What and old soldier thinks....
Four years ago yesterday, the headlines were “Commander in Chief lands on USS Lincoln”, since that time the media and the political opponents of the President have besmirched this action as phoney, and grandstanding. Maybe so, but I saw it differently. I saw a president willing to meet the returning warriors and just say thank you. If that is political grandstanding then it is good grandstanding. This old soldier swelled with pride when that jet landed on the deck of the Lincoln, tears swelled in my eyes when I saw a man as important as the President of the United States willing to take the time to say thanks. A small thing, hell no, the effect this had on moral of the military forces of this country was overwhelming. Anyone who cannot understand that needs to stand the post, walk in harms way, suck it up when someone is trying to kill you, then you will understand.
Fast forward four years, the Congress passed an Emergency Funding Bill, a surrender bill, last Friday, April 27, 2007. Purely for political gain, the Congress sat on this most important piece of Legislation that they have produced in today’s Congress for four days so they could further besmirch our President. It was a truly shameful attempt to destroy the moral of Americas fighting force. What the hell is wrong with these people, are they cowards, or worse, traitors, we have men and women in harms way and while Senator Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. smirks while uttering the words “we will shove this down the presidents throat.” I consider the source and try to ignore what he said, but he is a candidate, trying to be President of the United States. I will not say what I would like to shove down his throat.
This crap is not funny folks, it is serious and deadly, soldiers are in harms way, they need what they need, and we should give it to them, no strings attached. What is happening is shameful, truly shameful.
And that is what I have to say about that.
The Baker Commission
B) A bipartisan committee of past presidential cabinet members came up with a series of suggestions to help the current president through this mess. These are people who have successfully worked through international crises in the past and are people who's opinions SHOULD be trusted, right?and
Iraqi Cooperation
C) Military leaders are going along with this plan contingent on (yet another) promise from the Iraqi government to give full cooperation and support politically and militarily. This "promise" should be trusted, right? Uhh, right....Troop Morale
Despite the reservations and recommendations of the military and Iraq committee, the president wants to INSTEAD slowly put more troops into Iraq- meaning the SAME soldiers are RETURNING to Iraq before they planned/intended to. That's a surefire way to boost morale!A Bad Plan and a Lack of Leadership
Obviously we don't have the numbers on the ground to overrun an insurgency and another 20 thousand isn't significant enough. We'd probably need 200 thousand to make a difference (in Gulf War 1, we had 600 thousand troops!). The problem isn't in a lack of political support, lack of funding or a lack of materials, it's a lack of LEADERSHIP. The president has shown his ineptitude in this conflict (as you will agree) and obviously STILL has no viable plan to make it as successful as possible. I just wish those "demagogues" (Eddie et al.) would say that the "plan" to put a few more troops on the ground sucks and a much better one needs to be put into place rather than trying to use political muscle to get Bush to capitulate.paz y amour