Our Worst Enemy

I'm infuriated. Why? Because people I know and care about are in harm's way and the politicians in Washington are playing politics, encouraging the enemy!

This afternoon, Congress voted for and passed a non-binding resolution against the President's troop surge. The surge that is already working by the way. The Iraqi PM said today that the surge has already been an indescribable success. The Baghdad morgues saw an 80% drop in civilian deaths this week. The militias are being fractured and their leadership arrested, killed, or driven from the country. We have a new and gifted leadership (which this same Legislature approved of unanimously – explain that to me) and new tactics and rules of engagement to make a difference in that country.

Besides that, we're doing the only thing we can do without betraying millions of Iraqis and setting the stage for larger Middle East Sectarian War. Saudi Arabia and Syria have already said they would "protect their interests" in Iraq if we leave.

But have no fear, Islamic fascists, anarchists, and jihadists, our own politicians will do what you can't! The American Congress will pull the plug on our troops, at the risk of their lives, and pull the plug on free people across the middle east, dooming them to political, sectarian, and religious oppression.

Women's rights in the Middle East? Gone. Lifting an ink-stained finger for democracy? Gone. Protection from genocide? Advancement out of the Dark Ages? Freedom of Speech? Freedom of Religion? Gone, gone, gone, and gone!

Way to go Democrats. Way to go white-flag Republicans. Way to go cowards. Don't persevere when you can still take the path of least resistance.

And by all means, go ahead and claim to support the troops and then actively jeopardize them, as the Wall Street Journal said, "[with] a resolution that does nothing to remove American troops from harm’s way in Iraq but that will do substantial damage to their morale and that of their Iraqi allies while emboldening the enemy."

Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) has said, “For the Senate to take up a symbolic vote of no confidence on the eve of a decisive battle is unprecedented, but it is not inconsequential. It is an act which, I fear, will discourage our troops, hearten our enemies, and showcase our disunity.”

If there is one historical truth in fighting the United States, it's this: It takes the American Congress to defeat the American military.

How did our victory in 1968's Tet Offensive become the death knell of defeat in Vietnam? How did we lose that war without losing a single battle? Because the American Congress, fueled by a disaffected people and driven by a seditious media, made it so. Mistakes on the battlefield and in the war room could be dealt with, but not the Congress pulling the plug. When our soldiers left, the Viet Cong insurgency was essentially defeated. South Vietnam fell because North Vietnam invaded the country with conventional infantry, tank, and artillery divisions after we were already gone and after the American Congress cut funding to South Vietnam.

So here we go again. The surge in Iraq can be a huge victory and we might still abandon the fight because of politics.

I'm so sick about this and now the Senate is holding a special Saturday session tomorrow to pass a similar resolution! Why would they do this? Because many politicians on both sides of the aisle have licked their crooked fingers and stuck them in the air and, behold, the political winds are blowing against persevering in Iraq.

The sirens call, "This way to political power and popularity." And our ship is steered toward the rocks. Again.