Patriotism

Anti-war activists like Cindy Sheehan and defeatists like John Kerry insist they are supporting the troops by opposing the war. Soldiers die in war and, in their view, anything is justified to end it. Call the president a liar and a traitor, abandon other peoples to mass murder, whatever…. just get out now.

You will notice that most of these so called patriots belong to the mommy party. It reminds me of the kid who wants to play football but his mom thinks football is a brutal sport, wants her kid off the team and definitely not in a game. Chauncy might get hurt. Everyone knows that mom does not support what her son is doing, but she maintains that she supports her son. Poor sod.

I’m happy to report that the American people have finally awakened and spoken up. In a new poll 70 percent of people surveyed said that criticism of the war by Democratic senators hurts troop morale. Even self-identified Democrats agree: 55 percent believe criticism hurts morale.

Just 30 percent of adults accept that Democrats are leveling criticism because they believe this will help U.S. efforts in Iraq. A majority believes the motive is really to "gain a partisan political advantage." (Chris Cillizza and Peter Slevin, Washington Post, 11/27)

But to be fair, there is at least one patriotic Democrat in the senate. Senator Joe Lieberman just returned from his fourth trip to Iraq and reports that “the Iraqi people are in reach of a watershed transformation from the primitive, killing tyranny of Saddam to modern, self-governing, self-securing nationhood--unless the great American military that has given them and us this unexpected opportunity is prematurely withdrawn.”

“People in Iraq are working their way toward a functioning society and economy in the midst of a very brutal, inhumane, sustained terrorist war against the civilian population and the Iraqi and American military there to protect it. It is a war between 27 million and 10,000; 27 million Iraqis who want to live lives of freedom, opportunity and prosperity and roughly 10,000 terrorists who are either Saddam revanchists, Iraqi Islamic extremists or al Qaeda foreign fighters who know their wretched causes will be set back if Iraq becomes free and modern.”

Lieberman understands the stakes. “We are fighting on the side of the 27 million because the outcome of this war is critically important to the security and freedom of America. If the terrorists win, they will be emboldened to strike us directly again and to further undermine the growing stability and progress in the Middle East, which has long been a major American national and economic security priority.”

Opinion polls conducted by Iraqis show increasing optimism. “Two-thirds say they are better off than they were under Saddam, and a resounding 82% are confident their lives in Iraq will be better a year from now than they are today. What a colossal mistake it would be for America's bipartisan political leadership to choose this moment in history to lose its will and, in the famous phrase, to seize defeat from the jaws of the coming victory.”

Joe Lieberman has profound respect for the American military. “They are courageous, smart, effective, innovative, very honorable and very proud. After a Thanksgiving meal with a great group of Marines at Camp Fallujah, I asked their commander whether the morale of his troops had been hurt by the growing public dissent in America over the war in Iraq. His answer was insightful, instructive and inspirational: I would guess that if the opposition and division at home go on a lot longer and get a lot deeper it might have some effect, but, Senator, my Marines are motivated by their devotion to each other and the cause, not by political debates.” (Wall Street Journal, 11/29)

Thank you, General and thank you, Senator. Semper Fi, patriots.