al Ameriki tribe? We have won, The Middle East will never be the same. The Arabs have given us a great honor and we should be humbly grateful and contiue to show the world how it is to be done. We should make a patch for our uniforms with al Ameriki in Arabic.
I greatly appreciated J.R. Dunn's article and analysis of the situation in Iraq. As a Vietnam veteran, I especially appreciated his analysis of Creighton Abram's strategy in Vietnam. The men I was with did not have access to the American media, as a result of which we knew that Tet was a great defeat for the Communists and that the VC never recovered. What I have just said is a searing indictment of the mainstream media. You see, we were prisoners of war in Hanoi and it was Communist propaganda, reading between the lines, that told us what was going on. We were better informed than the folks back home because we could understand that we were being lied to.
James H. Warner
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J.R. Dunn has said out loud what needs to be said about the recent troop surge in Iraq for those of us who have agonized over the many initial blunders a well as the cost in lives and wounded of this war so far.
Had we gone in with all the troops we originally had planned (when that number was 400,000+), including the stranded 4th Division, as well as occupying Military Police reserves, and if we had not had such a breakneck success, we might have achieved that rapid restoration of order under martial law that the invasion of a foreign country requires - Japan and Germany being a brilliant model of compassion, good order, and enlightened success.
I'm a Democrat and a Vietnam Era Conscientious Objector. I would not have invaded Iraq. But I did trust that at least our intelligence people knew what was the reality on the ground and that our leaders had access to classified intel that convinced others of the need. We were all wrong. But that was many mistakes (not conspiracies) ago and this is now a new war of our own making as well as one of opportunity for our deadly enemies.
Extrapolating from what Mr. Dunn has said, there is a fifty-fifty chance or better that Republicans may not be on the defensive in 2008. I don't like that at all because, despite the many things I like about Republicans, they have become a parochial party. Democrats too. Maybe both are so paralyzed by parochialism that the next race may create a breakthrough. Or the right candidate will. Nevertheless, this counter-insurgency policy of General Petreus seems to offer honor and good order for Iraq, containment or defeat of radical Islamic elements, and a stable base from which to protect the homeland from terrorist attack and to lift up the Iraqis from the legacy of woe they have endured. It is our only sane option.
Finally, how can Democrats who, like me, claim to cherish life and its protection, not face the legacy of sacrifice our troops and their families have made to date? Our own Revolutionary War had perhaps 30% support at the start or Thomas Paine would not have railed against the "summer soldiers and sunshine patriots" in 1776. That war took eight years. What do we say to those whose sons and daughters gave their lives for their country? That they "died in vain" as some Democrats did at the Citadel last night? What an outrage!
Who wants to look their families in the eye to say that? Maybe history will prove that our motives have been cloudy, multi-dimensional, or even covert. Most of us though, believe that lives have been given for a decent cause and that our country gave what we valued to support what we value. I would never hope for us to do otherwise. God help any politician who did. God help any politician who says we did. There is a difference between making wrong turns or under-estimating. Aren't we obliged, as Mr. Dunn points out, to learn?
And by the way, did you notice in that You-Tube/CNN debate last night, how Hilary Clinton, who has made a career of being up-to-speed on Military Issues, grudgingly ratified Joe Biden's observation that a headlong pullout would still take at least a year once he spoke that truth in the first place?
War is too serious for politics.
John Owen
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"al Ameriki tribe"?
We have won, The Middle East will never be the same. The Arabs have given us a great honor and we should be humbly grateful and contiue to show the world how it is to be done. We should make a patch for our uniforms with al Ameriki in Arabic.
H.M. Goodman
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For Crying out loud! Somebody gets it. I just read the piece by Mr. J.R. Dunn, "The Surge Suceeds". Mr. Dunn outlined the continuity of the left, touching on the finer points from FDR to Viet Nam to today. It seems rare to see a journalist who connects the dots of the American left to clarify their linear and predictable patterns.
I would like to add one note to this. The scandal of Watergate was more than just assuming power by getting Nixon. Since the time of the Hiss trial, the left had sharpened its axe for the head of Richard Nixon.
Iraq will be a success, yet, the left will not tolerate this victory. But, they cannot not stop the Internet, including this email.
Regards
M Reilly
Florida
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