:22 PM

dear bevperl, Will you change your stance about the extra bonus prokbarrel Iraq war when the rumors about Dubya and Condi's little secret prove true? Is it not true that Laura spent several nights at the Mayflower Hotel to protest their trysts? What will you do then? Will your little brain just explode? :)

By keeeemosabe @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 7:59 PM

bevperl says: "my President has not backed down..."
I guess you forgot about our forward battle command base in Saudi Arabia, moved to Florida, acceding to the wishes of Osama binLaden.
DOH! Don't you ever get tired of getting it wrong?

By keeeemosabe @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 8:14 PM

>>>>>>>>By nfdel @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 2:46 PM
As I said in my first comment, that you have yet to address, the cost of your anger is wishing ill against your country. For that your patriotism should and will be challenged. <<<<<<<<<<<
Hey dopey, Look at my comment 11.04am ....3 hours 42 minutes earlier than your lying diatribe. You are out of touch with reality. GET YOUR HEAD OUT!

By keeeemosabe @ Friday, March 21, 2008 9:50 AM

Now you bring the whole "discussion" to the point of ridiculous posturing. You have repeatedly repeated the only "point" you have. You epitomise boring. You have brought boring to an exciting new level. I now look forward to new heights of boring as only a self-id'd righty could do.

By Howie @ Monday, March 17, 2008 11:25 PM

The only "WORMS" are people like you.

I may be mistaken about the circumstances that brought the United States to become involved in Bosnia, but I do not remember Milosovich (spelling may be incorrect but I do not care) or any of his cronies committing an act of terrorism against the United States or any of our interests.
We have no interests in Bosnia, Dafur, Somalia, Hati, or any other 3rd world nation that needs a handout. Yes, it is a nice thing to do when we do not have fanatical muslims trying to kill as many of Americans as they can.

Oh Yeah, I forgot there were no WMD's because we did not find them so President Bush lied to us to go to war; oops I almost forgot that WMD's was one facet in a multiple faceted case.

By keeeemosabe @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:04 AM

Y'all think you know what liberals want (a USA defeat??!!) You are out of touch with reality. This comes from listening to the righty radio amplified echo chamber. Sense these talkers, Savage, Rimbaugh, Hannity insanity, etc. are just tools of Karl Rove and company, they wish to deflect their own failures and focus on "traitors" and "cowards". Hmmm. Is history repeating itself?
Get back to reality. Liberals like liberal policies and Muslim extremists don't fit the bill. Muslim extremists do not match my idea of an ideal world. So, GET YOUR HEAD OUT!
Stop believing everything you hear from talk radio. When your gurus try to tell you thoughts and motivation of other people, remember they are not mind readers....they are only demagogues. (Look it up!)
As a liberal, I want victory in the mid-east, and it doesn't come by making strategic errors of military judgment, like stretching our troops to the breaking point and instituting "stop loss". Opening the second front in Iraq, where al Qaeda wasn't, only served to expand their numbers and range. I want correct decisions not foolish ones. If you go to war you go to win...The Powell doctrine. After the lessons of Viet Nam and USSR in Afghanistan, How stupid must a president be,,, to toss that policy overboard and try to expand fronts on the cheap?

By keeeemosabe @ Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:39 AM

>>>>By bevperl @ Monday, March 17, 2008 8:00 PM
Keemoshallow: Again, what don't you understand about Death To America? Most Americans will Never Forgive and Never Forget. <<<<

Excuse me, sheeple. Your hero, Dubya even said that IRAQ IRAQ! IRAQ!! IRAQ !!! did NOT attack us. What part of that do you not understand? Iraqis ware not chanting, "Death to America"....that is mostly Iran...whom this Iraq adventure has served to empower. (the law of unintended consequences, but very foreseeable. Chickenhawk Cheney even said so some years ago.

By The Patriot @ Friday, March 21, 2008 6:17 AM

Hi Keemobaby,

How are you my little one? Still trying to prove you have an ounce of intelligence? It seems like everyone else here is proving you wrong my little one.

As I said before, it is improssible for you to say something intelligent because you have some serious mental issues to deal with. To start, you claim that politics is boring, but you spend so much time posting lies and insults on them. Either you are lying (which would not be surprising, you a leftie after all), or find satisfaction in being bored and miserable. Either you chronic liar or you enjoy being miserable (may you suffer from both my little one), and those are both serious mental issues that should be dealt with asap. If you don't, things will only get worse.

I truly hope you get the necessary help to deal with your problems.

The Patriot

By keeeemosabe @ Monday, March 17, 2008 4:44 PM

>>>>>the grotesque politicization that surrounds the debate on America’s pressing challenge – the way forward in Iraq <<<<<<<
Oh! you must mean Dubya's politiciation. and McCain's. This is how the last few elections were "strategerized", by scaring the soccer moms and daring anyone to disagree by calling names like coward and unpatriotic. By the way, when righties disagreed with the Bosnian conflict were they unpatriotic cowards? Did anyone say they were? Those who do that sort of crap don't even know what freedom of speech is, as they prefer to be sheeple. I remember they day after 911, Lush Rimbaugh (all rant, all the time) said to watch for and be wary of those cowards who would take away our freedoms for the sake of safety. He, of course, was trying to discredit liberals, but look how that WORM turned. Y'all make my stomach turn.

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