I am spotlighting a few military blogs. I have also picked the blogs that come FROM Iraq, so that we can get a flavor of how our troops feel. The MSM won't show them to us or allow their voices to be heard UNLESS the soldiers opinions match that of the MSM that is publishing those words.
The "criticism" is real. What this soldier is criticizing Bush about may not make the left too happy and I will show you why.
From The C-Square, written on January 24, 2007, titled "SOTU---Not the Call to Saddle Up That Is Needed..."
His header:
"Cry Havoc! Unleash the WAR PIGS! LAV-C2 Light Armored Vehicle - Command & Control (USMC) L A R News. ISO thuggies for the air locker exit. "Most Americans don't realize we are in a war of survival -- a war that is going to continue for decades."
His Criticism:
POTUS made nice, was gracious and touched all proper bases to be a "united not a divider" in his SOTU message to the nation and did not call congress on their moral bankruptcy with their gutless support for a "non -binding" resolution against the "surge". While POTUS made a good call to arms speech to an essentially could-care-less congress yet his failure to point out that the cowardly resolution is aid and comfort to the enemy and nothing less than treason.
Victory. Is. Not. Negotiable.
Aid and comfort to the enemy puts our men at risk and POTUS failed in his duty to point this out to a congress more interested in their next reelection then Victory. Vampire Crocs at the door, incoming Angels of Death at our six o'clock and the gutless Congressional Croc enablers get a pass on their failure to realize we are at War?! NUTS!
(chuckle) I kinda agree with him, the speech would have been SO much better had Bush got up there and really let the Democrats and even the wussie Republicans have it but good.
Since in his post he did bring up aiding the enemy, it brings me right to 4 Mile Creek, who I quoted yesterday about Hillary Clinton.
Today I reference the posts titled "Harry Reid, the New Tokyo Rose" and "Thanks for Backing Me Up, General"
From the first post:
Leading Democrats have now gone from offering nothing but interference in our current fight against islamic fascism to actually supporting and defending an enemy.
I have to say that I'm not surprised.
From the second post:
When I stated that Democrats were supporting and defending the enemy (the old definition of treason, the new Democratic definition of "supporting the troops") it was just little ol' me, on a barely read blog.
Now GEN Petraeus has said the same thing, in front of Congress. His statement is now part of the permanent Congressional Record.
Good on him.
His last one reminds me of this JPG, I was sent today:
4 Mile Creek, January 17, 2007, Post titled "Some Costs Are Too High?" :
Ann Althouse writes about Senator Clinton's sloganeering against President Bush's slogan "Failure is not an option."More on Our Vulnerable Religious Freedoms from Faultline USA.
Nothing really earth-shattering about any of this; Lefty politicians have come to realize that a 30-second sound bite is still too large for a majority of their supporters, and so a slogan is as good as a policy for the people who would vote for them.
There is a comment on her site that is quite possibly the best campaign slogan I have ever heard for the Dems. It comes from Maury E, and is the fourth comment on her post A Slogan is not a Policy."In response to President Bush's 'Failure is not an option,' I'd suggest the riposte 'Bush believes no cost is too high.' Some costs are too high. Among the various options before us today, failure is not only present--it is likely."
Compare this new rally cry of the Left to President Kennedy's inaugural address of 1961:"We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge--and more."
Unfortunately, we are now the heirs of a second revolution. The torch has been passed again...to Lefty Americans softened by a peace they didn't earn, undisciplined by years of pampering, proud of their anti-American heritage that doomed millions of Eastern Europeans to years of Soviet domination and millions of Southeast Asians to death in re-education camps, and willing to see millions more lost to religious fanatics. Any war can be lost, can be a failure, worthy or not, well-planned or not, if a nation doesn't care whether it wins or loses. And it's clear that the Left doesn't care whether we win this war with fascist islam.
Kennedy said there was no price too high to pay in order to assure the survival and success of liberty. Lefties now believe that there is a price too high, even while acknowledging that they will never pay that price personally.
Every single politician, Left, Right, indifferent, should be asked if they believe in the statement made by Kennedy, or if they believe in the statement made by Maury E. There is a lot that depends upon that answer, not the least of which is how we will define victory against fascist islam. Kennedy defined victory (at the time, he meant victory against communism) as "survival and success of liberty". I would suggest that Maury E would define it down, something along the lines of "not having to make a sacrifice too great". That's the definition of victory for the Left. That's the definition of victory for the anti-Iraq war groups worldwide.
I can look my wife and children in the eye because for me, there isn't any cost I'm not willing to pay to keep them free of sharia, keep my wife and daughters free from the abbaya and the muttawa, keep them free to choose their religion, their god, their life. There are those in the world that would take that from them, and I have said to them, "I am an American, and I will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
I thank God that there are still those who would stand with me, and I pray that every politician given the privilege of leading this country, stands as strong as Kennedy hoped we would.
This guy is good and his points are spot on. THIS is what our soldiers are made of and we cannot thank them enough for what they do for us.
The last military blog I would like to mention today is Badgers Forward with a couple points of his own.
The first post from Badgers Forward is about the media, written on January 19, 2007, titled "How the MSM continues to get it wrong".
Go read the whole thing, I am going to post excerpts :
Yesterday the NY Times ran this story. (He then pastes the whole NYT article)
[...]
Now for his comments:
One might think that GEN Keane thinks that not only can we not do anything now, we can't even withdraw safely. But GEN Keane was also the co-author along with Frederick Kagan of Choosing Victory A Plan for Success in Iraq. Under that plan the authors actually suggest sending more troops than the President has planned, if he was critical, he must have been critical that the President's plan was not aggressive enough.
Nothing is pre-ordained, victory or defeat has yet to be determined here. Events on the ground continue to outpace events in Washington, DC. Five top commanders in the Mahdi Army have been killed or captured in the last several days. Al Qaeda survives in Iraq, because it takes advantage of the sectarian violence that creates chaos. If the Government of Iraq establishes firm control of the security situation such that the Shia militias are put out of business this could come to a rather rapid conclusion. (Please note that I am not predicting a rapid conclusion, I am merely positing that such an event is easily imaginable.) AQ here is simply not strong enough to take on the US or the Iraqi Security Forces.
A separate, key component of the President's plan, is the attempt to help jump start the Iraqi economy. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Business Transformation, Paul A. Brinkley, was in Iraq today and is looking at how we can help get some state factories working again and then seek to get them into private hands. See a longer report here.
One of the factories they are looking at borders our FOB here in Ramadi. We call it the "Glass Factory" but my understanding is that is mostly ceramics, such as toilets and sinks. I hope to be able to give you a report as things progress.
We have things to do, we can still walk away from this with our heads held high, the average Iraqi much better off, and the world much safer. The Iraqi Government has to do their part, but we need to set the conditions so they can accomplish those essential tasks.
The second post of Badgers Forward is called "Iraq Around the Blogosphere"
Read it.....well worth the time it takes to click and read.
Do not listen to our politicians on EITHER side of the aisle.... nor the news media no matter which way it leans, and yes, they ALL lean one way or another....LISTEN TO OUR SOLDIERS.
Those not willing to listen to those that have their boots on the ground and that actually KNOW what they are talking about when it comes to Iraq, (Because they are THERE) either ARE anti-military or simply do not have any desire to see the TRUTH if it does not match their ideology.
These and many other military blogs from Iraq will soon be listed on my sidebar.
Please visit Politics Central with some words from Michael Yon, who has been in Iraq for a month now, reporting.
Tracked back by:
Let's review the situation from Right Truth...
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