In Defense of the War and George W. Bush--Part 2

Cartoon pic--Hat tip: Chas Compilation

"NOW IS THE TIME FOR RESOLVE, NOT RETREAT"

Doom and gloom seems to be the order of the day. Support for W and the War is at an all time low. I am one of the few who is still keeping the faith and thats what this post is about.

I am a little discouraged at the faint hearts of so many. Anything worth doing takes time and hard work. I know it is human nature to be negative and give up easily. But we are fighting a just cause that is worth fighting! Rumsfeld said it well:

"Fortunately, history is not made up of daily headlines, blogs on Web sites or the latest sensational attack. History is a bigger picture, and it takes some time and perspective to measure accurately."

"Now is the time for resolve, not retreat."

Let me take you back to the beginning and let you see the war through my eyes.

September 11th, 2001--Ofcourse none of us will forget that day. I still remember watching the burning buildings. By the time I turned on the TV the media was aware of all 4 planes. I was crying but there was also initially some fear. If 4 attacks could happen in such a short amount of time what else could happen? It was very unsettling. As I watched the days' events unfold tears just kept streaming down my face. I was grieving for those who died and for our country. I cannot begin to tell you how relieved I was that George W. Bush was my president. I knew he would do the right thing and do whatever it took to protect the American people. And he has!!


If you need a picture of what a cut and run strategy looks like, one only needs to watch the movie "Black Hawk Down". It is based on the true story of how a Democrat president faced terrorism by backing down. Osama Bin Laden himself has been quoted as saying that he saw the U.S. as a paper tiger after the events in Somalia.The cut and run strategy only emboldens terrorists.

By the time 9/11 happened the U.S. had been dealing with terrorism for 20+ years without much of a response. Bush has responded and I think history will prove that he has been right. In the song "Bush was Right" there is a very simple message but it is true. Here is an excerpt of some of the words:

"Freedom in Afghanistan, say goodbye Taliban
Free elections in Iraq, Saddam Hussein locked up
Osama’s staying underground, Al Qaida now is finding out
America won’t turn and run once the fighting has begun
Libya turns over nukes, Lebanese want freedom, too
Syria is forced to leave, don’t you know that all this means

Bush was right!

Democracy is on the way, hitting like a tidal wave
All over the middle east, dictators walk with shaky knees"

Pic--Hat tip: Aeon Web
Terrorists all over the Middle East and the whole world now know that the U.S. is serious when it comes to fighting terrorism. Democracy is gaining a foothold and dictators are taking notice. The reason the terrorists are fighting so hard in Iraq is because they know if they lose there, democracy will spread and the evil guys will lose their power. All of this won't happen in a short amount of time but it is worth persevering for.

Donald Rumsfeld wrote a column entitled "What We've Gained In 3 Years in Iraq" on the 3rd anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He made a lot of excellent points. Here are some excerpts:

"The rationale for a free and democratic Iraq is as compelling today as it was three years ago. A free and stable Iraq will not attack its neighbors, will not conspire with terrorists, will not pay rewards to the families of suicide bombers and will not seek to kill Americans.

Though there are those who will never be convinced that the cause in Iraq is worth the costs, anyone looking realistically at the world today -- at the terrorist threat we face -- can come to only one conclusion: Now is the time for resolve, not retreat.

Consider that if we retreat now, there is every reason to believe Saddamists and terrorists will fill the vacuum -- and the free world might not have the will to face them again. Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis. It would be as great a disgrace as if we had asked the liberated nations of Eastern Europe to return to Soviet domination because it was too hard or too tough or we didn't have the patience to work with them as they built free countries.

What we need to understand is that the vast majority of the Iraqi people want the coalition to succeed. They want better futures for themselves and their families. They do not want the extremists to win. And they are risking their lives every day to secure their country.

That is well worth remembering on this anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom."

In part 3 I will bring up the doom and gloom lefties' arguments on why they think the war is wrong and isn't going well. And I will respond with the truth :-).

Sources:
Mike from Mike's America helped me with research
What We've Gained In 3 Years in Iraq

In Defense of the War and George W. Bush--Part 1

"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones."--Proverbs 16:24

As many of you have probably figured out by now I am not a fan of the cynical or the pessimist. I am an optimist and an idealist by nature. I don't live in denial. I live in reality (more so than I would desire) but I don't believe anything is accomplished by being negative.

All that to say I am so sick of the doom and gloom MSM and the liberals. They offer constant negative criticism and defeatism without ever giving hope and/or solutions (you should hear some of Carville's recent advice, pathetic). So in an effort to combat some of that I'm going to tell you what has gone right with the war and what George W. Bush has done well.


Rich Lowry has written an excellent article entitled "Murtha Democrats". He points out how ill-informed and negative they are and responds with what is really happening in Iraq. Here are some excerpts:

"John Murtha is the longtime Pennsylvania congressman and former Marine who fits the Democratic party’s preferred political formula on the war. That formula is to say inane or incoherent things, but have a veteran say them on the theory that, then, no one will notice their inanity or incoherence.

Murtha produced his usual hail of misstatements. He said Bush went to war “against the advice of his father and the whole administration.” But the closest there was to a major dissenter in the administration was then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, who supported the war. Murtha said there was “no connection to terrorism in Iraq itself.” Leaving aside the more controversial arguments about Saddam’s relationship with al Qaeda, it is incontrovertible that Saddam was giving $25,000 to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, a rather stark connection to terrorism. He cited the U.S. military’s goal of giving Iraqi forces control of security in 75 percent of Iraq, and scorned it because “75 percent of it is desert.”

It is impossible to know if Murtha wants to be deliberately misleading or is simply ill-informed — but neither option is flattering. Nearly half of the key Baghdad province has been handed over to Iraqi security forces. According to USA Today, these forces have also been given responsibility for parts of such dangerous areas as Fallujah, Ramadi, and Samarra. This is why U.S. deaths are down to one a day — almost the lowest level since the insurgency began — while Iraqi deaths are increasing. So much for deserts.

The difficulties in Iraq have created an open season for the war’s critics, who get a license to say anything even if it has no connection to reality. A few months ago, The Atlantic Monthly ran a cover story by James Fallows titled, “Why Iraq Has No Army.” It was widely cited, even though it appeared smack in the midst of an extraordinarily successful training effort to build up an Iraqi army. From February 2005 to February 2006, top-rated Iraqi security forces went from 10,000 to 54,000, according to researchers from the liberal Brookings Institution, who report that “Iraqi security forces continue to improve.”

Despite all the hue and cry over Iraq, there is a basic consensus around a common-sense strategy that involves attempting to form a national-unity government and train Iraqi security forces. Whether it ultimately works no one can know, but it is irresponsible to lack the patience to give it a reasonable chance."

His last line there is my exact point. When did everyone become such defeatists? Why are we so willing to throw in the towel so quickly? Isn't victory over terrorists and freedom worth fighting for? Do we not realize what we've already accomplished so far?


Mike did a recent post showing a great comparison between the naysayers today and the ones in Europe after World War II. His post is entitled "Winning is not Easy, Just Absolutely Necessary". Here are some excerpts:

"The mainstream media at the time reported doom and gloom. Where was our plan for victory? History repeats itself today in Iraq where our slow, steady, measurable progress is met with "but, but, but" from the same people who are desperate to escape accountability for never having any practical, effective solutions of their own on how to solve the immense problems we confront in geopolitics.

It took fifty years to clean up the mess after World War II. Would the naysayers say we shouldn't have bothered? Had we followed their lead, everyone in Europe, or at least the few permitted to survive the Holocaust, would either be speaking Russian or German."

This topic is too broad for me to fit everything into one post so stay tuned for part 2.

P.S. I had some great pics to go with this but blogger wouldn't let me post them.

Remembering Terri Schiavo

On March 31st it will be the 1 year Anniversary of Terri Schiavo's death. At Michelle Malkin's blog she linked to the Blogburst in Memory of Terri Schiavo. This is what they are wanting to do:

"We invite you to join us for a Blogburst in remembrance of Terri Schiavo beginning March 18th (or earlier). Over the 13 days we are asking our friends to write about Terri's life and death, link to her family's foundation (Terrisfight.org) and affirm the intrinsic dignity of human life."

I was very passionate in my defense of Terri during her fight for life. It was one of the first things I wrote about on my blog. I wrote a letter to the KC Star that got published and I was very distraught when she died. It still seems so wrong that such an injustice was able to take place in the United States.


I did a lot of research on the case and read Mark Fuhrman's excellent book. If you haven't taken the time to read it, it is well worth your time. And it was a very easy book to read, I think I read it in 2 days because I couldn't put it down.

I encourage everyone to join in and post for life and in remembrance of Terri. I am planning on doing a post dedicated to her remembrance on the anniversary date of March 31st.

Earlier Posts:
Terri Schiavo
Heroes

Additional Terri Links:
Crystal Clear
Terri Schiavo Foundation

Life

Click on the cartoon to make it bigger so you can read it. This one doesn't relate to much but when I was looking through the Calvin and Hobbes archives I found it and thought it was hilarious!!

Life has been crazy lately. My oldest daughter had a baton competition last weekend that I spent the whole day at. It went very well though and her group took 2nd place in both of the numbers they did. I was very happy with how things went this year. Last year she had a different teacher who didn't prepare us for what we were going to face at competition. And it was a fiasco. So I was very relieved that it went so well this year.

Last night my son had his 10th Birthday party and my friend helped with a special cake for him. I will post the great pic and tell the story that goes with it when I have the picture.


So anyway all that to say my house desperately needs my attention so will be back to blogging when I get a breather.

Life is Beautiful

My apologies, I didn't get a chance to visit hardly anyone's blogs today, it was a busy day. One of the reasons was 2 friends from college came over for a girls' night. We try to do it once or twice a month. Two of us are night people and my poor friend who is a morning person always gets stuck staying up way past her bedtime. But we must be worth it because she keeps coming :-). We talk, pray and watch movies. Tonight we watched "Life is Beautiful". To be honest they had both seen it before and loved it but I had my doubts. But they were right, it was an inspiring movie. It really inspired me to try to make the best of bad situations in life and how much it helps to be optimistic and not bitter even when things are bad. It is a movie for everyone and I highly recommend it.

I also got to have lunch with my spiritual Mom/mentor today. She was in Kansas City for work. Tuesdays my kids go to a Homeschool Co-op so its my one day a week I get to do errands and have lunch with friends. Anyway, she also has a blog and she wrote about our me and our lunch. We had a great time.

Since she brought up the fry story I figure I might as well tell it. She was my awesome sunday school teacher, youth leader and many other things when I was in junior high and highschool. She was my pastor's wife and her and my pastor were crazy enough to take us teens on fun fieldtrips. When I was in highschool I could go from being very quiet in unfamiliar situations to being very outgoing when I was in my comfort zone. Well, with my youth group I was very much in my comfort zone. That night we were on our way back from the fieldtrip and we were at Wendy's. It was pitch dark out and I was wearing sunglasses to give you some background of the mistake I was about to make. I went up behind my pastor's son and decided to steal one of his french fries and obnoxiously said, "Thanks for giving me one of your fries." To my horror he turned around and it wasn't the pastor's son. It was some kid that I didn't even know and I had just stolen his french fry. It was very embarrassing and I'm sure he thought I was psycho. But it has made for a great story to tell--my kids really enjoy hearing it.

On a completely different note The Republican party called me yesterday. The Bush guy that I worked with in '04 passed on that I had been a great volunteer. So the GOP chic was calling to see if I would be interested in helping her and being in charge of some of the phonebanking for the fall elections. I am excited and looking forward to being involved again. Lone Pony, I may be contacting you to help :-). Her blog is also where I snagged my quote of the week in my sidebar.

I'll be back to politics in a day or so :-).