And the Great Americans who Fought it
There was a time in this country’s past when real heroes were recognized and appreciated. It was a time when this nation came together for the purpose of fighting, and winning, a world war on a scale never imagined. Men from farms in Iowa, stockyards in Chicago, and schoolrooms in California left the comfort of their homes and loved ones to participate in a global struggle most saw as “good vs. evil”.
My grandpa, Homer Lynn Moeller, was one of those heroes who are still around today. His generation will soon be nothing more than a memory; a chapter in High School history classes that uninterested students will skim over as they hurry back to their Playstation 8’s. But, I will never forget him and the millions just like him. To me, they embody what America really is all about, and what it could be again.
My grandpa was a young man, recently married to a lovely, spirited Swedish bride from North Dakota, when he enlisted into the Army Air Corps en route to becoming a pilot for the B-24 bombers. Stationed in Italy, the most kind and decent man I know, flew numerous missions into the European continent and delivered payloads of bombs onto targets deemed worthy of annihilation. A quiet, respectful, law-abiding American who would one day become a school principal, was part of a flight crew that destroyed buildings, factories, and military targets.
It is safe to say that many perished under the force of such raids.
How do we explain or rationalize this? How is it that seemingly peaceful, loving, normal men from the heartland of this great country could be a party to such destructive acts? Why were so many back home willing to ration meat, tin, and even pantyhose for an effort that was directly supporting the death of so many people from other nations? Why is World War II always viewed as somehow being a “good” war?
When I look back on the limited time I’ve had with my grandpa (I’ve only known him for such a small portion of his amazing life) something that stands out is his honesty. In all his dealings with grandkids, friends, neighbors, strangers, my grandma (who passed away in 2001), and even his new wife, Lois, my grandpa has been honest with himself and with whatever situation he finds himself in. His character affects his surroundings, not the other way around.
He does not make promises he cannot keep. He does not break promises he makes. He knew what his lot in life was to be, and he went about doing it. When he was angry, he was honest and let you know about it. When it was time to hold back, he was honest (if only to himself) that then and there was not the time to keep an argument going. He was, and is, honest in his love and respect for the fellow Veterans he travels each year to visit and, God-willing, he will be the last one standing at his annual Air Force reunion.
In my young mind, the reason that generation has been dubbed the “greatest”, and why their war is thought of as “good” is because of honest and courageous men and women like my grandpa. The country was full of people just like him.
Of course they would have preferred to stay home and start their lives, careers, and marriages. In all honesty, what use is a wife and kids if you’ve got no life to share with them because you died in a war? However, if you are really honest with yourself, what good is a life if it is lived in oppression and fear?
This is where his generation has differed so greatly from the proceeding ones: they were honest enough to suppress that natural inclination to avoid hard work, sacrifice, even death, to push on towards a common goal of peace and safety from evil.
My grandpa grew up working on a farm. When he was young, they still went to the bathroom in a hole in the ground and unemployment was over 20% in America. Some might say that the dire situation for many is the reason they were willing to go and fight; the idea being they had no better prospects. We hear that same sort of argument today to try as many try to rationalize why men and women would volunteer (and then re-enlist) for a war that seems so pointless and unnecessary. (Many before WWII wanted no part in it and thought America should mind its own business).
Maybe it is just the optimistic dreamer in me, but I see the sacrificial service of men in WWII, and even today, as the indication that many feel as I do that this country is special, blessed, and worth defending by word or by deed. My grandpa, before he left for war, had what we today would deem “nothing”. He was risking what little he had to defend a nation that had not evenly distributed its wealth to him and his wife, or provided universal health care… What was he fighting for?
I will tell you, because the answer is already on the tip of your tongues. He did it because he believed in his nation, and loved his family and his God. His nation called on him to defend its very existence. His family needed freedom to make life worth living. His God, the same of Washington, Lincoln, and Reagan, commanded him to defend the defenseless, protect the weak, and love his neighbor as he loved himself. This is why they were so great. This is why they succeeded where we have failed thus far.
For anyone to assume that because the nation was behind the war effort in the 1940’s those soldiers did not make any mistakes on the battlefield or have had to face the same emotional scars that war veterans do today is ludicrous. My grandpa cannot speak for more than minutes at a time without being overcome with the emotional weight and baggage he accrued in Italy some sixty years ago.
He has lived with that every day, yet still managed to obtain a college degree, teach math, become a principal, and raise five amazing children who have gone on to raise fourteen lively grandkids. God has blessed him with a life long enough to enjoy the fruits of his labor in defending this thankful nation.
The Greatest Generation had lived through the Depression. They had seen what it was like to have nothing but the hope of a better day. What they could not imagine was a tomorrow devoid of even that hope for better things to come.
Hope is what America represented to them. They saw the tragedies and shortcomings of society and government. They witnessed the depravity Man is capable of. But, underneath it all that generation saw that the ideas of equality and freedom they cherished were closer to “heaven on earth” than any dictatorial or communistic option available in Europe and Asia.
This is why life makes no sense when God, and subsequently family and country, are reduced to nostalgic, antiquated notions that silly people use as a “crutch” to deny the cold reality of a meaningless universe and existence. It is why we will not be able to defeat our enemies today if we do not inspire this current generation to embrace the traditional American virtues of sacrifice, honor, and duty. We have lost the appreciation for family, freedom, and God, not simply America. The one follows the others.
We all know men and women from the Greatest Generation. They are our grandparents and kind, elderly neighbors. Is it possible that they were warmongers? Were they willing dupes in a scheme for no-bid contracts in Germany and France? Could my grandpa really be a fool for fighting in a war that perhaps could have been avoided? How is it possible for such a loving, kindhearted man to be seen evil in anyone’s eyes?
The simple answer is it is not possible. I know we think we’ve got it all figured out nowadays. After all, look how far we’ve come in technology and scientific knowledge, right? But maybe, just maybe, our grandparents had it right and we are the ones who are wrong to so brazenly under appreciate freedom and the sacrifices required for its continuance. Maybe there is a way to balance our post-modern, progressive, politically correct way of life with an honest assessment of the inherent good previous generations were able to find in a horrific battle of ideologies.
I think it appropriate, in the honor and memory of the men who fought and died for our freedom, we live our own lives with a grateful spirit and thankful heart. Let us embrace the realization that the bountiful nation we see around us is not our own, but the culmination of efforts and sacrifices of millions we’ve never met, and the property of millions yet unborn who will judge our time as torch bearers after we are gone.
While the goal of the conflict was a noble one, the noble decency of those who fought and died to secure our freedom is the true measure of its greatness.
I love my grandpa so much, and am so proud to bear the name he has passed on to my brothers and me. Brent, Andrew and I will be the ones to carry on the Moeller name, and each of us hope and pray that our legacy will be even a fraction of the one he has left for us. He was, is, and forever will be, a good man.
http://www.frankambrose.com/pages/465.html
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
Come to Duke
The Duke Lacrosse rape scandal…
It’s been tough the past 10 months as I’ve watched the most sickening display of prosecutorial abuse possible being covered by major media outlets as if the boys accused were guilty before the trial even began.
In case you’ve been studying abroad (like in Indiana) the past year, let me quickly recap the “Debacle in Durham”.
The Lacrosse team at Duke University unwisely hired two exotic dancers/prostitutes for a team party. One of the strippers already had been charged with three prior felonies (all plea bargained down to misdemeanors), which included falsely accusing someone of rape. She was photographed entering the party the night of the alleged rape with visible bruises and her friend later remembers that the girl was emotionally distraught on the way to the party.
The dancers perform, leave the party, and start to walk home. Along the way some local kids (who had nothing to do with the Duke Lacrosse team) are said to have hurled racial slurs at the pair of dancers. A call was placed to the Durham 911 Emergency Center where a dispatcher specifically asked if either of the women were injured or hurt, and was reassured that everything was fine. They were simply scared and the girls were told to get home as quickly as possible. Sound advice.
The real problems begin later that night when one of the dancers decided she had been raped by some of the players she had danced for. After filing a report and DNA testing, she was interviewed by detectives. The dancer couldn’t remember exactly when, where, or by whom she was raped, but she (and the Prosecutors) “bravely” pushed on with the allegations.
Two of the policemen who interviewed her have notes that prove she later contradicted herself multiple times, but CNN, the New York Times, and District Attorney Mike Nifong all used the notes of the one cop who had lost his copy of the statements made that night by the dancer, and had re-written them months later. I bet you that you cannot guess why all of those people used the version of the story that suspiciously matched the timeline of events that pointed to the Duke players being guilty and were in direct opposition to multiple, reliable notes taken by first-hand accounts?
We now know that the DNA tests came back from the lab and showed four different samples from four different men. What shocked the conscience-less D.A., Mike Nifong, was that none of those men played lacrosse at Duke. But wait, that doesn’t fit with what he had been saying at multiple press conferences (that are rarely, if ever, held by D.A.’s at any point during the prosecution of a rape case).
The fact that this stripper with a rap-sheet and penchant for lying to authorities had once again falsely accused three innocent people and had duped a District Attorney into biting off more than he could chew did not sit well with Nifong. So he did what any principled D.A. would do and continued with the prosecution of a case he knew to be a sham.
Next came the circus. Nearly every night since last April has seen some segment of Cable News shows dedicated to the Duke scandal. Feminist professors and activist groups on Duke’s campus organized efforts to proclaim the guilt of the boys charged with the worst crime, outside of murder, in our country.
(I’ve linked some letters below that were written between Duke faculty and administration officials in the early days of the case. They show many Leftist cooks who claimed some outlandish thoughts. The administration responded by word and deed with the novel thought that all Americans are innocent until proven guilty.)
I feel bad for the dancer. I really do. She’s obviously had a tough life. All I know is that this woman has done more harm to women everywhere than any man could have. What happens next time we hear rape accusations, especially against athletes? This woman’s selfish attempt at helping her financial situation has set the same feminist activists who defended her back more than they even realize.
More than all of that, I take issue with Mike Nifong. Nifong recently stepped down from the case, only after damning evidence of his knowing participation in concealing exculpatory evidence that would have prevented the public humiliation of three innocent men. Hoping to quietly step aside and ride off into the Liberal sunset, Nifong was understandably shocked to learn that he is now on the hook with the North Carolina Bar Association for multiple ethics charges of misconduct.
This isn’t partisan condemnation of a liberal politician (Nifong is a liberal Democrat who was in the midst of a campaign race when this whole thing started). This is the governing body of lawyers in the state of North Carolina. The guy’s busted, and for the first time in a long time, justice can be found in the Duke scandal.
Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Nifong had all the power in this situation.
Real justice would be public apologies from the eighty-eight professors who signed the execution order before hearing the facts. Real justice would be Mike Nifong and the lying accuser having to serve the terms that those three boys would have faced if convicted.
Maybe you don’t think it is a big deal that these kids were originally accused. You say to yourself that they deserve what they get for having women-of-the-night over for their “Kegger”. I am not defending what they did. My problem is with the supposed justice system that failed them.
I guess you could say the lesson here is that a lapse in moral judgment (i.e. hiring prostitutes) opens you up to a world of trouble that could be avoided by clean living. With that said, no students in college should have to be judged for the rest of his life for a moral indiscretion like these boys will be.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1574810,00.html
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/features/lacrosse_incident/lange_baker.html
It’s been tough the past 10 months as I’ve watched the most sickening display of prosecutorial abuse possible being covered by major media outlets as if the boys accused were guilty before the trial even began.
In case you’ve been studying abroad (like in Indiana) the past year, let me quickly recap the “Debacle in Durham”.
The Lacrosse team at Duke University unwisely hired two exotic dancers/prostitutes for a team party. One of the strippers already had been charged with three prior felonies (all plea bargained down to misdemeanors), which included falsely accusing someone of rape. She was photographed entering the party the night of the alleged rape with visible bruises and her friend later remembers that the girl was emotionally distraught on the way to the party.
The dancers perform, leave the party, and start to walk home. Along the way some local kids (who had nothing to do with the Duke Lacrosse team) are said to have hurled racial slurs at the pair of dancers. A call was placed to the Durham 911 Emergency Center where a dispatcher specifically asked if either of the women were injured or hurt, and was reassured that everything was fine. They were simply scared and the girls were told to get home as quickly as possible. Sound advice.
The real problems begin later that night when one of the dancers decided she had been raped by some of the players she had danced for. After filing a report and DNA testing, she was interviewed by detectives. The dancer couldn’t remember exactly when, where, or by whom she was raped, but she (and the Prosecutors) “bravely” pushed on with the allegations.
Two of the policemen who interviewed her have notes that prove she later contradicted herself multiple times, but CNN, the New York Times, and District Attorney Mike Nifong all used the notes of the one cop who had lost his copy of the statements made that night by the dancer, and had re-written them months later. I bet you that you cannot guess why all of those people used the version of the story that suspiciously matched the timeline of events that pointed to the Duke players being guilty and were in direct opposition to multiple, reliable notes taken by first-hand accounts?
We now know that the DNA tests came back from the lab and showed four different samples from four different men. What shocked the conscience-less D.A., Mike Nifong, was that none of those men played lacrosse at Duke. But wait, that doesn’t fit with what he had been saying at multiple press conferences (that are rarely, if ever, held by D.A.’s at any point during the prosecution of a rape case).
The fact that this stripper with a rap-sheet and penchant for lying to authorities had once again falsely accused three innocent people and had duped a District Attorney into biting off more than he could chew did not sit well with Nifong. So he did what any principled D.A. would do and continued with the prosecution of a case he knew to be a sham.
Next came the circus. Nearly every night since last April has seen some segment of Cable News shows dedicated to the Duke scandal. Feminist professors and activist groups on Duke’s campus organized efforts to proclaim the guilt of the boys charged with the worst crime, outside of murder, in our country.
(I’ve linked some letters below that were written between Duke faculty and administration officials in the early days of the case. They show many Leftist cooks who claimed some outlandish thoughts. The administration responded by word and deed with the novel thought that all Americans are innocent until proven guilty.)
I feel bad for the dancer. I really do. She’s obviously had a tough life. All I know is that this woman has done more harm to women everywhere than any man could have. What happens next time we hear rape accusations, especially against athletes? This woman’s selfish attempt at helping her financial situation has set the same feminist activists who defended her back more than they even realize.
More than all of that, I take issue with Mike Nifong. Nifong recently stepped down from the case, only after damning evidence of his knowing participation in concealing exculpatory evidence that would have prevented the public humiliation of three innocent men. Hoping to quietly step aside and ride off into the Liberal sunset, Nifong was understandably shocked to learn that he is now on the hook with the North Carolina Bar Association for multiple ethics charges of misconduct.
This isn’t partisan condemnation of a liberal politician (Nifong is a liberal Democrat who was in the midst of a campaign race when this whole thing started). This is the governing body of lawyers in the state of North Carolina. The guy’s busted, and for the first time in a long time, justice can be found in the Duke scandal.
Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Nifong had all the power in this situation.
Real justice would be public apologies from the eighty-eight professors who signed the execution order before hearing the facts. Real justice would be Mike Nifong and the lying accuser having to serve the terms that those three boys would have faced if convicted.
Maybe you don’t think it is a big deal that these kids were originally accused. You say to yourself that they deserve what they get for having women-of-the-night over for their “Kegger”. I am not defending what they did. My problem is with the supposed justice system that failed them.
I guess you could say the lesson here is that a lapse in moral judgment (i.e. hiring prostitutes) opens you up to a world of trouble that could be avoided by clean living. With that said, no students in college should have to be judged for the rest of his life for a moral indiscretion like these boys will be.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1574810,00.html
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/features/lacrosse_incident/lange_baker.html
Monday, January 22, 2007
Israel Needs Us
…And the U.S.
Israel is the closest thing to a true ally we’ve got. They are our sister-democracy in the most tumultuous region the world has ever known. Despite the myths and outright lies, Israel’s formation was not an illegitimate one that displaced millions of innocent Palestinians. Jewish investors throughout the first half of the last century steadily purchased almost all of the land that we now recognize as the nation of Israel. (All the United Nations did in 1948, after six million Jews were murdered in Europe, was to affirm the status of Israel as a sovereign nation.)
The bond between Israel and the United States runs deeper than our leadership in the move to make them a sovereign nation sixty years ago. We’ve supported Israel since its conception as they have struggled to maintain some semblance of peace in an area of the world where they are surrounded by more than half a billion people who want them removed from their lands and wiped off the face of the earth. In return for our support we’ve received a necessary democratic ally in the Middle East. Israel provides a good trading partner, an intelligence-sharing friend, and a trusted military collaborator.
It is a nation of roughly 9 million people who speak Hebrew and English and whose Judeo-based society has been able to thrive amidst turmoil and attack for six decades. There are large, but shrinking, percentages of Arab Christians who call Israel home and even formidable populations of moderate Arab Muslims who live, work, and play as Israelis.
The problem is that each of those demographics, as well as the United States and the entire Free World, are all facing the same evil enemy: radical Islam.
Palestinian terror groups (Hamas and Fatah) are just the tips of the iceberg. This summer we learned who the Hezbollah are. Five years ago we learned who Osama and Al Qaida are. If we do not stop him in time, soon we will learn who Mahmoud Ahmadinejad truly is. This is a real and growing threat for everyone who calls earth their home. It is time to wake up and smell the Agent Orange. The radical Islamists hate even moderate Muslims who do not ascribe to their extreme interpretations of the Koran. What hope do we “infidels” have?
Israel has been attacked and terrorized from the word “go”. In the 1960’s, Ariel Sharon and the IDF warded off the Egyptians, Syrians, and Palestinians (amongst others) who invaded Israel, and drove them all back (even though greatly outnumbered by the Arabs). Eventually Israel gave back much of the land they rightly won and deserved for their troubles. For decades the Palestinians have signed peace treaties with the Israelis in return for land and prisoner releases. In return, the Jewish state received the massacre at the Munich Olympics, civilian bus bombings, and assurances from Islamic leaders that they would not have to worry much longer about terror attacks because Israel will soon be wiped off the map.
Israel knows the game, the players, and what is at stake. Their citizens have to look down the barrel of a gun almost every day and what they see are millions of rabid, radical Muslims who want them dead. We went through 9/11, which was horrific, and now think we now what terrorism is all about. Just because our forefathers were lucky enough to settle on a continent surrounded by oceans too far to cross by camel does not make us any safer.
The war on terror is not just about oil and Halliburton and a Texan President that the guy from Hardball doesn’t like. This war on terror is about you, me, and the son who isn’t even a twinkle in my eye yet. All of us want to live to see tomorrow; a tomorrow where truth is still taught in our schools, justice is executed in our courts, and businessmen and women can go to work in the Sears Tower devoid of the fear that, simply because they work in a tall building, that day might be their last.
No amount of negotiating (regardless of what John Kerry says) can reason with the kind of evil that would bombard innocent Israeli women and children with Kaytusha Rockets (supplied by Syria via Iran) one hundred times a day for an entire month, and then have the impudence to claim that they were victims of a “disproportionate” response. No treaty or peace accord will bring to the bargaining table the kind of killer whose conscience is impervious to the fact that the roadside bombs he used to kill American troops end up claiming the lives of his neighbors’ family.
We are at war, and the fate of the Free World hangs in the balance.
Israel knows this. They’ve lived it. The truth is, we have too. The difference here is that we act like we don’t remember the images of bodies burning alive as they plummeted over 80 floors to their death in lower Manhattan. No matter what the United Nations, European Union, or Jimmy Carter may think, Israel must retain our unwavering support and we must continue to take the fight to the groups who kill, and the countries that harbor (a.k.a. the Bush Doctrine).
Israel is constantly under attack and anytime they respond they are criticized more roundly than the terrorists who provoked it. Israel, as a sign of good faith, literally funds the same Palestinian government that recently elected the terror group Hamas to lead them. (The same Hamas whose charter includes the non-negotiable destruction of Israel.) Every olive branch and concession offered by Israel is accepted, exploited, and then returned with gunfire and explosions.
The feud between the Arab Muslims and Jewish Israelis has been ongoing for thousands of years. If you know remember your Sunday school lessons, the Palestinians are primarily comprised of the Philistines (think Samson and Delilah). So, our best ally and democratic comrade has been fighting the enemy we’ve only recently woken up too for more than twenty centuries and we don’t want to be bothered with a war that has lasted four years? Makes sense to me.
The blood of millions of Israelis will be on our hands if the promises of madmen (the Iranian President) to destroy Israel come to pass, and we were apathetic to the calls for help coming from the Holy Land. This is bigger than partisan politics, bigger than who wins the Super Bowl, and more important than the nocturnal habits of Miss America and what Rosie said about Donald. It is time we grew up as a nation and put the selfish mold of our parent’s generation (the Baby Boomers) on the shelf and embrace the characteristics that made the one before theirs’ so great. Sacrifice. Honor. Duty. Courage. Fortitude.
Israel’s fate is our own. Supporting our troops and allies means settling for no less than total victory, not appeasing madmen and abandoning our friends. Millions of soldiers from Israel, Britain, and the United states have physically offered their services in defense of our way of life. The least we civilians can do is not get in their way.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/12/21/why_wont_carter_debate_his_book/
http://www.nysun.com/article/43958
Israel is the closest thing to a true ally we’ve got. They are our sister-democracy in the most tumultuous region the world has ever known. Despite the myths and outright lies, Israel’s formation was not an illegitimate one that displaced millions of innocent Palestinians. Jewish investors throughout the first half of the last century steadily purchased almost all of the land that we now recognize as the nation of Israel. (All the United Nations did in 1948, after six million Jews were murdered in Europe, was to affirm the status of Israel as a sovereign nation.)
The bond between Israel and the United States runs deeper than our leadership in the move to make them a sovereign nation sixty years ago. We’ve supported Israel since its conception as they have struggled to maintain some semblance of peace in an area of the world where they are surrounded by more than half a billion people who want them removed from their lands and wiped off the face of the earth. In return for our support we’ve received a necessary democratic ally in the Middle East. Israel provides a good trading partner, an intelligence-sharing friend, and a trusted military collaborator.
It is a nation of roughly 9 million people who speak Hebrew and English and whose Judeo-based society has been able to thrive amidst turmoil and attack for six decades. There are large, but shrinking, percentages of Arab Christians who call Israel home and even formidable populations of moderate Arab Muslims who live, work, and play as Israelis.
The problem is that each of those demographics, as well as the United States and the entire Free World, are all facing the same evil enemy: radical Islam.
Palestinian terror groups (Hamas and Fatah) are just the tips of the iceberg. This summer we learned who the Hezbollah are. Five years ago we learned who Osama and Al Qaida are. If we do not stop him in time, soon we will learn who Mahmoud Ahmadinejad truly is. This is a real and growing threat for everyone who calls earth their home. It is time to wake up and smell the Agent Orange. The radical Islamists hate even moderate Muslims who do not ascribe to their extreme interpretations of the Koran. What hope do we “infidels” have?
Israel has been attacked and terrorized from the word “go”. In the 1960’s, Ariel Sharon and the IDF warded off the Egyptians, Syrians, and Palestinians (amongst others) who invaded Israel, and drove them all back (even though greatly outnumbered by the Arabs). Eventually Israel gave back much of the land they rightly won and deserved for their troubles. For decades the Palestinians have signed peace treaties with the Israelis in return for land and prisoner releases. In return, the Jewish state received the massacre at the Munich Olympics, civilian bus bombings, and assurances from Islamic leaders that they would not have to worry much longer about terror attacks because Israel will soon be wiped off the map.
Israel knows the game, the players, and what is at stake. Their citizens have to look down the barrel of a gun almost every day and what they see are millions of rabid, radical Muslims who want them dead. We went through 9/11, which was horrific, and now think we now what terrorism is all about. Just because our forefathers were lucky enough to settle on a continent surrounded by oceans too far to cross by camel does not make us any safer.
The war on terror is not just about oil and Halliburton and a Texan President that the guy from Hardball doesn’t like. This war on terror is about you, me, and the son who isn’t even a twinkle in my eye yet. All of us want to live to see tomorrow; a tomorrow where truth is still taught in our schools, justice is executed in our courts, and businessmen and women can go to work in the Sears Tower devoid of the fear that, simply because they work in a tall building, that day might be their last.
No amount of negotiating (regardless of what John Kerry says) can reason with the kind of evil that would bombard innocent Israeli women and children with Kaytusha Rockets (supplied by Syria via Iran) one hundred times a day for an entire month, and then have the impudence to claim that they were victims of a “disproportionate” response. No treaty or peace accord will bring to the bargaining table the kind of killer whose conscience is impervious to the fact that the roadside bombs he used to kill American troops end up claiming the lives of his neighbors’ family.
We are at war, and the fate of the Free World hangs in the balance.
Israel knows this. They’ve lived it. The truth is, we have too. The difference here is that we act like we don’t remember the images of bodies burning alive as they plummeted over 80 floors to their death in lower Manhattan. No matter what the United Nations, European Union, or Jimmy Carter may think, Israel must retain our unwavering support and we must continue to take the fight to the groups who kill, and the countries that harbor (a.k.a. the Bush Doctrine).
Israel is constantly under attack and anytime they respond they are criticized more roundly than the terrorists who provoked it. Israel, as a sign of good faith, literally funds the same Palestinian government that recently elected the terror group Hamas to lead them. (The same Hamas whose charter includes the non-negotiable destruction of Israel.) Every olive branch and concession offered by Israel is accepted, exploited, and then returned with gunfire and explosions.
The feud between the Arab Muslims and Jewish Israelis has been ongoing for thousands of years. If you know remember your Sunday school lessons, the Palestinians are primarily comprised of the Philistines (think Samson and Delilah). So, our best ally and democratic comrade has been fighting the enemy we’ve only recently woken up too for more than twenty centuries and we don’t want to be bothered with a war that has lasted four years? Makes sense to me.
The blood of millions of Israelis will be on our hands if the promises of madmen (the Iranian President) to destroy Israel come to pass, and we were apathetic to the calls for help coming from the Holy Land. This is bigger than partisan politics, bigger than who wins the Super Bowl, and more important than the nocturnal habits of Miss America and what Rosie said about Donald. It is time we grew up as a nation and put the selfish mold of our parent’s generation (the Baby Boomers) on the shelf and embrace the characteristics that made the one before theirs’ so great. Sacrifice. Honor. Duty. Courage. Fortitude.
Israel’s fate is our own. Supporting our troops and allies means settling for no less than total victory, not appeasing madmen and abandoning our friends. Millions of soldiers from Israel, Britain, and the United states have physically offered their services in defense of our way of life. The least we civilians can do is not get in their way.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/12/21/why_wont_carter_debate_his_book/
http://www.nysun.com/article/43958
Monday, January 15, 2007
At Least Some Things Never Change
Democrats offer little in the way of ideas
Ted Kennedy told a crowd at the National Press Club this past week that the war in Iraq is officially the Bush-version of Vietnam. After the rousing applause finally ceded, the only Senator to keep his Senate seat after recklessly causing the death of another human being, Kennedy, followed that diamond of insight with yet another idiotic observation, “President Bush, like Nixon before him, is obsessed with winning.” Victory is somehow seen as a vice. As opposed to his own preference, which like Liberals before him, is a distinct penchant for losing. Wow.
A few days later the President addressed the nation to relay his re-vamped strategy for victory in Iraq. Complaints and criticisms leveled against this wartime Commander-in-Chief have ranged from “not enough troops” to “inability to admit mistakes and adapt.” Well, George Bush came to us with a tweaked plan that includes a necessary escalation in troop numbers and an acceptance of the blame for blunders that have been made since March of 2003. Bush also promised new “rules of engagement” for our troops, which means American soldiers won’t have to fill out a “I Think I’ve Been Shot At” request in triplicate to gain permission to fire back.
Bush claims that Prime Minister Al Maliki of Iraq has turned the corner and is willing to do whatever it may take to quell the violence in Iraq, its suburbs, and the volatile Anbar province. Fourteen of the eighteen provinces that comprise that country are peaceful and there citizens can go about their daily business and support the Democratic process already in place. This means that all those grisly daily pictures of death and destruction portrayed on the mainstream news are coming from specific areas where Sunni Muslims are fighting to prevent Shiite domination. The Sunnis, of which Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden claim membership ran the show in Iraq for decades. They assume (correctly) that the Shiites want payback – thus the violence.
Ted Kennedy, Democratic leaders galore, and media pundits aplenty ridiculed the President’s new plan. When Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV), was questioned as to what plan he himself has to counter the one he is criticizing, the Senator said it was not up to the Democrats to come up with a plan. At least Reid is catching on to what we all have known since Vietnam: you wait for Democrats to come up with a plan and most everybody will be dead before they do. That way they are off the hook.
Clinton never confronted Islamic terror and we got 9/11. The Democrats only plan for victory in Vietnam was to cut funding and subsequently sign the death warrant for over a million South Vietnamese, Hmong, Laotian, and Cambodians at the hands of the Communists who took over. Democrat-controlled Congress’ plan to defeat the Evil Empire of the USSR for fifty years was MAD (mutually assured destruction; no one will shoot nukes because both countries had enough to blow each other up). It took a Ronald Reagan to stare down the USSR and win the Cold War precisely because he favored MAV instead (Manifest American Victory).
In Iraq, the Democrats want a timetable to get our troops out. Bush has now said that the Iraqi government is aware that November of this year is when we begin to give up on them. Democrats once wanted more troops (at least that’s what they said leading up the elections of 2006). Bush is sending at least 20,000 more. Democrats wanted a new plan. Bush sought the advice of bi-partisan panels, intelligence agencies/officials, and the military generals on the ground and came up with the new plan to increase troops numbers so when a neighborhood is pacified, enough soldiers can be left behind to maintain the peace.
The Democrats and liberal media demand results and answers, but are not content when they get them. The critical editorials and op-ed’s in Thursday’s major newspapers could have been written weeks ago because there was no chance that liberals were going to be happy with whatever Bush said. It is wartime and the Democrats and Liberals have done everything they can to make life tougher for the military and intelligence sectors that are trying to keep us safe and win multiple wars. Now the Left has the audacity to complain that the President isn’t as effective as he should be. Here’s an idea that the White House Press Corp and Nancy Pelosi should strongly consider: why not get out of the way, let the President lead and shut up?
Everyone is aware that Iraq has not gone as originally planned or promised. Mistakes are numerous and apparent to all. I’m just as disappointed as anyone with how things have taken the wrong turn since 2004. We have many issues here at home that need addressing, primarily illegal immigration. Speaking frankly, I’m sick of the war and sick of the unending attacks on Bush.
But, and this “but” is very important, I am aware that our future security is at stake in Iraq and I know that until 2008 Bush is the Commander-in-Chief. If you know and accept these two things, as an American, you are compelled to stop the complaining and start lending your moral and vocal support to see victory occur in Iraq.
Reading through the lines of Bush’s speech, one is confronted with this undeniable fact: the Iraqis are down to their last chance. Democrats and Republicans alike supported (voted for) the invasion of Iraq as a matter of our national security. We freed a nation in less time than it takes for J.Crew to send you your V-neck, Merino-wool sweater. Assuming (probably foolishly) that the Arabs would embrace freedom and democracy, we have all been shocked at the level of violence for the past four years. But, a line has been drawn in the sand. The Iraqi government and people have this year to show the American government and people that they are serious about success. Our patience is not unlimited.
So, although Ted Kennedy and condescending liberals in the media will spend the next eleven months continuing to bash Bush and undermine our troops, don’t buy in to it. You have to choose a side. This doesn’t mean undying loyalty to Republicans. It means being discerning enough to see the “forest for the trees”. For better or worse, Bush is running the show and the only way we will see the leadership we know he is capable of (remember the year after 9/11 when everyone like the guy?) again.
The Democrats think winning is overrated. (That’s why they’ve been so graceful and humble about their recent victory in the 2006 elections.) Well, winning is not a bad thing. In a world as dangerous as this one losing is no longer an option. No one wants to fight, but history is written by those who will and those who win. There were thousands of colonials who thought war with Britain was a bad idea and unnecessary. We shipped those people on boats back to England when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown.
When our mission is complete, a working democracy established, and beacon of freedom amidst tyranny shines bright in Iraq, Democratic leaders like Kennedy should have to go live with the enemy they seem to think we should not have defeated. As for me and my house, we will give thanks to the Almighty that we had leaders wise enough to identify the threat, soldiers brave enough to fight the battles, and a nation free enough to appreciate the sacrifices made to provide them the way of life our enemies sought to destroy.
Ted Kennedy told a crowd at the National Press Club this past week that the war in Iraq is officially the Bush-version of Vietnam. After the rousing applause finally ceded, the only Senator to keep his Senate seat after recklessly causing the death of another human being, Kennedy, followed that diamond of insight with yet another idiotic observation, “President Bush, like Nixon before him, is obsessed with winning.” Victory is somehow seen as a vice. As opposed to his own preference, which like Liberals before him, is a distinct penchant for losing. Wow.
A few days later the President addressed the nation to relay his re-vamped strategy for victory in Iraq. Complaints and criticisms leveled against this wartime Commander-in-Chief have ranged from “not enough troops” to “inability to admit mistakes and adapt.” Well, George Bush came to us with a tweaked plan that includes a necessary escalation in troop numbers and an acceptance of the blame for blunders that have been made since March of 2003. Bush also promised new “rules of engagement” for our troops, which means American soldiers won’t have to fill out a “I Think I’ve Been Shot At” request in triplicate to gain permission to fire back.
Bush claims that Prime Minister Al Maliki of Iraq has turned the corner and is willing to do whatever it may take to quell the violence in Iraq, its suburbs, and the volatile Anbar province. Fourteen of the eighteen provinces that comprise that country are peaceful and there citizens can go about their daily business and support the Democratic process already in place. This means that all those grisly daily pictures of death and destruction portrayed on the mainstream news are coming from specific areas where Sunni Muslims are fighting to prevent Shiite domination. The Sunnis, of which Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden claim membership ran the show in Iraq for decades. They assume (correctly) that the Shiites want payback – thus the violence.
Ted Kennedy, Democratic leaders galore, and media pundits aplenty ridiculed the President’s new plan. When Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV), was questioned as to what plan he himself has to counter the one he is criticizing, the Senator said it was not up to the Democrats to come up with a plan. At least Reid is catching on to what we all have known since Vietnam: you wait for Democrats to come up with a plan and most everybody will be dead before they do. That way they are off the hook.
Clinton never confronted Islamic terror and we got 9/11. The Democrats only plan for victory in Vietnam was to cut funding and subsequently sign the death warrant for over a million South Vietnamese, Hmong, Laotian, and Cambodians at the hands of the Communists who took over. Democrat-controlled Congress’ plan to defeat the Evil Empire of the USSR for fifty years was MAD (mutually assured destruction; no one will shoot nukes because both countries had enough to blow each other up). It took a Ronald Reagan to stare down the USSR and win the Cold War precisely because he favored MAV instead (Manifest American Victory).
In Iraq, the Democrats want a timetable to get our troops out. Bush has now said that the Iraqi government is aware that November of this year is when we begin to give up on them. Democrats once wanted more troops (at least that’s what they said leading up the elections of 2006). Bush is sending at least 20,000 more. Democrats wanted a new plan. Bush sought the advice of bi-partisan panels, intelligence agencies/officials, and the military generals on the ground and came up with the new plan to increase troops numbers so when a neighborhood is pacified, enough soldiers can be left behind to maintain the peace.
The Democrats and liberal media demand results and answers, but are not content when they get them. The critical editorials and op-ed’s in Thursday’s major newspapers could have been written weeks ago because there was no chance that liberals were going to be happy with whatever Bush said. It is wartime and the Democrats and Liberals have done everything they can to make life tougher for the military and intelligence sectors that are trying to keep us safe and win multiple wars. Now the Left has the audacity to complain that the President isn’t as effective as he should be. Here’s an idea that the White House Press Corp and Nancy Pelosi should strongly consider: why not get out of the way, let the President lead and shut up?
Everyone is aware that Iraq has not gone as originally planned or promised. Mistakes are numerous and apparent to all. I’m just as disappointed as anyone with how things have taken the wrong turn since 2004. We have many issues here at home that need addressing, primarily illegal immigration. Speaking frankly, I’m sick of the war and sick of the unending attacks on Bush.
But, and this “but” is very important, I am aware that our future security is at stake in Iraq and I know that until 2008 Bush is the Commander-in-Chief. If you know and accept these two things, as an American, you are compelled to stop the complaining and start lending your moral and vocal support to see victory occur in Iraq.
Reading through the lines of Bush’s speech, one is confronted with this undeniable fact: the Iraqis are down to their last chance. Democrats and Republicans alike supported (voted for) the invasion of Iraq as a matter of our national security. We freed a nation in less time than it takes for J.Crew to send you your V-neck, Merino-wool sweater. Assuming (probably foolishly) that the Arabs would embrace freedom and democracy, we have all been shocked at the level of violence for the past four years. But, a line has been drawn in the sand. The Iraqi government and people have this year to show the American government and people that they are serious about success. Our patience is not unlimited.
So, although Ted Kennedy and condescending liberals in the media will spend the next eleven months continuing to bash Bush and undermine our troops, don’t buy in to it. You have to choose a side. This doesn’t mean undying loyalty to Republicans. It means being discerning enough to see the “forest for the trees”. For better or worse, Bush is running the show and the only way we will see the leadership we know he is capable of (remember the year after 9/11 when everyone like the guy?) again.
The Democrats think winning is overrated. (That’s why they’ve been so graceful and humble about their recent victory in the 2006 elections.) Well, winning is not a bad thing. In a world as dangerous as this one losing is no longer an option. No one wants to fight, but history is written by those who will and those who win. There were thousands of colonials who thought war with Britain was a bad idea and unnecessary. We shipped those people on boats back to England when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown.
When our mission is complete, a working democracy established, and beacon of freedom amidst tyranny shines bright in Iraq, Democratic leaders like Kennedy should have to go live with the enemy they seem to think we should not have defeated. As for me and my house, we will give thanks to the Almighty that we had leaders wise enough to identify the threat, soldiers brave enough to fight the battles, and a nation free enough to appreciate the sacrifices made to provide them the way of life our enemies sought to destroy.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
The Great Top-Secret-Papers-in-the-Pants Caper
Former National Security Advisor Shown Different Standard
On Friday April 1st, 2005 former National Security Advisor to President Clinton, Sandy Berger, plead guilty to stealing, concealing, and destroying documents from the National Archive in Washington D.C. Those documents were taken and eventually destroyed in 2003 as Mr. Berger prepared to testify in front of the 9/11 Commission. The maximum sentence for the crime he committed is roughly ten years in prison, over $100,000 in fines, and permanent loss of high-level security clearance (something that all former high-ranking intelligence directors retain for life). It is a serious crime.
Berger, inexcusably, received 100 hours of community service, a $5,000 (that has since been raised to $50,000) fine for removing highly sensitive intelligence documents pertaining to the Clinton administration’s dropping of the preverbal “ball” when it came to terrorism, and only lost his security clearance for three short years. The judge said that because Berger didn’t wreck original copies (or so he thought) and it couldn’t be proven that he meant to hide facts from the 9/11 Commission and American public, he couldn’t sentence Berger to anything harsher.
Here is what happened. Sandy Berger served as Clinton’s National Security Advisor in the 90’s. We now know that Clinton and his administration were less than interested in the obvious growing Islamic terror threat that men like Osama Bin Laden posed. They cannot take all the blame for this because few, outside specific sectors of the intelligence community, recognized the threat as well. But, as the NSA, Berger’s job was to identify trouble ahead of time and keep the President abreast of potential problems. Despite warnings from lower levels of the FBI and CIA, Berger and Clinton all but ignored the pleas for more attention to be paid to groups like Al Qaida and Hezbollah.
In 2003 the 9/11 Commission was in the midst of crucial testimony from Clinton-era intelligence gurus such as Louis Freeh (former FBI Chief), Richard Clarke (former CIA director), and our man Sandy. Berger headed to the National Archive building where all classified documents from our nation’s governmental history are stored and used for research and reference by Congress, courts, and historians. He admits that he took five separate “After-action” reports that were relevant to his own, as well as Clinton’s, failures in planning for potential attacks and inaction after the fact. Basically, they did not show Clinton and his main intelligence “Expert” in a positive light. At the time, only fifteen people on the planet had access to those documents that Berger claimed were necessary to “jog” his memory in regards to specific meetings around that time. Again, I must stress how sensitive and important these documents were (notice past pentse).
Berger did not simply walk out of the Archive building and drive home with the documents in his boxers. He did, however, notice that there were construction trailers outside of the building, and on his smoke breaks, carried the files outside in his pants and jacket and hid them under one of the trailers. Later that evening he returned, grabbed the concealed documents, and returned to his office with them.
This story is sounding more and more like a Hardy Boys caper.
So we’ve got the former NSA heisting critical information that pointed the finger right back at the very thief for failing to do the job he was appointed for. He was willing to knowingly risk possible jail time to get rid of whatever those documents contained. What could be so damning that a man of that ilk would risk his name, credibility, and freedom to make sure that no one ever saw what was contained in them?
Berger admits that he then reviewed the information for his upcoming testimony as to his role in identifying Islamic terror threats in the 90’s. After illegally reviewing clandestine documents, Berger did what anyone would do in that situation. He used scissors to destroy the copies he had stolen. Knowing full well that the National Archive would find that the files were missing, he blatantly disregarded the law and the trust the President and American people had put in him to be privy to the most sensitive information on the planet.
When the inevitable call came from the Archive’s Inspector General, Berger denied knowing anything about the missing documents. When questioned again, he changed his tune and admitted he had lost or misplaced them. As the investigation (which was necessary due to the importance of the documents missing) continued, the heat on Berger was turned up. The investigation led to accusations and charges levied at Mr. Berger where eventually, two years later, he pled guilty to destroying the files. This was part of a deal that Berger struck with prosecutors to avoid prison time and continuing public embarrassment. (The kind of deal not afforded to Scooter Libby who accidentally passed along the name of an already "outed" desk jockey CIA agent.)
One thing, and one thing alone, is what saved Berger from the public humiliation he earned in 2004: he had worked for a Democrat.
The media all but ignored this story in 2005. When conservative voices such as Robert Novak, Charles Krauthammer, and Rush Limbaugh addressed the matter they were dismissed by the mainstream media for playing partisan politics with a non-story. CBS, ABC, and NBC treated the shocking news (and remarkable breach of the public’s trust) with indifference. President Clinton himself played down the conviction of his former cabinet member by saying it was no more than the absent-minded mistake of a “workaholic”. Berger’s tendency to spend countless hours researching documents that were fit to be destroyed was apparently known by the former Commander-in-Chief as well.
The reason this story is worth sharing is two-fold. First of all, most of you likely have never heard about what happened and probably thought Sandy Berger is the dad from the O.C. Following in his former boss’ footsteps, Berger repeatedly changed his story and eventually was found to have lied and saved his own butt by cutting a deal with prosecutors. This wasn’t an intern. This wasn’t about sex, or its “definition”. This was a man who was entrusted with the most important intelligence information in the world that helps to keep us all safe. He lied, got caught, admitted his guilt, and the liberal media said it was no big deal. To make matters even worse, Berger will be allowed back in to handle classified documents a year and half from now.
He shouldn’t be allowed a public library card.
Secondly, try and imagine if former National Security Advisor (now Secretary of State) Condoleeza Rice had pulled the same pathetic stunt? What would be said of her and President Bush if in 2010 there is a commission to investigate a terror plot that is carried out after Bush leaves office, and in preparation for her testimony she put sensitive documents that point the finger at her and Bush’s shortcomings in her bra, hides it in a port-a-potty, and then throws them in her incinerator? There would be an outcry the likes of which the world has not seen since Nixon denied knowing about some ill-advised Republican aides stealing Democratic election plans from a hotel in 1972.
The Sandy Berger story has seen recent press because of new facts that have been revealed. It appears that Berger did in fact trash original copies of the reports. This means that no one will ever know what was written on them. A handful of Congressional Republicans have asked that if, as the Democrats have promised, there will be more investigations and hearings regarding what events led up to 9/11 and the eventual invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Berger theft must be re-visited and further examined in the name of fairness. The Democrats don’t want to hear it.
Berger, like Clinton, failed to honor the moral obligations that come along with their privileged positions in our government. We trusted them to do whatever they could to protect us. Both men lied, under oath. Both men should have been attacked with the same intensity that has been directed at Bush, Rice, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. If ever there were a perfect example of the liberal media bias, this story is it.
The name of the game is “context”, and the media is not interested in playing by those rules.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16706-2005Mar31.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Berger
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,152108,00.html
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/LorieByrd/2006/10/13/its_about_time_americans_found_out_what_sandy_berger_stuffed_in_his_pants
On Friday April 1st, 2005 former National Security Advisor to President Clinton, Sandy Berger, plead guilty to stealing, concealing, and destroying documents from the National Archive in Washington D.C. Those documents were taken and eventually destroyed in 2003 as Mr. Berger prepared to testify in front of the 9/11 Commission. The maximum sentence for the crime he committed is roughly ten years in prison, over $100,000 in fines, and permanent loss of high-level security clearance (something that all former high-ranking intelligence directors retain for life). It is a serious crime.
Berger, inexcusably, received 100 hours of community service, a $5,000 (that has since been raised to $50,000) fine for removing highly sensitive intelligence documents pertaining to the Clinton administration’s dropping of the preverbal “ball” when it came to terrorism, and only lost his security clearance for three short years. The judge said that because Berger didn’t wreck original copies (or so he thought) and it couldn’t be proven that he meant to hide facts from the 9/11 Commission and American public, he couldn’t sentence Berger to anything harsher.
Here is what happened. Sandy Berger served as Clinton’s National Security Advisor in the 90’s. We now know that Clinton and his administration were less than interested in the obvious growing Islamic terror threat that men like Osama Bin Laden posed. They cannot take all the blame for this because few, outside specific sectors of the intelligence community, recognized the threat as well. But, as the NSA, Berger’s job was to identify trouble ahead of time and keep the President abreast of potential problems. Despite warnings from lower levels of the FBI and CIA, Berger and Clinton all but ignored the pleas for more attention to be paid to groups like Al Qaida and Hezbollah.
In 2003 the 9/11 Commission was in the midst of crucial testimony from Clinton-era intelligence gurus such as Louis Freeh (former FBI Chief), Richard Clarke (former CIA director), and our man Sandy. Berger headed to the National Archive building where all classified documents from our nation’s governmental history are stored and used for research and reference by Congress, courts, and historians. He admits that he took five separate “After-action” reports that were relevant to his own, as well as Clinton’s, failures in planning for potential attacks and inaction after the fact. Basically, they did not show Clinton and his main intelligence “Expert” in a positive light. At the time, only fifteen people on the planet had access to those documents that Berger claimed were necessary to “jog” his memory in regards to specific meetings around that time. Again, I must stress how sensitive and important these documents were (notice past pentse).
Berger did not simply walk out of the Archive building and drive home with the documents in his boxers. He did, however, notice that there were construction trailers outside of the building, and on his smoke breaks, carried the files outside in his pants and jacket and hid them under one of the trailers. Later that evening he returned, grabbed the concealed documents, and returned to his office with them.
This story is sounding more and more like a Hardy Boys caper.
So we’ve got the former NSA heisting critical information that pointed the finger right back at the very thief for failing to do the job he was appointed for. He was willing to knowingly risk possible jail time to get rid of whatever those documents contained. What could be so damning that a man of that ilk would risk his name, credibility, and freedom to make sure that no one ever saw what was contained in them?
Berger admits that he then reviewed the information for his upcoming testimony as to his role in identifying Islamic terror threats in the 90’s. After illegally reviewing clandestine documents, Berger did what anyone would do in that situation. He used scissors to destroy the copies he had stolen. Knowing full well that the National Archive would find that the files were missing, he blatantly disregarded the law and the trust the President and American people had put in him to be privy to the most sensitive information on the planet.
When the inevitable call came from the Archive’s Inspector General, Berger denied knowing anything about the missing documents. When questioned again, he changed his tune and admitted he had lost or misplaced them. As the investigation (which was necessary due to the importance of the documents missing) continued, the heat on Berger was turned up. The investigation led to accusations and charges levied at Mr. Berger where eventually, two years later, he pled guilty to destroying the files. This was part of a deal that Berger struck with prosecutors to avoid prison time and continuing public embarrassment. (The kind of deal not afforded to Scooter Libby who accidentally passed along the name of an already "outed" desk jockey CIA agent.)
One thing, and one thing alone, is what saved Berger from the public humiliation he earned in 2004: he had worked for a Democrat.
The media all but ignored this story in 2005. When conservative voices such as Robert Novak, Charles Krauthammer, and Rush Limbaugh addressed the matter they were dismissed by the mainstream media for playing partisan politics with a non-story. CBS, ABC, and NBC treated the shocking news (and remarkable breach of the public’s trust) with indifference. President Clinton himself played down the conviction of his former cabinet member by saying it was no more than the absent-minded mistake of a “workaholic”. Berger’s tendency to spend countless hours researching documents that were fit to be destroyed was apparently known by the former Commander-in-Chief as well.
The reason this story is worth sharing is two-fold. First of all, most of you likely have never heard about what happened and probably thought Sandy Berger is the dad from the O.C. Following in his former boss’ footsteps, Berger repeatedly changed his story and eventually was found to have lied and saved his own butt by cutting a deal with prosecutors. This wasn’t an intern. This wasn’t about sex, or its “definition”. This was a man who was entrusted with the most important intelligence information in the world that helps to keep us all safe. He lied, got caught, admitted his guilt, and the liberal media said it was no big deal. To make matters even worse, Berger will be allowed back in to handle classified documents a year and half from now.
He shouldn’t be allowed a public library card.
Secondly, try and imagine if former National Security Advisor (now Secretary of State) Condoleeza Rice had pulled the same pathetic stunt? What would be said of her and President Bush if in 2010 there is a commission to investigate a terror plot that is carried out after Bush leaves office, and in preparation for her testimony she put sensitive documents that point the finger at her and Bush’s shortcomings in her bra, hides it in a port-a-potty, and then throws them in her incinerator? There would be an outcry the likes of which the world has not seen since Nixon denied knowing about some ill-advised Republican aides stealing Democratic election plans from a hotel in 1972.
The Sandy Berger story has seen recent press because of new facts that have been revealed. It appears that Berger did in fact trash original copies of the reports. This means that no one will ever know what was written on them. A handful of Congressional Republicans have asked that if, as the Democrats have promised, there will be more investigations and hearings regarding what events led up to 9/11 and the eventual invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Berger theft must be re-visited and further examined in the name of fairness. The Democrats don’t want to hear it.
Berger, like Clinton, failed to honor the moral obligations that come along with their privileged positions in our government. We trusted them to do whatever they could to protect us. Both men lied, under oath. Both men should have been attacked with the same intensity that has been directed at Bush, Rice, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. If ever there were a perfect example of the liberal media bias, this story is it.
The name of the game is “context”, and the media is not interested in playing by those rules.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16706-2005Mar31.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Berger
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,152108,00.html
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/LorieByrd/2006/10/13/its_about_time_americans_found_out_what_sandy_berger_stuffed_in_his_pants
Friday, January 05, 2007
Great Un-expectations
My New Year’s Resolutions
This time of year breeds dishonesty. While we make promises and vows to ourselves and others in the form of “resolutions”, deep down we know there is a snowball’s chance in Saudi Arabia that you’ll be able to live up to your well-intentioned attempt to better yourself. I happen to love making New Year’s Resolutions because during the month of January I get to see what it would be like to live in a perpetual state of optimism. The sky is the limit till about Groundhog’s Day when that little rat sees his shadow and winter lasts till Memorial Day and things can get back to there regular, self-doubting ways.
First, as most admit at this time each year, my eating/exercising regiment is something left to be desired. Healthy body, healthy mind. When I hear that states like New York are now banning trans-fats, I am overwhelmed with a sense of resentment. Don’t eat them! I know better than most that bad food and non-existent exercise leads to love handles. I don’t need the government to tell me that, and I don’t want the government telling me I cannot have my KFC fully loaded with every known trans-fat the Colonel can get his greasy, fat fingers on.
I plan on writing a book someday entitled, Just Don’t. Smoking is unhealthy? Just don’t buy those Parliaments. People killed by not wearing a seat belt? Just don’t forget to put it on. Fatty foods give you heart disease? Just don’t cram as many Hardee’s Thick Burgers down your chubby pie-hole. The book could dismember the entire liberal social agenda piece by piece with a refusal to let emotions dominate my thinking and embracing the age-old, time-tested, reliable idea called “common sense”.
However, my resolution is to get in better shape so I will be one less stat that will help Liberal disingenuous legislation that does little more than help know-it-all Democratic politicians sleep better at night knowing that they, in their immense wisdom, had the wherewithal to save me from myself. I can do this by running a mile for every hour spent watching Anderson Cooper 360 and replacing bacon-wrapped steaks with leafy greens. (I hear they make them bacteria free in California. Gordita, anyone?)
Second, I want to stop taking my life for granted as much as I do now. A letter or email to a soldier in Iraq thanking them for their service. Serving food in a Soup Kitchen to people who don’t really worry about the trans-fat content. Working hard on my schoolwork not only to better myself, but also to show appreciation to all the people who have aided and provided me with the means to attend Graduate School. Not “blowing a gasket” when the line at the bank is too long or when the elderly woman with 11 cans of cat food steps in front of my in the “10 Items or Less” line at Dominick’s.
My life, as are most of yours, is pretty great. Life in a free country where I can achieve success not based solely on who my parents were, but who I am. Freedom to be a Christian and go to church when believers in other parts of the world are forced underground to simply read Scripture. Friends and family who care for and inspire me everyday. Life is good and I need to stop acting like everyone has the advantages I do. There are always people who have it better, and many who have it worse, but the real task in life is to find joy and contentment in the exact circumstances you find yourself in everyday.
Third, I want to read more. Reading was my passion when I was a kid. I know it is what enabled me to coast through much of high school and college. I squandered a lot of chances I’ve had along the way, but those early years of reading are what kept me afloat. Not until my junior year of college did I realize what a gift reading, and along with it, knowledge, truly is. It opens the eyes and mind to new perspectives and hones the skill of critical thinking everyone needs throughout life to succeed. (Below is a recommended reading list from yours truly)
Fourth, I need to work on being an honest person. Even when it hurts, the truth shall set you free. What a load off my shoulders it is when I finally come clean with someone I’ve been holding out on. The best way to avoid those awkward conversations in the first place is to let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no”…you get the idea. Character, or lack thereof, is directly linked to the honesty and integrity one possesses. How can I hope to be the kind of man I want to be or offer insight/perspective on political and social issues with out telling the truth?
So, I guess you could say this resolution involves you the reader as well. I resolve to continue sharing the honest truth, as best I know it, in my writing. While these postings are my thoughts and perspectives, I totally and fully believe in my heart of hearts that I am correct in my core conservative beliefs. But, even if you agree with someone and have it in the back of your head that he is less than trustworthy, you cannot help but lose some faith in what that person has to say.
Fifth, and lastly, I resolve to be nicer to Democrats and even (gasp) liberals. Don’t worry; I haven’t lost my mind in Obama-fever. In fact, I’ve never been more confident that it will be conservative values that continue to lead this blessed nation forward. In two years Pelosi and the gang will be back to their appropriate rank of “minority” leaders in Congress. It was not Democrats and liberals who lost the election for Republicans and conservative. We did it to ourselves. This means we can also win it back, and soon.
I disagree with basically everything the liberal school of thought stands for, but they are still Americans and humans and worthy of courtesy and respect (no matter how little of each is typically returned). This does not mean I will not speak my mind and maybe even get angry at their stupidity and self-defeating lack of logic and reasoning in any and all of their arguments. Their attempts to undermine the Judeo-Christian values that formed this great nation will continue to be met with my legendary wit and sarcasm. But, I’ll try to be nicer when I do it (even on “Opposite Day”).
I may have just broken my fifth resolution in that last paragraph so I will leave you with words from someone much more eloquent than I (before I go eat a Cliff Huxtable-esque hoagie, play Spider Solitaire instead of reading a Milton Friedman book on Economic policies of the 20th Century, and under-appreciate my family somehow). Ronald Reagan knew a thing or two about character, integrity, and peace making (through strength). Here are some of his own words to see you off into a new year.
“The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas-a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated.”
Good luck with your own resolutions and thanks a lot for helping this want-to-be commentator get his start and begin to hone his craft. Happy New Year!
Robby’s Recommended Reading for January
When Character Was King by: Peggy Noonan
Treason by: Ann Coulter
Mere Christianity by: C.S. Lewis
Liberalism is a Mental Disorder by: Michael Savage
1776 by: David McCullough
This time of year breeds dishonesty. While we make promises and vows to ourselves and others in the form of “resolutions”, deep down we know there is a snowball’s chance in Saudi Arabia that you’ll be able to live up to your well-intentioned attempt to better yourself. I happen to love making New Year’s Resolutions because during the month of January I get to see what it would be like to live in a perpetual state of optimism. The sky is the limit till about Groundhog’s Day when that little rat sees his shadow and winter lasts till Memorial Day and things can get back to there regular, self-doubting ways.
First, as most admit at this time each year, my eating/exercising regiment is something left to be desired. Healthy body, healthy mind. When I hear that states like New York are now banning trans-fats, I am overwhelmed with a sense of resentment. Don’t eat them! I know better than most that bad food and non-existent exercise leads to love handles. I don’t need the government to tell me that, and I don’t want the government telling me I cannot have my KFC fully loaded with every known trans-fat the Colonel can get his greasy, fat fingers on.
I plan on writing a book someday entitled, Just Don’t. Smoking is unhealthy? Just don’t buy those Parliaments. People killed by not wearing a seat belt? Just don’t forget to put it on. Fatty foods give you heart disease? Just don’t cram as many Hardee’s Thick Burgers down your chubby pie-hole. The book could dismember the entire liberal social agenda piece by piece with a refusal to let emotions dominate my thinking and embracing the age-old, time-tested, reliable idea called “common sense”.
However, my resolution is to get in better shape so I will be one less stat that will help Liberal disingenuous legislation that does little more than help know-it-all Democratic politicians sleep better at night knowing that they, in their immense wisdom, had the wherewithal to save me from myself. I can do this by running a mile for every hour spent watching Anderson Cooper 360 and replacing bacon-wrapped steaks with leafy greens. (I hear they make them bacteria free in California. Gordita, anyone?)
Second, I want to stop taking my life for granted as much as I do now. A letter or email to a soldier in Iraq thanking them for their service. Serving food in a Soup Kitchen to people who don’t really worry about the trans-fat content. Working hard on my schoolwork not only to better myself, but also to show appreciation to all the people who have aided and provided me with the means to attend Graduate School. Not “blowing a gasket” when the line at the bank is too long or when the elderly woman with 11 cans of cat food steps in front of my in the “10 Items or Less” line at Dominick’s.
My life, as are most of yours, is pretty great. Life in a free country where I can achieve success not based solely on who my parents were, but who I am. Freedom to be a Christian and go to church when believers in other parts of the world are forced underground to simply read Scripture. Friends and family who care for and inspire me everyday. Life is good and I need to stop acting like everyone has the advantages I do. There are always people who have it better, and many who have it worse, but the real task in life is to find joy and contentment in the exact circumstances you find yourself in everyday.
Third, I want to read more. Reading was my passion when I was a kid. I know it is what enabled me to coast through much of high school and college. I squandered a lot of chances I’ve had along the way, but those early years of reading are what kept me afloat. Not until my junior year of college did I realize what a gift reading, and along with it, knowledge, truly is. It opens the eyes and mind to new perspectives and hones the skill of critical thinking everyone needs throughout life to succeed. (Below is a recommended reading list from yours truly)
Fourth, I need to work on being an honest person. Even when it hurts, the truth shall set you free. What a load off my shoulders it is when I finally come clean with someone I’ve been holding out on. The best way to avoid those awkward conversations in the first place is to let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no”…you get the idea. Character, or lack thereof, is directly linked to the honesty and integrity one possesses. How can I hope to be the kind of man I want to be or offer insight/perspective on political and social issues with out telling the truth?
So, I guess you could say this resolution involves you the reader as well. I resolve to continue sharing the honest truth, as best I know it, in my writing. While these postings are my thoughts and perspectives, I totally and fully believe in my heart of hearts that I am correct in my core conservative beliefs. But, even if you agree with someone and have it in the back of your head that he is less than trustworthy, you cannot help but lose some faith in what that person has to say.
Fifth, and lastly, I resolve to be nicer to Democrats and even (gasp) liberals. Don’t worry; I haven’t lost my mind in Obama-fever. In fact, I’ve never been more confident that it will be conservative values that continue to lead this blessed nation forward. In two years Pelosi and the gang will be back to their appropriate rank of “minority” leaders in Congress. It was not Democrats and liberals who lost the election for Republicans and conservative. We did it to ourselves. This means we can also win it back, and soon.
I disagree with basically everything the liberal school of thought stands for, but they are still Americans and humans and worthy of courtesy and respect (no matter how little of each is typically returned). This does not mean I will not speak my mind and maybe even get angry at their stupidity and self-defeating lack of logic and reasoning in any and all of their arguments. Their attempts to undermine the Judeo-Christian values that formed this great nation will continue to be met with my legendary wit and sarcasm. But, I’ll try to be nicer when I do it (even on “Opposite Day”).
I may have just broken my fifth resolution in that last paragraph so I will leave you with words from someone much more eloquent than I (before I go eat a Cliff Huxtable-esque hoagie, play Spider Solitaire instead of reading a Milton Friedman book on Economic policies of the 20th Century, and under-appreciate my family somehow). Ronald Reagan knew a thing or two about character, integrity, and peace making (through strength). Here are some of his own words to see you off into a new year.
“The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas-a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated.”
Good luck with your own resolutions and thanks a lot for helping this want-to-be commentator get his start and begin to hone his craft. Happy New Year!
Robby’s Recommended Reading for January
When Character Was King by: Peggy Noonan
Treason by: Ann Coulter
Mere Christianity by: C.S. Lewis
Liberalism is a Mental Disorder by: Michael Savage
1776 by: David McCullough
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Why We Went
The Truth On How America Ended up in Iraq
The morning George W. Bush was sworn into office, it was the standing policy of the United States that a regime change was necessary in Iraq. President Clinton, in 1998, proclaimed that Saddam Hussein did indeed posses weapons of mass destruction. This meant biological, chemical, and potentially nuclear capabilities in the care of the world’s maniacal dictators since Hitler. Even a died-in-the-wool liberal like Clinton saw the threat Saddam posed to American interests at home and abroad. Clinton even had plans drawn for war.
The 90’s kicked off with the 1st war in Iraq, and as the decade ended Saddam was still in power and still a deadly menace to humanity. By 2000 it was universally recognized that Hussein should have been disposed in 1991 after being driven from Kuwait by American, NATO, and United Nations forces. No-fly zones had been established around Iraq, trade sanctions imposed, and sixteen UN resolutions passed calling for a cease-fire and inspections of Saddam’s weapons programs. Yet, the “Butcher of Baghdad” thumbed his nose at each and every one of those resolutions.
Saddam earned that nickname by murdering somewhere between 100,00 and 300,000 of his own people in the two decades he was in power. He had conducted a campaign of genocide against the Kurdish people in the mountains of Northern Iraq for which he was ultimately convicted and hanged. During the years following Gulf War 1 Hussein publicly threatened the United States with retaliation for what they “did” to him during the Persian Gulf War. He paid the families of suicide bombers over $20,000 each for the successful murder of innocent Israelis. He went so far as to even praise the 19 hijackers on 9/11 on Iraqi television for their murder of 3,000 civilians. Think about that.
Despite what Jeanne Gaurafulo and Matt Damon tell you, Saddam did have ties with Al Qaeda. He knowingly harbored terrorists like Al-Zarqawi (the former head of Al Qaeda in Iraq who met his Maker thanks to two American five hundred pound bombs dropped on his home last June). He also allowed terrorist training camps to freely function inside Iraq. Does anyone really believe that anything went on in his country without his knowing? Though Saddam was no religious zealot he hated America and Israel and was determined to see each destroyed.
The UN, with the urging of the U.S., sent Weapons Inspectors into Iraq for the better part of a decade. While some confirmation occurred as to the destruction of WMD’s in Saddam’s possession, Hans Blix and the Gang were given the run-around for years. Former Iraqi Air Force General, Georges Sada, served under Saddam for nearly 30 years and writes in his recently released memoirs “Saddam’s Secrets” that Hussein did have WMD’s (chemical and biological) and was constantly trying to obtain nuclear capabilities. Sada also drops the bombshell that liberals from Berkeley to Boston have dreaded to hear since 2002: Saddam was stalling in late 2002 and early 2003 because he knew the U.S. was coming for him and to prevent justification for the American invasion he was moving the bulk of his WMD’s into Syria. You heard it hear folks. An Iraqi general, who is not alone in his claims, tells us that WMD’s were in Iraq and the dog-and-pony show old Saddam was running was to shield his efforts to move his weapons.
This is a big deal. This is exactly what Bush and his administration warned about leading up to the war. After 9/11 President Bush, with the blessing of the American people and of Congress, announced a new policy that stated we would no longer wait to be attacked, but actively seek out terrorists and their state-sponsors. In short, our goal is to get the bad guys, but if you are hiding them, you are now one of the bad guys and we will get you too. It’s the most common sense (and only feasible) approach to successfully battling the problem of terrorism. For those of you who have a problem with this logic, you must also have a problem with the couple in Florida who were charged last year with the harboring of their friend who was an outlaw rapist on the run from Johnny Law. You harbor a criminal you become a criminal – that’s the way the world works.
So put yourself into the President’s shoes. Even if you believe he is dumb (though a graduate of Yale) and stole the election in 2000 (though he won by a majority in 2004 which is something Bill Clinton never did) and is thus undeserving of your respect (though he has kept us from another terrorist attack in the last 6 years) please humor me for a moment. You’ve just led the country (with the help of Rudy Guiliani) through the worst attack in our nation’s history. You learn who is responsible, but also begin to realize that the problem goes much deeper than a few extremists. There are countries that aid, support, and harbor the madmen who have been attacking American interests since the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979.
The CIA, Britain, and nine other countries tell you that Iraq has WMD’s. You also learn that Iran and North Korea are serious threats. You’ve achieved success in Afghanistan disposing of the Taliban government who literally housed Osama Bin Laden. Your generals and Department of Defense advisors urge you to take action now or forever hold your peace. You’ve got the legal right to invade and the blessings (in the form of Resolution 1441) of the United Nations to use force against a Saddam Hussein who refuses to comply with any International Coalition decree. Congress, including Senators Hillary, Kerry and Edwards, vote for war. You are the Commander-in-Chief with the sworn duty to protect the American people. What would you do?
France, Russia, and Germany all voted in the U.N. to authorize force, but when it became apparent that Americans actually follow through on what they say, those cowardly nations backed out. While regrettable, this was no reason to hold off on taking Saddam out.
Michael Moore depicted Iraq pre-invasion as a utopian play-land for the light of heart. This, despite the fact that the term “human rights” had no Iraqi translation in their language under Saddam. He slaughtered hundreds of thousands of his own people. Women were granted the same rights as dogs (okay, almost as many rights). If a woman was raped by one of Saddam’s sons or Republican Guard soldiers, the woman was decapitated for bringing shame to her family. Saddam’s two sons sadistically tortured athletes who failed to bring back medals from the Olympics.
So to review: Saddam had a history of starting wars with his neighbors and with America. He had already used WMD’s on his own people and threatened to unleash them on us. He had known terrorists shacked up in his country. He brazenly violated sixteen UN resolutions. Then we were attacked six years ago and he cheered. It was then our eyes were collectively opened to the stark reality that Islamic terrorism is real and spreading. Our leaders wisely decided that waiting for them to get us was no longer a viable option. Iraq, Iran, and North Korea are all bad places unfortunately run by madmen hell-bent on destruction. We could not wait to see what Hussein planned to do next – 9/11 had taught waiting can be catastrophic when dealing with fanatics and murderers.
So I know you’re sick of the war. You are sick of hearing about it. You are sick of soldiers dying for what the media and Democrats call an “unjust”, “unnecessary”, and “illegal” cause. But can’t you see that we had no choice but to join this fight? The reality that stared us in the face amongst the smoldering rubble of the WTC was that we were already engaged in a war and unfortunately we had just then learned of it.
No, not every decision in Iraq has been correct so far. Mistakes are far and wide. But, none of this in any way, shape, or form negates the truth that deposing Saddam was inevitable and necessary. To do otherwise is to still be living in a September 10th, not 11th, world.
History will judge George W. Bush did the right thing in invading Iraq – mark my words.
The morning George W. Bush was sworn into office, it was the standing policy of the United States that a regime change was necessary in Iraq. President Clinton, in 1998, proclaimed that Saddam Hussein did indeed posses weapons of mass destruction. This meant biological, chemical, and potentially nuclear capabilities in the care of the world’s maniacal dictators since Hitler. Even a died-in-the-wool liberal like Clinton saw the threat Saddam posed to American interests at home and abroad. Clinton even had plans drawn for war.
The 90’s kicked off with the 1st war in Iraq, and as the decade ended Saddam was still in power and still a deadly menace to humanity. By 2000 it was universally recognized that Hussein should have been disposed in 1991 after being driven from Kuwait by American, NATO, and United Nations forces. No-fly zones had been established around Iraq, trade sanctions imposed, and sixteen UN resolutions passed calling for a cease-fire and inspections of Saddam’s weapons programs. Yet, the “Butcher of Baghdad” thumbed his nose at each and every one of those resolutions.
Saddam earned that nickname by murdering somewhere between 100,00 and 300,000 of his own people in the two decades he was in power. He had conducted a campaign of genocide against the Kurdish people in the mountains of Northern Iraq for which he was ultimately convicted and hanged. During the years following Gulf War 1 Hussein publicly threatened the United States with retaliation for what they “did” to him during the Persian Gulf War. He paid the families of suicide bombers over $20,000 each for the successful murder of innocent Israelis. He went so far as to even praise the 19 hijackers on 9/11 on Iraqi television for their murder of 3,000 civilians. Think about that.
Despite what Jeanne Gaurafulo and Matt Damon tell you, Saddam did have ties with Al Qaeda. He knowingly harbored terrorists like Al-Zarqawi (the former head of Al Qaeda in Iraq who met his Maker thanks to two American five hundred pound bombs dropped on his home last June). He also allowed terrorist training camps to freely function inside Iraq. Does anyone really believe that anything went on in his country without his knowing? Though Saddam was no religious zealot he hated America and Israel and was determined to see each destroyed.
The UN, with the urging of the U.S., sent Weapons Inspectors into Iraq for the better part of a decade. While some confirmation occurred as to the destruction of WMD’s in Saddam’s possession, Hans Blix and the Gang were given the run-around for years. Former Iraqi Air Force General, Georges Sada, served under Saddam for nearly 30 years and writes in his recently released memoirs “Saddam’s Secrets” that Hussein did have WMD’s (chemical and biological) and was constantly trying to obtain nuclear capabilities. Sada also drops the bombshell that liberals from Berkeley to Boston have dreaded to hear since 2002: Saddam was stalling in late 2002 and early 2003 because he knew the U.S. was coming for him and to prevent justification for the American invasion he was moving the bulk of his WMD’s into Syria. You heard it hear folks. An Iraqi general, who is not alone in his claims, tells us that WMD’s were in Iraq and the dog-and-pony show old Saddam was running was to shield his efforts to move his weapons.
This is a big deal. This is exactly what Bush and his administration warned about leading up to the war. After 9/11 President Bush, with the blessing of the American people and of Congress, announced a new policy that stated we would no longer wait to be attacked, but actively seek out terrorists and their state-sponsors. In short, our goal is to get the bad guys, but if you are hiding them, you are now one of the bad guys and we will get you too. It’s the most common sense (and only feasible) approach to successfully battling the problem of terrorism. For those of you who have a problem with this logic, you must also have a problem with the couple in Florida who were charged last year with the harboring of their friend who was an outlaw rapist on the run from Johnny Law. You harbor a criminal you become a criminal – that’s the way the world works.
So put yourself into the President’s shoes. Even if you believe he is dumb (though a graduate of Yale) and stole the election in 2000 (though he won by a majority in 2004 which is something Bill Clinton never did) and is thus undeserving of your respect (though he has kept us from another terrorist attack in the last 6 years) please humor me for a moment. You’ve just led the country (with the help of Rudy Guiliani) through the worst attack in our nation’s history. You learn who is responsible, but also begin to realize that the problem goes much deeper than a few extremists. There are countries that aid, support, and harbor the madmen who have been attacking American interests since the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979.
The CIA, Britain, and nine other countries tell you that Iraq has WMD’s. You also learn that Iran and North Korea are serious threats. You’ve achieved success in Afghanistan disposing of the Taliban government who literally housed Osama Bin Laden. Your generals and Department of Defense advisors urge you to take action now or forever hold your peace. You’ve got the legal right to invade and the blessings (in the form of Resolution 1441) of the United Nations to use force against a Saddam Hussein who refuses to comply with any International Coalition decree. Congress, including Senators Hillary, Kerry and Edwards, vote for war. You are the Commander-in-Chief with the sworn duty to protect the American people. What would you do?
France, Russia, and Germany all voted in the U.N. to authorize force, but when it became apparent that Americans actually follow through on what they say, those cowardly nations backed out. While regrettable, this was no reason to hold off on taking Saddam out.
Michael Moore depicted Iraq pre-invasion as a utopian play-land for the light of heart. This, despite the fact that the term “human rights” had no Iraqi translation in their language under Saddam. He slaughtered hundreds of thousands of his own people. Women were granted the same rights as dogs (okay, almost as many rights). If a woman was raped by one of Saddam’s sons or Republican Guard soldiers, the woman was decapitated for bringing shame to her family. Saddam’s two sons sadistically tortured athletes who failed to bring back medals from the Olympics.
So to review: Saddam had a history of starting wars with his neighbors and with America. He had already used WMD’s on his own people and threatened to unleash them on us. He had known terrorists shacked up in his country. He brazenly violated sixteen UN resolutions. Then we were attacked six years ago and he cheered. It was then our eyes were collectively opened to the stark reality that Islamic terrorism is real and spreading. Our leaders wisely decided that waiting for them to get us was no longer a viable option. Iraq, Iran, and North Korea are all bad places unfortunately run by madmen hell-bent on destruction. We could not wait to see what Hussein planned to do next – 9/11 had taught waiting can be catastrophic when dealing with fanatics and murderers.
So I know you’re sick of the war. You are sick of hearing about it. You are sick of soldiers dying for what the media and Democrats call an “unjust”, “unnecessary”, and “illegal” cause. But can’t you see that we had no choice but to join this fight? The reality that stared us in the face amongst the smoldering rubble of the WTC was that we were already engaged in a war and unfortunately we had just then learned of it.
No, not every decision in Iraq has been correct so far. Mistakes are far and wide. But, none of this in any way, shape, or form negates the truth that deposing Saddam was inevitable and necessary. To do otherwise is to still be living in a September 10th, not 11th, world.
History will judge George W. Bush did the right thing in invading Iraq – mark my words.
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