I was on a plane to Denver last night, so I missed the President's Address to the Nation. Since I was unable to see it, I surfed out to WhiteHouse.gov and saw the stream. Like just about everyone else, I had a pretty good idea what the President was going to say and it contained no real surprises for me.
I think that a new course in Iraq is just what we needed...two years ago. I'm not trying to bash Mr. Bush here, but...well...how different might things be today if we'd sent in the extra 20,000 troops back when people were asking if we had enough boots on the ground?
It's described as a "surge" in troop levels, and I don't know if I like that description. In any armed conflict or war, we have to give our people what they need to accomplish the goal. (The goal, by the way all you Liberals, is to win with whatever force we need to achieve victory.) This isn't a surge. It's a redeployment of personnel. Some may call that semantics, but I truly believe that there's a difference. There must always be an evaluation of the battle plan to determine whether or not reinforcements are needed, and that's just what's happening here.
...It's just happening later than we all really wanted.
Does it do a disservice to the over 3,000 American servicemen who have made the ultimate sacrifice? No, I don't think it does. That's how it will be spun by the MSM and the überLibs, though. If it were up to me, I wouldn't want to lose one more American son or daughter in this conflict, but it's not. I understand that there are larger stakes here. Whatever you want to believe, this war is not about Iraq.
Sure, we're concerned about the stability and security of Iraq as a sovereign nation, but that's a piece of the truly larger picture. This conflict is about halting the spread of fundamentalist Islamofacism in the Middle East and preventing a modern day version of the Crusades.
Think about it. We do what the überLibs want and leave Iraq. The smell of exhaust from the choppers will still be lingering in the air when Iran makes their move and takes over. That means Iraq and Iran will be come, in essence, "Iranq." Iranq then partners up with Syria since they'll border the new Iranq to the northwest. That would create the single largest Islamic state since the early Common Era.
That will be just about the time that Libya gives them a call and says, "Hey, guys...we're still here and we hate the same people you hate."
Iraq is important...more than the überLibs will ever admit to. What the President is doing must be done. Should it have been done two years ago? Absolutely. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be done now. The goal is victory, and our people do what it takes to win. When the President says we must win in Iraq and there is no other option, he's serious. People hammer George W. Bush for a lot of things and portray him as a dunce, but I believe he truly gets it.
In taking on Iraq, the überLibs are going to war against Conservatives.
In taking on Iraq, the Conservatives are going to war against the terrorists.
Which one of these groups has the right focus, I wonder?
The President has made mistakes and accepted responsibility for them. I truly wish he'd have done this a few years back, but it's being done now. We can't change what's happened, but we can make sure we do it right.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com
