Moving backwards in the Senate

Today I went to my political mailbox and found a note from my “friend” Senator Cardin called “Moving Backwards in Iraq.”

Dear Friend,

Last night, President Bush presented the American people with his plan for the future of Iraq.  Unfortunately, his plan is not the change of course we so desperately need.  It will only put more American troops in harm’s way and will not bring us any closer to achieving success in Iraq.

Later this morning, I am scheduled to deliver my first speech on the Floor of the U.S. Senate. I will use this opportunity to voice my strong opposition to the President’s plan to escalate troop levels.  I’ll offer my own vision for moving forward in Iraq, which acknowledges that the country is in the midst of a worsening civil war.

The President’s plan to send thousands of additional troops to Iraq is not a change in strategy; it’s an escalated version of the same ‘stay the course’ policy that has not worked.  The circumstances on the ground in Iraq are worsening.  More American troops are dying each week and there’s no end in sight. A new policy in Iraq is long overdue.

By choosing an escalation in troop levels rather than a drawdown, President Bush is ignoring the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group and the advice of many military experts, including several of his own generals.  He is also ignoring the wishes of the American people, who last November spoke with a unified voice against the current policy in Iraq. 

Like the majority of Americans, I believe we need to bring our troops home, not send more troops to war.  Iraq is in the midst of a civil war and victory will not be achieved by flexing our military might. 

Success can come only through aiding the Iraqis in establishing a government that protects the rights and enjoys the confidence of all its people. It must be a government that respects both human rights and democratic principles. The efforts of U.S. soldiers, no matter how heroic, cannot accomplish these objectives for the Iraqis.

Our objective must be to escalate our political and diplomatic efforts, not our troop levels.

I sincerely hope the President reconsiders his plan and works with Congress to bring about a real change in policy that allows our troops to start coming home.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Ben Cardin

Ben Cardin was born in 1943, so that makes him 63 years old. Unless he lives to his father’s age, he may not be around for the conclusion of this Long War against Islamofascism.

The reason Iraq is in the middle of what he terms a “civil war” is that we have taken the fight to the Islamic extremists on their turf. And much like Viet Nam, the enemy’s not fighting on a strictly military basis. They seem to have studied our Viet Nam experience and are using much the same strategy as the Viet Cong did. On a strictly military basis, the enemy has much less firepower than we do but they use the guerrilla tactics perfected in the jungles of Southeast Asia very well.

Even more so, our Islamofascist enemy is taking advantage of the same propaganda style that turned the country against the war in Viet Nam. I’m old enough to remember Walter Cronkite leading off the nightly news with the day’s body count from over there and then the second or third feature being an antiwar protest someplace. While the term may or may not be attributable to Vladimir Lenin, “useful idiot” does capture the flavor of the 1960’s mainstream media and their reporting on military events.

But I digress. Getting back to the Cardin letter:

I guess the very first objection I have is that American troops understand when they sign on the dotted line that they will be in harm’s way. To place a local slant on this, I’m sure Eric Caldwell knew that he may lose his life defending our country since he signed up for the military in 2003 and the Army in 2005, well after we began operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately for him and his family, that’s the very thing that happened.

And I have to disagree that sending more troops to Iraq is automatically a mistake. It seems to me that many on the Democrat side were pleading for more troops to be sent over there not all that long ago. Well, now they get their wish and they bitch about it. And frankly, I’m sick of their whining and pouting about how badly the war is going. Much of this may have been avoided if the last two Democrat presidents had grown a pair and aggressively gone after those who attacked us and our interests abroad.

Next, I don’t believe that the American people “spoke with a unified voice against the current policy in Iraq” in November. Yes, they elected a Democrat majority. But how many of them actually ran against the war? They ran against the “culture of corruption” and against President Bush in general. Many made themselves out as just as conservative as their GOP opponents.

And even if Americans did speak with an antiwar tone in their vote, it still doesn’t mean they’re right. If they were truly antiwar, they would’ve had the attitude they have now on September 12, 2001. But I seem to recall back then most Americans were girded for battle with whoever did this to us at the World Trade Center and Pentagon. By golly, that’s what we’re doing now – how soon they forget!

So this is a message from me to both of my Senators, Senator Cardin and Senator Mikulski (who also had remarks about the troop buildup.) It will be time for the troops to come home when we have achieved victory in the Long War. That will be the point when the threat from Islamofascists and their allies has subsided to an internally manageable level because of the use of our force to a point where free and elected governments thrive – not just in Iraq, but Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and any other country that yearns for freedom in the Middle East.

The only front we can lose this war on would be the home front. I brought up the term “useful idiots” earlier. With their remarks today, the Democrats have firmly shown themselves to be perfect examples of this, and I’m betting there’s smiles all around wherever the Islamofascists are holed up for tonight.

 

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.

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