A Few Shiny Pebbles

Anger engulfed me as I watched the craven political opportunism of the Democrats in the last few weeks in Washington. In the Senate and House of Representatives they are doing everything they can to defeat America in Iraq, because they hate George W. Bush and they want the presidency in 2008. They know that if America succeeds in Iraq, Democrats will have a terrible fight on their hands for any of the branches of government in the next election, and they are more than willing to deliberately engineer an American defeat in Iraq just so they can say they were right in opposing Bush, just so they can defeat the Republicans.

First, I should tell you what I mean by “Succeed in Iraq”. Basically, it would mean to keep Iraqis from being crushed under the rule of another tyrant. It would mean to keep Iraqi land, oil, and other assets out of the hands of another tyrant, out of the hands of terrorists, and especially out of the hands of the terrorists who are now in Iraq itself, or in the open or in hiding in countries such as Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, or any other location where Islamofacists live openly or in hiding. It would mean that over time Iraq must bring itself into the 21st century. It would mean training the Iraqis to help themselves. This is not a short-term effort, just as it is not a short-term goal. As with any great venture, it demands great sacrifice, great effort, and great devotion to its goals. It demands effort from each of us. If the Democrats succeed in causing an American defeat, the consequences would be disastrous for America. (An excellent argument for staying the course in Iraq is Dennis Prager’s, “Even If Entering Iraq Was a Mistake, Leaving is Worse”.)

But the Democrats smile and laugh together. To them, this is a matter of theatricality, of the use of words and Congressional machinations to bring down the President and Republican Party so that they, the Democrats, can gain the presidency in the 2008 elections. They care nothing of the havoc and chaos that would be released on 28-million people if the Democrats succeeded because, although they call themselves the party of compassion, they actually care nothing for the people of Iraq that will be slaughtered if the United States leaves Iraq on a timetable. Millions of people will be left helpless before terrorists who want absolute power and think nothing of murdering deliberately innocent men, women, and children who stand in their way. The Democrats actually do want America to be defeated in Iraq.

How can I say that? Easy. There are straightforward actions the Democrats could take if they, too, wanted to succeed in Iraq. They aren’t taking them; more, they are taking actions in direct contradiction to them.

So what are the actions the Democrats could take if they wanted America to succeed in Iraq? Read the essay “A Post-West: A Civilization That Has Become Just a Dream” by historian Victor Davis Hanson. Then ask yourself, also, what would happen in Iraq if we Americans showed one face to the world, one heart and one mind about the war in Iraq? What if both parties in our country wanted America to win? As I wrote before, in Choices and Benefits:

One, they could wish for the United States and its people to make it clear before the powers of the Earth that we are going to stay the course and help them as long as necessary. Both political parties should openly declare and promise that, whoever is in the White House, the war will be fought to the end. Second, our media could, and should have from the beginning, report on heroism, rebuilding, victories, how noble our military is being in a very difficult war, encouraging groups in the US to form partnerships with areas in Iraq with adopting schools and hospitals, etc, sending supplies, forming pen-pal groups, and so on. If these bonding actions were carried out throughout the country, no one school or group would be standing alone as a target. Our media should report on what is being done to free Iraq and rebuild it. Third, the world community should recognize that letting the terrorists win in Iraq would only give the terrorists billions of dollars and land and supplies and other assets to increase the terrorist acts all over the world. The countries that are “sitting this one out” should be actively helping instead. They could be adding manpower to patrol the borders and otherwise put pressure on the nations bordering Iraq to stop them from destabilizing the situation even more. There could be international pressure against sending more terrorists and supplies into Iraq from the outside world. The “Western” world should stand as one against the terrorists. The Iraqi people are worth fighting for.

Instead, it is almost criminal that Senator Reid said that we have lost the Iraq War. Even the Washington Post criticized him passionately for that statement. The Democrats could stop speaking as though mistakes prove that the entire War was wrong. By that criterion, we could never go to war. All wars require constant re-assessment of the original strategy as they are actually waged. To demand perfection is as useless a proposal as the one made in Hegel’s story of the scholar who refused to enter the water until after he had learned to swim. It can’t be done. No matter how you work reality, you cannot achieve anything until you dive in and immerse yourself in it.

The enemy—the terrorists—have succeeded in something I never would have thought they could have accomplished. The more I think of it, the sicker I feel. There was a time, not so long ago, when most people thought that someone machine-gunning down a group of people at an airport was monstrous. That the Irish terrorists and their bombs were horrifying. That the first suicide bombers were unspeakably evil. We find it unfathomable that the terrorist feels perfectly all right about parking a car full of bombs beside a school or marketplace or a line of people waiting for something. But over time, some Americans have somehow lost their sense of reality about such monsters. They still condemn the terrorists in words, but they don’t seem to care if those same terrorists gain total power over Iraq. When some Americans make a statement such as, “No Iraqi is worth even one American soldier’s life”, they don’t realize how perilously near they are to the same worldview that it takes to go out to choose your spot and to murder innocent people without any qualms. Terrorists think of their victims as worthless people. We must not emulate this viewpoint.

Are the Iraqi people really unworthy of fighting and dying for? Are they really not worth the death of a single American soldier? What does this question really mean? Are the Iraqis a different species somehow? Are their children less worthy than ours are of life, of education, of hope? Should we really instruct all our lifeguards and police and firefighters that if the person in danger is an Iraqi, don’t bother risking your life to save them from drowning or being murdered or being killed by a fire?

Is fighting and dying in the service of America and its security less meaningful than dying in a car accident, as over fortythousand Americans do each year? We honor those brave people who tried to save others when more than a quarter of a million people died in a tsunami recently; were the victims lives more meaningful than that of an Iraqi? Shouldn’t we honor the American military as it deliberately puts itself in a perilous position to fight for America, and for the freedom and future of millions of Iraqi men, women, and children who are caught in a tsunami of terrorism? I encourage you to read Victor Davis Hanson’s “Iraq, and the Truth We Dare Not Think”. We must recognize that the Iraqi War is absolutely worth fighting and dying for.

I just can’t recognize the weak and timid land of America described by so many of those who oppose the Iraqi War. They have forgotten what it is that lifted us to greatness. We are Americans. We write our wills in giant strokes across the land—across the very heavens! We must not allow ourselves to be measured by the normal yardsticks of life—we are the heirs of titans! And the message that we need to send the world is that we are giants still.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, The Random Yak, Stuck On Stupid, The Amboy Times, Leaning Straight Up, Cao's Blog, The Bullwinkle Blog, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, , Pet's Garden Blog, Rightlinx, Faultline USA, third world county, Allie Is Wired, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Planck's Constant, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.