The Bush Speech

Finally got my computer up and running after reformatting and reinstalling windows plus using my backups on separate partitions (thank god I split my harddrive into partitions).

I just watched President Bush’s speech via the web and wow! What a great speech. I myself was grateful for the silence in the hall because all the applause from regular speeches annoy me.

Bush made a strong statement tonight that America must not cut and run. Must not cower from the terrorists. We must fight them to defend our country and we must bring the fight to them. A couple paragraphs from the speech stand out for me:

America and our friends are in a conflict that demands much of us. It demands the courage of our fighting men and women ? it demands the steadfastness of our allies ? and it demands the perseverance of our citizens. We accept these burdens ? because we know what is at stake. We fight today, because Iraq now carries the hope of freedom in a vital region of the world ? and the rise of democracy will be the ultimate triumph over radicalism and terror. And we fight today because terrorists want to attack our country and kill our citizens ? and Iraq is where they are making their stand. So we will fight them there ? we will fight them across the world ? and we will stay in the fight until the fight is won.

America has done difficult work before. From our desperate fight for independence, to the darkest days of a Civil War, to the hard-fought battles against tyranny in the 20th Century, there were many chances to lose our heart, our nerve, or our way. But Americans have always held firm, because we have always believed in certain truths. We know that if evil is not confronted, it gains in strength and audacity, and returns to strike us again. We know that when the work is hard, the proper response is not retreat, it is courage. And we know that this great ideal of human freedom is entrusted to us in a special way ? and that the ideal of liberty is worth defending.

How anyone in their right mind can call the Iraqi war as anything but a success is beyond me. I assume that those who cry and whine about the “quagmire” in Iraq are getting all their information from the MSM who we all know are completely unbiased….laugh.

Before we went into Iraq there was predictions of upwards of 5000 casualties during the war. But if anyone were to tell you that we went into a country the size of Iraq and completely beat the hell out of the enemy and we had only lost less then 2000 soldiers I would of, or anyone with any sense of history, told you that were insane. Add the fact that the country has already had one democratically elected government and is well on its way to instituting a constitution, that my friend is a success.

To put this into perspective here are a few thoughts: (written in 2003)

Just last year, more than 200 people died in riots in Nigeria over newspaper comments about the Miss World contest. In the three days of burning and looting in the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, 52 people died and 1,200 businesses were destroyed. Looting was also a big part of the 1990 Detroit Pistons riots, which killed 7 people. In the 1993 Chicago Bulls riots, our fellow Chicagoans killed 3, shot 20 more people, looted 197 businesses, and damaged more police cars than the chase scenes in “The Blues Brothers” movie–139 cruisers in all.

These numbers, of course, are mere shadows of what can happen when a people are freed from colonial rule and millions are forced to relocate, as happened in 1947 with the partition of India and Pakistan. In a recent issue of the scholarly journal Asian Ethnicity, professor Ishtiag Ahmed offers estimates that 2 million people were killed and 750,000 women raped in the violence accompanying the partition.

Impatient America

People are asking what we should be doing in Iraq and why aren’t we doing it faster.

There are calls for a Marshall Plan for Iraq. Yet the historical analogy is more revealing than people realize. The war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945. In 1947, over two years after the war, Secretary of State George Marshall proposed a plan of economic recovery for Europe. By the time Congress passed Marshall’s proposal and President Truman signed it into law, nearly three years had passed since VE Day.

Over the following four years, Washington poured a then-staggering $13.3 billion into Europe’s recovery. Of course, the U.S. was very much involved in the reconstruction of both Europe and Japan long before the Marshall Plan was a gleam in the secretary of state’s eye.

Nor was the U.S. concern in 1948 merely humanitarian; the U.S. was worried about containing communism and the Soviet bloc. Today, the U.S. is again animated by more than charity toward those in need–a successful recovery in Iraq increases stability and reduces terrorism and the threat of weapons of mass horror.

What ‘civilized’ people do

The French were so angry after only four brutal years of Nazi occupation that more than 9,000 collaborators were summarily killed at the end of the war, according to standard academic accounts. And these vigilantes were the oh-so-civilized French.

The evolving process of reform after World War II was slow. Britain’s wartime rationing continued until 1954–and, remember, Britain was bombed but not invaded, and it won that war. Sometimes I wonder whether the English might still be under wartime rationing if they hadn’t kicked out the Labor government for a few years in the 1950s and brought Winston Churchill back in.

The United States faces some of the challenges that it faced after World War II and some new ones.

Iraq’s Baath Party was founded on Nazi and fascist principles in the 1940s. As academics such as Ali Allawi of the London School of Economics have pointed out, it will be difficult to purge Baathist racist and nationalist ideas for a generation of young people who have known only Saddam Hussein, a leader who some Iraqis were led to believe created daylight-saving time.

We need to have patience. Our forefathers had this patience and preserverence and we must find it in ourselves. In the four years since 9/11 has there been one attack on our native soil? No matter what you say about Iraq War, you can’t help but admit that all the terrorists are there…..the fight is going on over there and not here. We have helped bring Democracy to a nation at the same time we are keeping our country safe from the terrorists.

McCain (someone I hate to quote) said after the speech:

“Bush laid out a clear exit strategy – when the Iraqis can take over, we will leave.”

Damn right. I know the left isn’t that stupid to believe a a timetable for troop redeployment back to the states would be a good thing. They know that it would cost the Iraqi people their freedom since the terrorists will just bide their time until then and then once we are gone….whammo. Then the left could say Bush lost and that is all they care about. How these people can look themselves in the mirror is beyond me.

Of course the left is bringing their lies to bear and have started their astroturfing campaign for those who can’t put a few sentences together themselves….kinda hard when the smoke from the bong gets in the way.

Then you have the Asshat Propaganda machine ready with their attacks prior to the speech (via Michelle Malkin), who also has some interesting info about the author of the hitpiece:

The clairvoyants at the Associated Press have already released their report on the Bush speech, written in the past tense–a speech which isn’t scheduled to happen until 8pm EST tonight.

Amazing!

FORT BRAGG, N.C. – President Bush on Tuesday appealed for the nation’s patience for “difficult and dangerous” work ahead in Iraq, hoping a backdrop of U.S. troops and a reminder of Iraq’s revived sovereignty would help him reclaim control of an issue that has eroded his popularity.

In an evening address at an Army base that has 9,300 troops in Iraq, Bush was acknowledging the toll of the 27-month-old war. At the same time, he aimed to persuade skeptical Americans that his strategy for victory needed only time ? not any changes ? to be successful.

“Like most Americans, I see the images of violence and bloodshed. Every picture is horrifying and the suffering is real,” Bush said, according to excerpts released ahead of time by the White House. “It is worth it.”

It was a tricky balancing act, believed necessary by White House advisers who have seen persistent insurgent attacks eat into Americans’ support for the war ? and for the president ? and increase discomfort among even Republicans on Capitol Hill.

***

The AP reporter who penned this story, by the way, is Jennifer Loven, whose biases have been exposed in great detail over at Power Line. See here and here.

Why hasn’t the MSM and those authors such as Jennifer Loven reported on the schools being built and the good being done over in Iraq? We all know why, because they want Bush to fail. No matter the cost, they want him to fail. It’s idiotic and un-American. Neal Boortz put it well:

First .. please remember that those who wanted Saddam to remain in power told us that we would lose at least 10,000 troops in liberating Iraq. They told us that Saddam’s army would fight hard and keep the Americans at bay for many months, if not years. Hussein was gone in just weeks.

So what’s going on now? An insurgency. The same type of insurgency that America has seen in previous wars, including World War II in Europe. The insurgency in Germany lasted for over two years. In Iraq we have Iraqi security forces and coalition soldiers fighting Islamic goons sent by Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria to do everything they can to disrupt the democratic process in Iraq. S urrender to these Islamic murderers is simply not an option.

Polls show the majority of Americans don’t think the war was a success. This is a product of the relentless media brainwashing and historic revisionism. Iraq can’t be called anything but a success. Overthrowing a regime in a country the size of Iraq and replacing it with a democratically elected one — all inside of two years with less than 2,000 casualties? If you had asked the Pentagon before the war began if they would consider that a favorable outcome of the war, they surely would.

The facts are things are going well in Iraq. It’s just the media only reports the bad news. When is the last time you saw a report on any of the broadcast networks about the burgeoning economy in Iraq and the bustling streets full of new stores and eager shoppers in Baghdad? How about a story about the new schools that have been built by American and Iraqi troops and the thousands of Iraqi children who are getting the education they will need to work and compete in what is sure to be the Middle East’s strongest and wealthiest economy?

The whining left will learn that their hatred for anything American will cost them. They didn’t get the message in 2004 when the majority of Americans sent the Zarqawicrats packing. May the Zarqawicrats rest in peace.

To sum it all up we have Flip at Suitably Flip who runs down the speech alot better then I can

Looking back:

• June 2004: Iraq achieves free sovereignty
• January 2005: Iraqis hold free elections
• Notable infrastructure improvements: roads, schools, health clinics, basic services (electricity, sanitation, water)
• Effects felt beyond Iraq’s borders, as weapons programs are abandoned and freedom is claimed throughout the broader middle east (observably in Libya, Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia)

Currently:

• 30 nations with military forces in Iraq (many others providing non-military support)
• 40 nations and 3 international organizations supporting Iraq’s reconstruction
• 80 nations and international organizations meeting recently in Brussels and next month in Jordan in support of reconstruction efforts
• 17 nations contributing troops to NATO training missions
• Italy, Germany, Ukraine, Turkey, Poland, Romania, Australia, and the U.K. training the Iraqi police force.
• 130,000 Iraqi forces gaining in number and quality
• 2,000+ Iraqi forces’ lives given in the line of duty
• Iraqi-led anti-terrorist campaign “Operation Lightning” netting 100’s of suspected insurgents and terrorists

Plans:

• No new troops
• No withdrawal timetable
• 3 new steps:
  • Partnering U.S. and Iraqi units, to allow Iraqis to observe the world’s most professional armed servicemen in live combat situations
  • Embedding coalition operations teams to work and live alongside Iraqis, teaching skills related to urban combat, intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance
  • Assisting interior ministries with coordination of anti-terrorist command-and-control operations and leadership training
• Constitutional drafting committee will solicit involvement of more Sunnis
• Once written, Iraqi constitution will be put to a vote
• If constitution is approved, new elections will establish permanent government

Expectations:

• As Iraqis see that their military can protect them, more will come forward with vital intelligence
• Continued reforms will provide the foundation for a free and stable Iraq
• Rise of freedom in vital region will eliminate conditions that give rise to radicalism and terrorism
• Ultimate triumph depends on steadfastness of allies and perseverance of American people
• We will fight until the fight is won

And there ya go. We will win this fight, don’t let the Zarqawicrats get you down.

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