Op Ed: Maligned, Overstretched and Lied About, But Still Winning

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The actions of Code Pink and the Berkeley, California City Council and the Mayor of Toledo, Ohio have made news recently as ongoing protests and efforts to block U.S. Marines from recruiting and performing much needed training exercises have come under fire.

The New York Times has treated us to a series of articles labeling our brave Troops as having a strong potential for murderous activities after being subjected to war with the series, “War Torn,” Part One and Part Two. Just how the Troops will be trashed in successive articles remains to be seen.

For several years now we are told that recruiting goals are not being met, even after lowering their goals. Ever since shortly after the invasion of Iraq in the greater War on Terror, media has been crying the Military is severely overstretched. Maybe it’s just me, but I see crying about the overstretched condition of our Military, while taking action against recruiting to be just a tad hypocritical.

Within days of the invasion of Afghanistan to unseat the Taliban and deny Al Qaeda a place of respite, we started hearing of the War on Terror being a “Viet Nam Style Quagmire.”

When General David Petraeus, newly installed overall Commander of our Troops in Iraq, came to Washington D.C. to deliver the congressionally mandated report on the situation in Iraq last September, Democrats, in their usual hostile manner, questioned his honesty often as he tried to deliver a true assessment of gains being made after President Bush’s Troop Reinforcement was implemented. Both current presidential candidates grandstanded before the general’s testimony as they grilled him, making statements like that of first term Senator Barack Obama,

“Changing the definition of success to stay the course with the wrong policy is the wrong course for our troops and our national security,” and “I have to say that, based on your testimony, it is not clear to me that the primary success that you've shown in Anbar has anything to do with the surge.”

Second term Senator Hillary Clinton added her contradistinction with,

“Don’t you think the American people deserve a very specific answer about what is expected from our country in the face of the failure of the Iraqi government and its failure to achieve its political agenda?”

She also delivered her well-publicized assessment of the general’s testimony with,

“I think that the reports that you provide to us really require the willing suspension of disbelief.”

On and on it has gone ever since shortly after the horrific terrorists attacks against our soil on September 11, 2001. Most Democrats have continued to paint a bleak picture of our Troops efforts and those of the president. To them, everything has been a failure, lulling American citizens back into the false sense of security that was prevalent prior to that fateful day. Willing accomplices within our more mainstream media have almost gleefully joined in with spreading the Democrats disinformation.

Every once in a while, though, our media slips up and allows a bit of truth about the successes of our Troops efforts in Iraq to slip out to the public. Today they did just that. After all the talk for so long of “quagmire,” “failures” and need for a “change of direction” in the war effort, news of our Troops discovery of a diary of an insurgent in retreat was published along with excerpts from that diary.

The diary, written in neat Arabic script is the work of an unknown Abu Tariq, Emir of al-Layin and al-Mashadah Sector where in over 16 pages, he detail’s the demise of Al Qaeda in his sector. Claiming he once over 600 terrorists, he now says he down to 20 or less. Tariq is especially critical of

“the Sunni fighters and tribesmen who have turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq and joined the U.S.-backed Sunni Sahwa, or “Awakening,” forces,” as he penned, “We were mistreated, cheated and betrayed by some of our brothers. We must not have mercy on those traitors until they come back to the right side or get eliminated completely in order to achieve victory at the end.”

The diary details weapons and the few tribal leaders still at his disposal, as well as financial means they use to acquire cars, trucks and other weapons. One unnamed Military official stated, upon supplying copies of the diary to the media,

“It is important we get our story out. I firmly believe the information part of this conflict is as very vital as the armed element of it. . . . We don't want to lose that to al-Qaeda.”

Perhaps his fears would better be placed on our own media and the majority of the Democrat party, especially the current front-runners in the race for the presidency, vying for political control of the country again who would use any opportunity for political gain, even the safety of our country and the people.

Although the diary only represents one sector, it does show the immense gains made since President Bush set in place the Troop Reinforcement policy led by General Petraeus, originally demanded by many Democrats, only to be opposed once implemented.

Pray for our Troops. Pray for our country. Pray for yourselves to wake up.