Posted by
Steve on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 2:58:35 PM
General Petraeus is on Capitol Hill testifying before Congress on the progress in Iraq. The Democrats told him before he came that he was not to bring good news. I have not been able to hear his testimony, but from reports, it is generally positive. He reports that the surge has greatly decreased the overall violence in Iraq. He reports that the political goals are being achieved because of the decrease in violence. He reports that the Iraqi armed forces have taken a greater role in the combat with the Islamic terrorists.
When Democrats are questioning General Petraeus, they are using questions from before the surge. As they pose their questions, they put them in the situation as it existed prior to the surge being implemented. Every time, General Petraeus reminds the Senators that the surge has changed the dynamics of the situation in Iraq and we are winning. But, the Democrat Senators do not want to listen. They are on their high horse and refuse to be dislodged by the facts of the situation.
We have yet to hear from the two Democrat contenders for the Presidency. I would expect that both of them would set things up as things were in 2006 before the surge began. They will also advocate removing all the troops from Iraq as soon as possible. Everyone wants the military home from Iraq as soon as possible. The disagreement is over when is the best time to bring them home. Democrats say that now is the time and forget what will happen to the good citizens of Iraq that believed us. The Republicans say that we should stay there until the Iraqi Republic can defend itself and no longer needs us to perform military operations. Thanks to the surge, the time for the Iraqi military to take over the majority of the fighting is approaching. They are highly involved in the fighting right now. It is just led by the American military. Soon, we will be in supporting roles and soon thereafter we will not be involved except for the most complex missions.
I would hope that Americans would see that the situation in Iraq is not what it was in 2006. We are not doing all of the fighting. The Iraqi elected officials have voted in almost all of the benchmark laws that we wanted them to approve. General Petraeus deserves a big thank you for leading our military in this surge. He has done a fantastic job. There must be some medal or honor we could give to him that would show the thanks that we have for a job well done. He would say that he did not do it alone. He would be correct in that assessment. But, someone had to take the lead. He took the lead and made sure that we followed through with the plan as originally drawn up. I am sure that what we are doing today is not exactly what was drawn up when the plan was made. That is the nature of war. Plans are great until the first shot is fired. Then it is reacting to what happens that determines the outcome of battles and wars. The objectives may remain the same, but the details will be changed to meet the changing conditions.
The American people can say thank you to General Petraeus themselves. There is a place to send a thank you to General Petraeus on the web site of Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Mitch McConnell is the Senate Minority leader. I went to the web site last night and signed a card. Please click here to add your name to the card. I borrowed the link from Hugh Hewitt at hughhewitt.townhall.com.