IN his remarks at the Pentagon yesterday, President Bush stressed two things: The troop surge - which still isn't complete - must be given a chance, and the Democrats need to knock off the shenanigans and vote our troops the funding they need to fight.
On the second count, Congress is behaving disgracefully. Guess I'm a slow learner, but it took me until now to realize that when Pelosi, Reid & Co. chant "Support Our Troops!" they're talking about the enemy.
That may sound harsh, but it's true. There is no way that today's morally bankrupt Democratic leadership is going to sit by and let George Bush win this war. They have too much political capitol invested in making sure GWB, and by extension all of America lose. It is the only way they can be seen as winners.
As the generals who led infantry platoons and companies in Vietnam fade from the ranks, we face an incongruous situation in which our lieutenants, captains and majors are combat veterans, while the generals above them never fought in a direct-fire engagement or led daily patrols through Indian country.
Junior officers now have a better grasp of what war means than Army generals do. Platoon leaders want to win. The generals want to make people happy.
Too many Americans have forgotten what fighing a war is like. It is not pretty, it is not clean, and it is not without cost. I grew up listening to my Grandparents talk about the sacrifices they made to support the war efforts in WW1 and WW2. When is the last time you were asked to sacrifice anything for the sake of this war. All the American people have asked to give is our unwavering support to our military. Not just lip service support from the likes of Queen Pelosi and Prince Harry Reid.
Whatever happens in Iraq, the core lesson isn't that such conflicts can't be won - that's nonsense - but that you can't win if you're more concerned about placating your critics than about defeating the enemy.
Our troops know how to fight. Their leaders don't.
The worst part of this is that the worst leaders we could ask for, our democratically controlled Congress now wants to take over control of this war. On so many fronts this will be a disaster of nation shaking porportions. Pray that GWB keeps his veto pen inked up and enough of our Congresscritters come to their senses and manage to keep all the lose at all cost bills from passing.
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