In War, There Will Be Days Like This...
The deaths of 16 U.S. troops in Iraq on Sunday underscored concerns that President Bush's strategy in postwar Iraq is driven more by a wish than a plan. Although his critics emphasize the rising death toll, Bush insists things will improve, leading to fewer casualties and increased stability.
That goal seemed distant Sunday. Even before then, conflicting messages from Bush and officials in his administration suggested that some of them share the frustration expressed by many Americans.
James Carafano, a defense policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, said Bush erred by not preparing Americans for the untidiness of postwar recovery. "We may take casualties up until the day we leave," he said. "The enemy quits when it wants to."
Bush said last week that the United States must "stay the course" in Iraq. "We're not leaving," he said.
Read the rest of this article from the USA Today.
Matt's Chat
While the overall situation in Iraq gets better everyday, there are certain concerns in ragards to security that we all must have. Incidents like the Chinook shootdown over the weekend are a part of war. When President Bush declared that major combat operations were over, he did not say that the war was over. As the Rumsfeld memo indicated, we do still have a lot of work to do and there will be some bad days amongst the good.To our troops, I say this: keep up the good fight. You are winning. And you are contributing to a historic moment that will eventually be looked upon as a turning point in the Middle East. Those that will perish in this fight, will be remembered as having performed the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our nation with courage and honor.
God Bless President Bush, God Bless Our Troops, and God Bless America.
Mark's Remarks
I do not get the whole "Bush didn't tell us this war would last so long" song and dance...In every speech I could find regarding this war on terrorism, and by proxy, the war in Iraq, the President said it would be a long fight, with maybe not a clear end soon....He said it again and again.....were the American media and press and people not listening?I weep and cry and feel for the families losing loved ones....As someone who knows several and have a family member serving, I empathize.....I pray daily for protection of our precious soldiers....However, we as Americans, I believe, have become overly sensitized to war....we do not understand that in real war, not the video game style missle strikes of the past, and the air war over kosovo, that in real war, people will die.....We have not fought a long WAR in at least 3 generations....I think some of us have forgotten.....We HAVE TO stand strong in Iraq...We ran in Somalia, and it emboldened terrorists...we did nothing when the WTC was hijacked the first time, and it emboldened terrorists....less recently, we ran from vietnam, and it emboldened our enemies to take the hostages in Iran in 1979, and it emboldened the Russians to go to Afghanistan in 1979.....We cannot cut and run, all it will do is embolden more terrorists, and then we will be talking casualty rates in the tens of thousands when they move their attacks over here.....
Stay the course, soldiers of the US and the coalition....I know it is hard to believe at times, with all the liberal banter, pandering, and the coverage, but there are some of us here in the USA, much more than the loud obnoxious ones, who do believe in you and want to see you succeed. We are behind you, and you are in our Prayers...we know you are doing more and things are better day by day, and we have to stand firm....Thank you for fighting for our freedoms, even if some of us dont appreciate it or understand what they are doing......Thank you, and God bless you all....
