We can either win or we can lose, if you root against America, you are rooting for our enemies.
Tom Delay says it borders on treason, I respectfully disagree, it doesn't just border on treason, I firmly believe there is a great case for treason, Reid crossed over that "border" line into actively helping our enemies and from our soldiers emails, into indirectly killing our troops abroad.
Harry Reid is now going as far as to say General Petraeus is a liar, remember that General Petraeus was UNANIMOUSLY confirmed by all as the best man for the job, and yet, now, Reid decides to publicly say he distrusts Petraeus.
BASH: You talked several times about General Petraeus. You know that he is here in town. He was at the White House today, sitting with the president in the Oval Office and the president said that he wants to make it clear that Washington should not be telling him, General Petraeus, a commander on the ground in Iraq, what to do, particularly, the president was talking about Democrats in Congress.
He also said that General Petraeus is going to come to the Hill and make it clear to you that there is progress going on in Iraq, that the so-called surge is working. Will you believe him when he says that?
REID: No, I don't believe him, because it's not happening. All you have to do is look at the facts.
So, if our commanders say what Reid wants them to say, they are trustworthy and if they do not, then they cannot be believed...this from a man, if you can call him that, that hasn't a clue to actual conditions on the ground in Iraq vs a carrer General that is in charge of the new counterinsugency strategy.
Hat Tip to Confederate Yankee for the link to THIS soldiers words.
1st Lt, Matthew McGirr, another Ramadi Marine:
We are reaching a tipping point in this fight. We have finally learned this culture. We have finally begun to commit the necessary forces. We have truly learned to fight a counter-insurgency. Very real gains are being made despite claims from our Congress that we have already lost. A counter-insurgency battle is not one of quickly attained and easily recognizeable benchmarks. It is not won in a year or four. It takes time, resolve, and a willingness to use what we have learned from past mistakes and expectations. From firsthand experience I can tell you, this "Surge" is working. We need to continue to support these people and give them a fighting chance at creating a nation on their own terms.
To echo the sentiments of my fellow Marine in 1/6, the reality of what is happening on the ground in places like Ramadi is not being reported to the American public. The pundits and politicians on both sides do not fully grasp the conditions on the ground here. They are arrogantly and irresponsibly using this war and the troops who fight in it for political gain and election currency. They manipulate the truth or do not care enough to seek it out. At least I know where I stand with the citizens of Ar Ramadi.
"At least I know where I stand with the citizens of Ar Ramadi."
Ouch. Do Democrat leaders support the troops?
The troops sure don't seem to think so, and they're more than likely right.
Visit the Confederate Yankee for quite a few more letters/emails from our soldiers on this subject.
The New York Post issued this scathing article about Harry Reid, appropriately titled "REID'S BLOODY HANDS".
And there's the real problem: From the start, Reid and the Democrats have seen the war in Iraq as a partisan opportunity.
They refuse to present a unified front to the rest of the world - especially to America's enemies - because, in their pinched view, to do so would be to weaken their own prospects for retaking the White House in 2008.
No, Reid didn't repeat his declaration of defeat during yesterday's speech from the Senate floor.
It probably has dawned on him just how big a political blunder he committed - witness Sen. Chuck Schumer's gentle contradiction of the majority leader over the weekend, insisting that "the war is not lost."
Then again, Reid didn't have to repeat his original remarks - because the imposed timetable he announced, if enacted, would bring about precisely the same result.
That is, a precipitous U.S. withdrawal from the region - if Reid thinks the bug-out would stop at Iraq, he's dumber than he sounds - followed by:
* A rapid, al Qaeda/Iranian-driven descent into regional chaos.
* Most likely, a general war.
* And, almost certainly, a Mideast nuclear-arms race as Saudi Arabia, Eygpt and (probably) Turkey rush to arm themselves in anticipation of an Iranian bomb.
At the very least, Reid has to understand that his rhetoric can only encourage short-run insurgent attacks on Americans in Iraq.
Their blood stands to be on his hands.
And that's a terrible price to pay for a political payday that's so tentative that even an instinctive gut-fighter like Chuck Schumer recoils from the risk.
Harry Reid needs to put a cork in it.
Today.
Too late, his words have resounded across the world, our soldiers are telling us that they are already seeing the ramifications of Reid's words and HIS words are killing them.
Senator Reid:
When you say we’ve lost in Iraq, I don’t think you understand the effect of your words. The Iraqis I speak with are the good guys here, fighting to build a stable government. They hear what you say, but they don’t understand it. They don’t know about the political game, they don’t know about a Presidential veto, and they don’t know about party politics.
But they do know that if they help us, they are noticed by terrorists and extremists. They decide to help us if they think we can protect them from those terrorists. They tell us where caches of weapons are hidden. They call and report small groups of men who are strangers to the neighborhood, men that look the same to us, but are obvious to them as a foreign suicide cell.
To be brief, your words are killing us. Your statements make the Iraqis afraid to help us for fear we’ll leave them unprotected in the future. They don’t report a cache, and its weapons blow up my friends in a convoy. They don’t report a foreign fighter, and that fighter sends a mortar onto my base. Your statements are noticed, and they have an effect.
Finally, you are mistaken when you say we are losing. We are winning, I see it every day. However, we will win with fewer casualties if you help us. Will you?
Respectfully,
LT Jason Nichols, USN
MNF-I, Baghdad
From OpFor, a portion of a letter from a Marine Captain that states it perfectly:
I just wanted to let you know what is happening where I am in Iraq. I don't want to say this is in response to Harry Reid, but his comments the other day are not in line with what we're seeing.
We are winning over here in Al Anbar province. I don't know about Baghdad, but Ramadi was considered THE hotspot in Al Anbar, the worse province, and it has been very quiet. The city is calm, the kids are playing in the streets, the local shops are open, the power is on at night, and daily commerce is the norm rather than the exception. There have been no complex attacks since March. That is HUGE progress. This quiet time is allowing the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police to establish themselves in the eyes of the people. The Iraqi people also want IA's and IP's in their areas. The Sunni Sheiks are behind us and giving us full support. This means that almost all Sunnis in Al Anbar are now committed to supporting the US and Iraqi forces. It also means that almost all insurgents left out here are AQ. FYI, the surge is just beginning. Gen Petraeus' strategy is just getting started and we're seeing huge gains here.
However, you don't see Harry Reid talking about this. When I saw what he said, it really pissed me off. That guy does not know what is going on over here because he hasn't bothered to come and find out. The truth on the ground in Al Anbar is not politically convenient for him, so he completely ignored it.
Read the rest of that letter.
Harry Reid isn't the only one though.
Let us take a second to see Nancy Pelosi's betrayal of our American troops and the coalition forces.
As the House and Senate prepare to vote this week on the final conference report on the $124 billion troop funding bill — which would also mandate that U.S. combat troops begin withdrawing from Iraq on Oct. 1 at the latest — Gen. David Petraeus is scheduled to come to the Hill tomorrow to brief lawmakers on the progress of the recent troop escalation.
ABC News has learned, however, that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will not attend the briefing.
The Moderate Voice put it better than I can, so here is his take:
There is quite some outrage over this, coming from the Right side of the blogosphere, and, to a degree, I can understand that. However, I also consider it to be, as usual, political / partisan posturing. However, Petraeus’ briefings should be absolute top priority. Leading Democrats should be forcing Petraeus to inform them about what is going on in Iraq, they should not try to duck his brievings. This is quite worrisome (and politically stupid may I add: once again the Democrats portray themselves as the party that’s more focused on losing than winning, or, they at least make themselves vulnerable for such attacks, which is equally stupid).
Well said and that is from a centrist, not a conservative or a liberal.
Reid and Pelosi are managing to to alienate the moderates with their idiocy now.
All in all, the top position holders in the Democratic party, the speaker and the senate majority leader have now made it obvious, even to their own party, that they are rooting for America to lose and no matter what world you live in, rooting for America to lose IS rooting for our enemies to win.
This is costing them already and I do believe that the fallout for them will not just be political.
1. Treason, sedition mean disloyalty or treachery to one's country or its government. Treason is any attempt to overthrow the government or impair the well-being of a state to which one owes allegiance; the crime of giving aid or comfort to the enemies of one's government. Sedition is any act, writing, speech, etc., directed unlawfully against state authority, the government, or constitution, or calculated to bring it into contempt or to incite others to hostility, ill will or disaffection; it does not amount to treason and therefore is not a capital offense.
Pelosi and Reid have already established that their political posturing means more than our troops lives and I seriously hope that our administration is taking these facts from the ground about the effects that Reid's and Pelosi's actions and words, from the troops emails and letters, and are compiling a case against them for Sedition or even Treason.
At this point, I can take no enjoyment from the fact that Reid and Pelosi are damaging their party beyond repair because it is demoralizing our troops and encouraging the enemy to fight harder to bend America's will, and costing our troops their lives, from their own statements.
Count on the fact that this post will be followed up.... For now though, I would encourage everyone to make it clear to your representatives that Reid and Pelosi's attitude and betrayal will not be tolerated anymore.
Our soldiers are fighting for us, and whether you agree with them being in Iraq or not, are you willing to let YOUR Democratic representative put them into further harm?
If so, do nothing.
If not...act accordingly.
As a side note, politically, I would normally be encouraging the Democrats to continue digging a hole so deep they can never recover, but at this junction I cannot do so, because while they are digging that hole, they are also digging our soldiers graves and pushing them in and THAT is never worth encouraging the Democrats political suicide.
Our troops and coalition forces should never be thrown under the political bus as Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are doing right now.
[Update] Airline of choice now... Southwest!!!! Supporting Our Southwest Troops is a MUST read.
We at the LUV airline are a patriotic bunch. We LUV our country; we give America the Freedom to fly; and we support our troops who fight for our country’s many freedoms.
One way we express our LUV is by encouraging our Employees to wear red shirts on Fridays to show our support for the troops. In addition, our Internal Customer Care Team (this year’s Heroes of the Heart!) sends LUV packages to all of our Employees or immediate family members who are called for military service. Many times, individual departments also keep in touch with Employees who have been called for military duty.
Read it all...
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHH Southwest!!!!!!!
Also, from Highlands Today, Lets wear Red on Fridays:
The First Presbyterian ARP Church of Sebring is planning to join the "Red Friday" campaign. The members are asked to either wear a red ribbon each Friday or wear a piece of red clothing to indicate that each member supports our troops in their endeavor to protect our freedom.
I so like this idea and of course I will be wearing RED every friday along with them... will you?
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