On the WAR PATH

WAR PROTESTS...gain believable allies


Over the past few weeks critics of the WAR have gained some credibility. Not due to the likes of Cindy Sheehan's hit squad whose "contract" is vacationing at Crawford; but from those reputable conservative journalists who happen to be old enough to remember the lessons learned from the VietNam protests of the late 60s and more importantly, what fueled them.

It was not TET..but how the media reported it and how the President, Democrats & DOD civilians at home gave up on achieving a military Victory in lieu of gaining popular support and keeping their elected positions...military strategy was in a "holding pattern" until the unfortunate withdrawal which left the south Vietnamese to fend for themselves against the communists & cost Cambodia 2 million deaths at the hands of the brutal dictator, Pol Pot.

The overridding perception among these notables is that..like VietNam, our politicians refuse to let our military do whatever it takes to WIN...worse, new presidential advisors seem to be suggesting that we draw down our military presence BEFORE we've achieved our objectives...objectives that "they" surmise are no longer doable. Are they right?



A SHOT AT DEMOCRACY...or something else?



We see the problems the Iraqi Government is having with the Constitution..the Sunnis have been unsuccessful in quelling the terrorism stemming from their B'aathist strongholds. Iraqi insurgents have aligned with foreign jihadies that practice their suicide bombings on innocent Iraqis. A recent study of the nationalities of the bombers indicates that most are from Saudi Arabia (another story). What has to happen for the Iraqi people to maintain ONE nation is for the Insurgents to turn on the Jihadis and expel them violently from THEIR Country. If the Sunni insurgents did that..I'm sure their nationalism would be rewarded by fair inclusion in the NEW Representative Government of Iraq.

Diplomacy and deal making are new to the elected officials..perhaps withholding power from the Sunnis, is a carrot & stick approach that might have some resonance among the Sunnis who will be marginalized for years to come if they allow the terrorism against fellow Iraqis to continue unopposed. Jihadis want to create another Afghanistan in Iraq..an oppressive Taliban type government worse than the secular dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and UNacceptable to ALL the people of Iraq and to the USA.

That said..Unlike his repetitive Churchillian rhetoric denotes..Bush is flexible. Strategy has changed with increased knowledge of the culture and realization that the Insurgency has morphed (unpredicted) into the main front of our WAR against the Islamo-fundamentalist's Jihad led presently by Osama BinLaden and championed, again unpredicted, by most of the Arab Street. It would be foolish to deny that Islamists everywhere long for the prominence, international influence and glory of the Islamic Empire of old.

IMO..Withdrawing from Iraq before the Iraqi government is secure and held legitimate by the Iraqi people, will give credence to the Islamic-power-dream sooner rather than NEVER... It is essential that the President include the American people in the problems he and our Military experts & troops face every day...LEAD us all confidently towards a decisive victory for war-weary American dreamers with untold miles to go before we sleep...convince us, dreams do come true if you just BELIEVE that the CIC has not lost the will to WIN.