A wonderful speech tonight by President Bush that layed out exactly what will happen if we cut and run:
The challenge playing out across the broader Middle East is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of our time. On one side are those who believe in freedom and moderation. On the other side are extremists who kill the innocent, and have declared their intention to destroy our way of life. In the long run, the most realistic way to protect the American people is to provide a hopeful alternative to the hateful ideology of the enemy — by advancing liberty across a troubled region. It is in the interests of the United States to stand with the brave men and women who are risking their lives to claim their freedom – and help them as they work to raise up just and hopeful societies across the Middle East.
From Afghanistan to Lebanon to the Palestinian Territories, millions of ordinary people are sick of the violence, and want a future of peace and opportunity for their children. And they are looking at Iraq. They want to know: Will America withdraw and yield the future of that country to the extremists — or will we stand with the Iraqis who have made the choice for freedom?
The changes I have outlined tonight are aimed at ensuring the survival of a young democracy that is fighting for its life in a part of the world of enormous importance to American security. Let me be clear: The terrorists and insurgents in Iraq are without conscience, and they will make the year ahead bloody and violent. Even if our new strategy works exactly as planned, deadly acts of violence will continue — and we must expect more Iraqi and American casualties. The question is whether our new strategy will bring us closer to success. I believe that it will.
Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved. There will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship. But victory in Iraq will bring something new in the Arab world — a functioning democracy that polices its territory, upholds the rule of law, respects fundamental human liberties, and answers to its people. A democratic Iraq will not be perfect. But it will be a country that fights terrorists instead of harboring them — and it will help bring a future of peace and security for our children and grandchildren.
Perfect! He layed out the fact that this war will not be pretty but the advance of freedom and Democracy in a portion of the world that has seen neither and has been a breeding ground for Al-Qaeda is the most important fight of our generation.
9/11 taught us, or should have, that we cannot sit idly by and allow the hatred and ignorance in that part of the world to fester without tackling it head on, and believe me, bringing freedom to people is a tackle that knocks the enemy out.
The White House layed out the specifics of the plan:
The President’s New Iraq Strategy Is Rooted In Six Fundamental Elements:
Let the Iraqis lead;
Help Iraqis protect the population;
Isolate extremists;
Create space for political progress;
Diversify political and economic efforts; and
Situate the strategy in a regional approach.Iraq Could Not Be Graver – The War On Terror Cannot Be Won If We Fail In Iraq. Our enemies throughout the Middle East are trying to defeat us in Iraq. If we step back now, the problems in Iraq will become more lethal, and make our troops fight an uglier battle than we are seeing today.
Bush will not accept defeat, nor talk of defeat (or in lefty codespeak…."redeployment") for which at least one Democrat applauded him for it:
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., applauded Bush "for rejecting the fatalism of failure and pursuing a new course to achieve success in Iraq."
The rest of the whole friggin party had a jerkfest of bashing Bush with no real plan of their own except defeat. They have continued to harp on Bush for not admitting failures, well they got one tonight:
The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people — and it is unacceptable to me. Our troops in Iraq have fought bravely. They have done everything we have asked them to do. Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me.
Will that make them happy….I think not. They will not be happy until the US goes home with their tails between their legs yelling "we are at fault for all the worlds woes!". They don’t believe we are at war with radical Islam nor are we seriously threatened by anyone. 5 years after 9/11 and it’s a distant memory to them.
As for the expected idiocy from the left after the speech my favorite from my limited perusing tonight is this one from Wesley Clark:
He said it was silly to assume we’d be greeted as liberators in Baghdad. O’Reilly said, Well, we went into Kabul and were greeted that way. To which Clark responded, "Yes, but the Afghan people had been oppressed by the Taliban." O’Reilly then said, You mean people weren’t oppressed in Iraq? Well, yes, there was unhappiness there, said Clark. Or he might have said there was some happiness there, I couldn’t quite tell. Either way, Clark basically just said the people of Iraq weren’t really that oppressed by Saddam’s rule.
Yeah, the Iraqi’s were just a bit unhappy…nothing serious tho.
Geez.
The most important part of this speech may be this paragraph:
Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity – and stabilizing the region in the face of the extremist challenge. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.
That sure sounds like we are not going to take the meddling of Iran and Syria sitting down anymore.
Did we just declare war on Iran and Syria?
Man, I hope so.
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"Did we just declare war on Iran and Syria?" I hope so to. Excerpted and linked at THE SPEECH, THE SURGE, …
Hey Kurt- good article- I’d like to leave Thomas Paine’s quote here which pretty much sums up what we must do:
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.
– Thomas Paine, “The Crisisâ€Â, December 23rd, 1776”
Talk is cheap.
The $64k question is will W (and the rest of the pols) take the gloves off and allow us to do our jobs…
In it to win it?
Don’t hold your breath…
“we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq”
You could read that two ways. Either we would “seek out and destroy” the entire network, which would mean going directly to it’s source.
Or, as more likely, “seek out and destory” that part of the network in Iraq.
Tough speech and not Bush’s best format. I’ve been collecting my thoughts on the matter, but I did notice one thing and I wonder if the “news” media will report it.
President Bush said that 80% of the violence is occurring in the Baghdad area and we are also going to step up efforst in Anbar Province.
Does that mean victory, as the President has defined it, is already secure in the vast majority of the rest of the country?
If so, why hasn’t the “news” media reported this???
I see a lot of info on what’s going fairly good in sections of Iraq on a lot of right wing blogs. So I’m of the opinion that the so called MSM doesn’t dare report these things because the only news they print is from the terrorist propaganda bureau. The terrorists might cut off their support for the MSM and then where would the MSM get any support.
I know it’s hardly ethical, but if I were the President’s speechwriter, or even had a hand in the review process, when he was talking about Iran and Syria last night, and how they’re helping kill Americans in Iraq, I’d have gone a bit further. I’d have clearly offered the diplomatic carrot (/bait for my political opponents to step into the appeasement trap), but at the same time I’d have been…oh, shall we say, a little free with quoting previous Democratic Presidents. After describing the Iranian and Syrian support and aid in killing Americans, I’d have used words, phrases, and paragraphs like:
“It would be unworthy of a great Nation to exaggerate an isolated incident, or to become inflamed by some one act of violence. But it would be inexcusable folly to minimize such incidents in the face of evidence which makes it clear that the incident is not isolated, but is part of a general plan. The important truth is that these acts of international lawlessness are a manifestation of a design which has been made clear to the American people for a long time. It is time for all Americans, Americans of all the Americas to stop being deluded by the romantic notion that the Americas can go on living happily and peacefully in a Jihadi-dominated world.
Generation after generation, America has battled for the general policy of the freedom of the seas. And that policy is a very simple one — but a basic, a fundamental one. It means that no Nation has the right to make the broad oceans of the world at great distances from the actual theater of land war unsafe for the commerce of others.
That has been our policy, proved time and time again, in all our history.
There has now come a time when you and I must see the cold, inexorable necessity of saying to these inhuman, unrestrained seekers of world conquest and permanent world domination by the sword: “You seek to throw our children and our children’s children into your form of terrorism and slavery. You have now attacked our own safety. You shall go no further.”
One peaceful Nation after another has met disaster because each refused to look the Jihadi danger squarely in the eye until it actually had them by the throat.
The United States will not make that fatal mistake.
Do not let us be Hairsplitters Let us not ask ourselves whether the Americas should begin to defend themselves after the first attack, or the fifth attack, or the tenth attack, or the twentieth attack.
The time for active defense is now.
This is the time for prevention of attack.
But let this warning be clear. From now on, if Iranian or Syrian support of insurgents in this war is conducted , the protection of which is necessary for American defense they do so at their own peril.
I have no illusions about the gravity of this step. I have not taken it hurriedly or lightly. It is the result of months and months of constant thought and anxiety and prayer. In the protection your Nation and mine it cannot be avoided.
The American people have faced other grave crises in their history — with American courage, and with American resolution. They will do no less today.
They know the actualities of the attacks upon us. They know the necessities of a bold defense against these attacks. They know that the times call for clear heads and fearless hearts.
And with that inner strength that comes to a free people conscious of their duty, and conscious of the righteousness of what they do, they will — with Divine help and guidance — stand their ground against this latest assault upon their democracy, their sovereignty, and their freedom.
When You See a Rattlesnake Poised to Strike,
You Do Not Wait Until He Has Struck Before You Crush Him.
Those words all come from FDR’s Sept 11, 1941 fireside chat speech (I had to replace NAZI with Jihadi and Italian and German with Syrian and Iranian).
Wouldn’t you love to see Sen. Hillary Clinton, Fmr President Carter, Chris Matthews, Brian Williams, Howard Dean, or Sen. Dick “Dirka Dirka Dirka†Durbin all rant about how militant and pre-emptive that rhetoric was only to have the following day’s headline be,
“Press SsecretaryTony Snow admits Bush plagiarized his speech from FDR”
ahhhhhhh, historical irony. I bathe in its soothing warmth and ironic effervescence.
I used the heading,
“funniest take on the President’s speech last night”
hardball@msnbc.com
——————————-
Bush’s best line of the night-possible the best and most important line he’s spoken since his Jan29, 2002 Axis of Evil State of the Union speech:
“It is fair to hold our views up to scrutiny. And all involved have a responsibility to explain how the path they propose would be more likely to succeed. ”
Most people didn’t even see the right cross across Howard Dean’s face. It happened so fast, with such textbook precision, and with such clarity and deliberate effect of purpose that few even notice it today.
Let’s look at the replay:
“It is fair to hold our views up to scrutiny. ”
Here the President is holding out his hand in an obvious effort to hold the door open to those who wish to leave the anti-war party and walk back into our plane of reality where a ‘just leave’ strategy seems viable, acceptable, and even good.
“And all involved have a responsibility…”
Here we see the President’s comforting and welcoming gesture of an apparent call for bi-partisanship. It sounds so warm and fuzzy. It’s a can’t-we-all-get-along lovefest. But what’s really happening is that his outstretched arm of embracing is drawing attention and while no one notices, his left shoulder has moved forward bracing upon his left foot.
“…to explain how the path they propose would be more likely to succeed. ”
KA-POW!!! The right arm of open embracing and apparent love for healthy debate and sweet unity while casting aside the partisanship that’s divided the nation and threatens to lose another American war in the exact same manner as Vietnam….wha!? It wasn’t an outreach. The President just wound up and in those closing 13 words of his 19 word move, he just crushed Howard Dean and every single Democratic piece of post-powergrab opposition rhetoric.
Here it is again….listen carefully to the sound of the wheels that had been spinning in opposition members minds as they clung on every word looking for a way to strike, when hit…they machinery stops in an instant-
“…to explain how the path they propose would be more likely to succeed. ”
Friends, that’s perfect rhetorical boxing imo. The only thing that could have taken that from a 10/10 to an 11 would’ve been bigger speakers (exclusive to Spinal Tap) and the inclusion of “A New Direction In Iraq” http://newsbusters.org/node/8944
For example, if the President had instead said,
“It is fair to hold our views up to scrutiny. And all involved have a responsibility to explain how the path they propose would be more likely to bring success and take us in A New Direction In Iraq. ”
OMG, I think Chris Matthews would’ve had a stroke. Those 5 words of that were the crux of the Dem’s midterm campaign promises, “A New Direction In Iraq.” They hang upon their necks like an …..
….well, like an elephant.
Problem with power is it comes with responsibility, and Dems have to be more than just the opposition party now. They have to
PUT UP OR SHUT UP
“It is fair to hold our views up to scrutiny. And all involved have a responsibility to explain how the path they propose would be more likely to succeed. ”
LOL! Anyone seen that vaunted, “New Direction In Iraq” plan that Dean, Pelosi, Reid, and other Dem leaders tricked voters into believing even existed?
Anyone who believes the Dems have any sort of plan, or that one can want America to succeed and/or win in Iraq while being anti-war in Iraq….well, they’re just pawns to the Deans of the party.
Not sure if everyone has seen these videos of the US military in Iraq or not, but they are pretty amazing: Hopefully our ‘surge’ will not include too many of these types…
http://minor-ripper.blogspot.com/2006/12/winning-hearts-and-minds-part-three.html
Go check out Minor Rippers Lefty website!
The link to the video is pretty funny, but the rest of it sucks ass. A bunch of anti-Chimpy McHallibush type crap.
Don’t waste your time.
Thanks for hte heads up Bronze- Will avoid like the plague lol
Pender- you bring up a very iteresting point about that onel ine – good job and spot on- people can call Pres. Bush an idiot all they like- but this isn’t hte first time he’s set traps and forced the Dems to show their true colors- apparently, judging by all the vitriol from the left today in the news, they just aint bright enough to realize they’ve been trapped- they’re still going on in oblivious bliss