Wednesday, November 30, 2005

The American people stand behind you

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/799de108-61f3-11da-8470-0000779e2340.html

GW didn't tell us anything new this morning.

GW asked for patience. We have given him nearly 1000 days of patience. He acts as if this speech is being given prior to the invasion, but 1000 days and 2110 soldiers is enough time and enough US deaths to prove that his little war isn't going according to plan. Oops, I forgot, there was never a plan and the Strategy for Iraq isn't one either.

Setting a timetable would NOT give aid and comfort to the enemy, it would NOT encourage terrorists. It WOULD give a strong message to the Iraqi people that it is time for them to take charge of their country. A timetable will say that the US will be a supporting role, but if it is democracy they want, then they have to earn it the hard way like we have. Democracy isn't something you can wrap up like a Christmas gift, put a pretty bow on top and present it to someone, let alone a sovreign country. The US has been working on Democracy for over 200 years and we don't have it right yet, not that we aren't working hard, but we're not there yet.

GW said "we should not fear the debate in Washington". Why does he? When he says people who question the policies in Iraq are "irresponsible" and "unpatriotic" that dosn't seem like he welcomes an open debate to me. But an open debate has begun, the President has gotten the message that a majority of the country doesn't think the war is going well or that we should even have gone in in the first place.

And while we cuss and discuss and have no plan, soldiers are dying every single day.

GW did get one thing right today when he said "The American people stand behind you" referring to the troops. We do, we really do.

2 comments:

brainhell said...

It's also useful for him to refer to it as "in Washington," as though it were just there and not nationwide.

Anonymous said...

I'm always amazed that people don't realize that anti-war people desperately support the troops and want them to come home intact of life and limb. Why in the world else would we bother to protest?

Supporting the troops wholeheartedly does not mean supporting the foolhardy John-Waynesque ill-conceived mission thought up by a bunch of deferred armchair giga-hawks who never get blood on their boots.

As Ho Chi Minh said of Vietnam, "We live here. We would have fought you for 300 years," these folks, patriots in their own eyes, will fight the Occupier with IEDs for 300 years. They cannot be crushed or defeated in a military sense. They just slide away into the shadows to show up down the road.

I want us to honor the unnecessary sacrifice of the young men not yet killed or maimed. Bring them home.