live from the guillotine

Clarification

In my post below, I scorned the politicians who want to pass a nonsense, non-binding resolution against Bush's  military surge in Iraq.  It's not courage, or a better plan.  It's political CYA and it's repulsive.

However, there are many patriotic Americans who support our troops, love this country, do want this country to win, and oppose the surge or doubt it can be successful.  It's obvious who this later group is because they articulate what they believe to be a better plan for ultimate victory.  It's lose faster vs. win differently.

And riddle me this?  What if the Democrats and the left, from the moment things started to go down hill, had voiced their opposition to Bush's plans while vigorously supporting the mission and doggedly determined to see it through to victory with their own plan of attack?  If the nation had been completely united behind the idea of defeating our enemies and vocally so, there is no telling what Iraq would look like today.

As has been so often repeated, you go to war with the military you have.  And, you go to war with the nation you have.  As Iraq has clearly demonstrated, we can go to war with this military, according to many senior commanders the finest fighting force to ever set foot on the battlefield.

Yet Iraq has also demonstrated our military cannot go to war with the nation it has.  The severe and long reaching consequences of that have yet to be felt and will be long lasting.  I do know that after having witnessed the craven political posturing and relentless drumbeat for failure by our Democrat elected officials and media, not to mention the crippling and deadly politically correct restraints placed on our fighting men and women by hysterics on both sides of the aisle, I will probably never again vote to send our troops to war.  Frankly, they don't deserve this shit and the above people who've horribly frustrated their mission don't deserve their protection.  More, they are barely worthy to shine their shoes.

So to all of those who think we should give peace a chance, negotiate with killers, sit down at the bargaining table and achieve peace in our time, love, and cultural understanding without the all this unpleasantness,  I have one thing to say.   You'll get your chance to implement your plan.  They'll show up on your doorstep sooner or later and you'll have every opportunity to see how it works.  You'll bring your rose-colored glasses, your earnest attempt to understand their cause and alleviate their people's suffering, and your utter and complete contempt for lethal force.  They'll bring drills, acid, an automatic machine gun, and a dull knife to saw off your head.  If you're lucky, they won't demonstrate the process first on your wife and children before they get around to you.  Get ya some.

 

Voting to Lose

The Senate is prepared to vote on a non-binding resolution condemning President Bush's plan to send additional troops to Baghdad.  More troubling is the number of Republicans considering signing onto this plan to leave our troops in the field while stabbing them in the back with this meaningless, self-serving garbage.   It will embolden the enemy and put our troops in peril.  Yes, I absolutely do question their patriotism.  Of course the Democrats, with the exception of Joe Lieberman, are a lost cause, but Hugh Hewitt has come up with a plan to get the attention of the Republican senators in question:  Hit 'em in the pocketbook by taking this pledge:

If the United States Senate passes a resolution, non-binding or otherwise, that criticizes the commitment of additional troops to Iraq that General Petraeus has asked for and that the president has pledged, and if the Senate does so after the testimony  of General Petraeus on January 23 that such a resolution will be an encouragement to the enemy, I will not contribute to any Republican senator who voted for the resolution.  Further, if any Republican senator who votes for such a resolution is a candidate for re-election in 2008, I will not contribute to the National Republican Senatorial Committee unless the Chairman of that Committee, Senator Ensign, commits in writing that none of the funds of the NRSC will go to support the re-election of any senator supporting the non-binding resolution.

And then let them know you're serious:

NRSC
Ronald Reagan Republican Center
425 2nd Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202.675.6000
webmaster@gopsenators.com

Then e-mail Senator McConnell and Senator Ensign, and tell them too.  Senator McConnell's phone number is  (202) 224-2541. Senator Ensign's phone number is (202) 224-6244.

As Hugh states so eloquently:

GOP activists and donors built the GOP senate delegation, as well as the majority that was punted away.  They can disassemble it as well, and GOP support for a neoappeasement resolution is exactly the way to start that process.

The Congressional GOP has to realize it cannot have it both ways --you can't be for victory after you were against it.

And GOP senators --alone or as a group-- definitely cannot count on the support of the base if any of them vote for appeasement.

Any senator who votes for this nauseating, vile, troop torpedoing resolution needs to be voted out of office.  As Cassandra states in this related, must read post at Villainous Company:

Can anyone really blame the Sunnis and Shia for wanting to kill each other when they see American Republicans and Democrats unable to work together after two centuries?

Be sure and read the whole thing.

Update:  It's already been voted out of committee:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Democratic-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee dismissed President Bush's plans to increase troops strength in Iraq on Wednesday as "not in the national interest," an unusual wartime repudiation of the commander in chief.

The vote on the nonbinding measure was 12-9 and largely along party lines.

"We better be damn sure we know what we're doing, all of us, before we put 22,000 more Americans into that grinder," said Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, the sole Republican to join 11 Democrats in support of the measure.

And here we have Chuck Hagel, appeasing the enemy AND giving the Democrats political cover with his vote.  Shameful.  And then there is this from the same article:

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said he wanted to change the measure to say flatly that the number of troops in Iraq "may not exceed the levels" in place before Bush announced his new policy. The suggestion failed, 15-6.

This vote completely unmasks them, does it not?  To actually do something requiring the courage of their convictions might put them in political danger if they are later blamed for stopping the President's plan.  So, they trot out this non-binding show resolution that does nothing but give them political talking points while undermining the mission by simultaneously discouraging the troops and encouraging the enemy.

Wanna know why political discourse is so nasty in this country?  It's just this sort of callous political calculation, combined with the desire to see Bush lose at all costs, and scant regard to the effect on our men and women serving in time of war.  It's disgusting to those of us who support the troops and the mission.   Newsflash:  If Bush loses, the troops lose too.   And so does  the United States of America.

Helpful News

One of the most troubling things about the mainstream media's reporting from Iraq is the lack of information about what is actually taking place on the ground.  Just today the AP reported the following:

The two U.S. Marines were killed Sunday in separate attacks in the Anbar province, an insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, the military said.

What city?  What were the Marines doing there?  What was their mission?  Was it successful?  How is the situation in that area going?  How many Iraqis are taking the lead?  How many of the locals are working with us?  Overall, are we making progress or losing momentum?  These are just a few of the answers I would want to assess how we are doing and that is just one area of operations.

Reading most news accounts, the death toll is practically the only piece of the Iraqi puzzle the average American learns about.   This is much like picking up a local newspaper and reading about burglaries,  murders, rapes, DWI's,  car crashes, and finishing up with the obituary column.  Without the supporting context of city council meetings, elections, weddings, football games, business startups, and community events it tells nothing at all useful to someone not familiar with the city.

And Americans were not familiar with Iraq, nor over the past 4 years have they become familiar with Iraq.   The media serves up little but death.   It is into this environment the president's new strategy for Iraq has been rolled out and Americans, seeing nothing but death and destruction in Iraq, have turned their backs on Bush and in doing so, the Iraqi people.  We are being polled over a situation we'd be hard pressed to make a decision about having so little information and all of it relentlessly negative.

The people on the ground in Iraq, however, tell a different story.  The American people need to hear that story, both the good and the bad, before they make a decision this country will surely regret and yank our troops out of Iraq.

Toward that end, I refer all my readers to the courageous bloggers now or recently on the ground in Iraq telling the story of our troops, who they are, what they're accomplishing, who they are working with, and what they need to win the war.

First is Bill Roggio blogging at  the fourth rail :

I'm back in Iraq for a brief embed with a Police Transition Team in the Habbaniyah region, which is just west of Fallujah. This will complement my coverage from Fallujah in December of 2006, and will allow me to compare and contrast the state of the Iraqi Police in the two regions.

As Bill mentions, he was in Fallujah riding with the troops in December, 2006 and he's now back in Iraq and blogging about our troops' transition teams raising up the Iraqi Army and Police.  I recommend going to his site and reading every entry he's posted about his ride-alongs with our men and women and Iraqi troops.  In his first post he describes the mix of American and Iraqi troops and the overall situation on the ground.  In his second post he goes on patrol with Iraqi troops.  In his latest post, he discusses the strengths and shortcomings of the Iraqi troops and includes problems stemming from ineffective or corrupt higher command and government agencies. 

Additionally, Bill Ardolino of INDC  Journal is blogging his embed with troops in Fallujah and writing newspaper articles for The Examiner.  He has several excellent stories: An Interview with a Fallujah Civil Servant:

INDC: So how do you gauge the chances of success of getting the tribes to stop being two-faced and start looking out for law and order in Fallujah?

Yusef: "The tribes will follow, they will be on the side of the powerful person, the powerful group. If we have that power, they're going to be on our side. Right now the insurgents are more powerful, so they are going to be on their side."

INDC: So how do you get that power?

Yusef: "More Iraqi Police. If [Fallujah] recruits more police, it is a good thing, that means we'll get that power, and at that point tribal leaders will be on our side."

A companion piece to the above story is in The Examiner.  Here is An Interview with Lance Corporal Nathan (Chad)  Yeager.  On why he went to Iraq:

One of my good friends who I'd gone to high school with, he joined the Marines right out of high school, and he got married to another one of my good friends, we all went to high school together. And they moved to Washington state.

But anyway, he came over here - he was in Ramadi - and I think he was two weeks 'till he came home. And they got ambushed one night, and they couldn't get anyone on the radio, so he stepped out of the humvee. He was the vehicle commander.

Right when he stepped out, the guy on the roof hit another IED and it killed him. The sad thing was, he was supposed to be home in two weeks and his little girl was supposed to be born in three. And, I don't know, it really bothered me. I had to bury him, and right after I buried him my unit asked me if I wanted to volunteer, and I was like "Hell yeah."

Here also an interview with a Fallujah Police Officer:

INDC: You mentioned that you hate the insurgents, is that just more now because you've been shot or did you have a different opinion of them before?

Mohammed: "They hit me and they also killed some of my family. Actually they killed my uncle who used to be an Iraqi Army soldier, and they killed him and burned his face. And then they actually started threatening us as well."

INDC: They burned his face?

Mohammed: "Yes. It's a substance called "tizar," it's like, acid. They put it in his face."

I recommend going to Bill's site and reading all his articles on his time in Fallujah.  After reading all of the above, do not miss the excellent Michael Yon's 3 part series Walking the Line, as he travels all over Iraq with the senior enlisted soldier in Iraq, Command Sergeant Major Jeffrey Mellinger.  From Part 1:

I plan to spend the entirety of 2007 with our troops at war, until sickness, wounds or worse send me home, or the military tires of my presence and catapults me over the wire. Having spent most of 2005 in Iraq, I know what this means. “Drive-by reporting,” as some commanders call it, is worse than no reporting at all. The only way to approach describing what our troops experience, and what is really happening in Iraq, is to go the distance.

Part II can be found here.  Part III can be found here.  Do please read them all before making a decision about what we need to do in Iraq.  If our soldiers can volunteer to fight and possibly die for this country, the very least we can do is read their stories, listen carefully to their thoughts and assessments, and trouble ourselves to make decisions very carefully based on facts, resolve, and clear thinking.  The question should not be how quickly can we bring our soldiers home.  The question should be how do we win the battle for Iraq?

With that in mind, go over to Mudville Gazette, the blog home of active fighting man, Greyhawk, and learn about what "the surge" really means for our soldiers.  (Hint: It isn't what you think.)  Or as Greyhawk has titled his post:  A Beginner's Guide to Getting Your Surge On: Or "How to stop choosing the wrong damn side in this war".

 

What to Say?

My oldest son remarked last night, "You never post about anything important any more, do you?"

That left a mark.  Of course, he was talking about the fact that I'd neglected to write up a blow-by-blow from Willard's basketball tournament.  Be that as it may, one of the reasons I started this blog was to promote victory in the terror war.  As I wrote to one of my cousin's recently, how do we define victory in order to rally for it?

The majority of the left, along with their willing media accomplices, were determined to drag the Iraq invasion kicking and screaming into a quagmire even before the invasion, so their opinions today are as dubious as their motives. But as many on the right side of aisle have recently begun to concede they were wrong about the war I have been more inclined to read and assess the situation.  Not in the context of merely Iraq, which is only one piece of the deadly puzzle, but in the overall "big picture"of the war on terror and the list of enemies we have and need to defeat.

There have been several summaries regarding Iraq of where we are and how we arrived here, but I remain bewildered by the lack of determination and fight in pundits, bloggers, and the average American citizen.  The mistakes that were made need to be corrected and in some instances are being corrected.   Every recent report from the soldiers on the ground suggest we can still win if we have the grit and patience to see it to a rightful conclusion. 

So what is a rightful conclusion?  One in which the Iraqi army and Iraqi police can protect themselves and their people and work with us against terrorists and the regimes that support them.  The glimmer of that objective is almost within our grasp according to our fighting men and women.  They need but time and training, so why is everyone ready to throw in the towel?

I'm disappointed in Bush for his huge communication deficit and he and his administration are responsible for some of the defeatism.  I'm repulsed and disgusted with liberal politicians and the media using this war for political gain at the expense of the national good.  I'm irritated and frustrated with the American people who initially supported the war and then decided it was just too hard and messy to finish.  People, we have not yet seen hard and messy, but it looks like it's coming.

What, exactly, do people think will happen if we just pack up and leave?  The terrorists, greatly emboldened, will just follow our soldiers back home and hello to the reality of the non-fiction version of 24 coming to a city near you. Imagine THAT recruiting poster for al Queda and Iran alike: We kicked their asses out of Iraq.  Now let's finish the job!

Millions of people can tune in each week to support Jack Bauer and the CTU teams, but we can't support their real counterparts fighting in Iraq?  It's just plain crazy-making and what I'd really like to say about it isn't the least bit publishable.

To paraphrase a very good friend and close relative of mine, right now we've got them playing AWAY games instead of HOME games.  That all by itself is and continues to be a victory and we should be thankful for it.   If  all we've managed to accomplish is take out Saddam's regime and keep the killers busy in the sandbox in a holding pattern, it still goes into the win column at this time.  Did your child's elementary school blow up this week?  Mine either.

So with all the talk of the surge into Iraq, it's important to remember we need to stay and win and we need to deter Iran.  Whatever it takes.  Because if we fail in Iraq the American people will have learned at least two lessons.  The first and immediate lesson is that the middle east isn't ready for democracy and doesn't deserve our help again.  So to hell with all that help the Iraqis build a new, better country noise and forget any possibility of any similar undertaking in the future.  Then as the terrorists turn their attention to Afghanistan to rid themselves of us there, we'll probably bail out on them as well. 

And when the bombs start exploding over here, as they inevitably will, we will have a good many dead civilians and the second lesson.  When we figure out who carried out the attacks, they will have a dose of shock and awe and good many dead civilians.  We won't concern ourselves with changing their society or helping them make a better life.  We'll just kill as many people as necessary to keep them from attacking us again.  That is what withdrawal from Iraq, and incidentally the middle east, before we finish the job means.

It's a recipe of death in our streets and genocide in theirs being cooked up by those who either do not understand the consequences or willfully refuse to see them.  It is not a matter of if, but of when it happens.

So chose carefully, American citizens, because the resulting carnage will be the consequence of foolish wishful thinking and partisan sniping right now.  The Democrats vote to cap the troops, thwart Bush's surge, and "redeploy" will also bring about a redeployment of the terrorists.  Buck up and support the mission or prepare for the terrorist redeployment to a city near you. 

Hope and History

If you haven't been following Michael J. Totten's reports from Kurdistan, I would highly encourage doing so at once.  His latest piece reports on the genocide museum in Suleimaniya, Iraq.  One of the reasons I believe the Kurds are worthy U.S. allies is this information from the article:

On March 7th, 1991, the Peshmerga battled it out here with the locally-based agents of Saddam’s regime. The Baathists fought hard. Surrender was not an option. They knew if they lost that every one of them would be killed.

In other words, they were fighting Saddam long before we arrived and have the mettle to continue to fight for freedom and prosperity.  But just as that good news arrives yet again, there is also in the comments section a stark illustration of the battle  we face in this hearts and minds battle in the Middle East.  Several Kurds were commenting on the piece, then Israel was thrown in the mix, and a few fireworks flew.

And I had a sneaking suspicion it was about to get worse.  Do you, those who read blogs and comments, play this game with yourself?  Noting the drift of the conversation, I made a mental note to myself that some history obsessed Middle Easterner would surely throw the Armenian genocide flag on the flames in the next 10-15 comments and they certainly did. 

While I yield to no man in my affirmation of the old paraphrased quote, Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it, this ceaseless marinating in history as a way to cling to old grudges is one of the greatest threats to our success in the region.

The Middle East needs to run, not walk, to the melting pot.  While I could fire off an angry post about the dang Comanche raiders in Oklahoma written from the perspective of my great-great-whatever grandfather; I could alternately write about the oppressed Comanche being driven from their ancestral hunting grounds by that same evil white man, my many-greats-grandfather, who married his Comanche wife without the slightest sense of historical schizophrenia. 

Originally the story had PaPa's grandmother being Cherokee, but historical research into the family genealogy has muddied the waters to the point that I only know Papa's grandmother lived on a Indian reservation somewhere in Oklahoma and her white husband wasn't interested in embracing the Native American culture, so he left.  Also,  according to my mother, I would be able to claim myself as a Native American in Oklahoma.  A fact which should be perfectly obvious from looking at my picture on the sidebar.  No?  NO?

Or, giving a nod to my Dad's side of the family, perhaps I should jot off a post on why, as an Irish-American, I've decided to finally stop worrying, and love those potato famine bastards, the Sassenach.  (link to Totten's piece from the always excellent Vanderleun)

Will the Iraq Experiment Fail?

There has been much made of the escalating violence in Iraq.  Most liberal media outlets, thrilled that their doom and gloom pronouncements since the beginning of the war might finally come to fruition and cripple President Bush, have been pushing the impending civil war meme with the enthusiasm of losing sports fans rallying in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl awaiting the Hail Mary pass.

That is to be expected, of course, as they've been rooting for the opposing team from the beginning in order to prove they had the right of it all along.  Having thus benched themselves from serious discussion  or consideration for the remainder of the conflict, the war plan plays out almost exclusively among those of the conservative or hawkish bent.  That has been a good thing.

Among these are a variety of voices with a vast array of opinions on the wisdom of the conflict as Bush planned it, the best means to win, and the length of time we will attempt to set things right before we throw in the towel and let them get on with the sorry business of killing each other.  It should be obvious, however, that if we eventually do turn our backs on Iraq we will also turn our backs on the entire region.

Note, however, that without the liberals in the process then or now, we are not hamstrung by ridiculous hand-holding 'til hell freezes over.  This is not a UN operation and all sides are not created equal.  The Iraqis have a window of opportunity to get themselves together in order to police and govern, but they know our patience has limits.  This is not your mommy's war.

This war and occupation has been administered, in the main, by our very capable service men and women.  The bureaucratic ninnies with sunshine and flowers in their hearts were very quickly given the boot of realism by conditions on the ground.  I don't mean to suggest that many Iraqis were not thrilled to see us coming, because many were.  Some of them don't seem to have expected, however, that we would demand they stand up and fight when the going got tough.

And the steely-eyed commanders of our armed forces have not much patience with the whiners and blamers in the middle east.  Neither do we conservatives.  We insist on personal responsibility and accountability with those whom we deal with as we demand it of ourselves.  Certainly we'll give a hand up, but we will not agree to carry another's burden for an extended period of time.

As a Texan, at this point I must say to the people of Iraq, it's your house, your neighborhood, and your country.  Get a gun and defend it yourselves from the forces of evil.  My husband and son might agree to fight beside you, but they will not agree to fight while you cower behind their backs demanding we do a better job of protecting you. 

If we have any chance of winning this thing in Iraq, those conservative values give us our greatest chance of success.  Had the liberals been involved and stayed involved, they would have actually undermined not only our goals, but the will of the Iraqi people with too many carrots and not near enough stick. 

We conservatives may wish the country was more united in this conflict, but it's possible the dead weight that liberals always bring with them would have doomed the project before it ever got off the ground.  Think welfare reform.

For Pete's Sake!

I have had just about all I can take with the War in Iraq talking points.  The President is still, 2 years after we invaded, making his case to the American people.  Of course, by American people, I don't mean the 30-40% who have always supported the war.  I also don't mean the 30-40% who have never supported the war.  Let's face it.  The anti-war folks will never be swayed by anything President Bush says.  If he devised a brilliant plan to carpet bomb Iran with planeloads of daisies to keep them from nuking Israel, anti-war activists would condemn him for irritating Iranian allergies.

No, I'm talking about the nervous nellies who agree with President Bush after he gives a speech and then run shrieking to the other side of the boat every time some Marine gets a flat on his Humvee outside Ramadi.  That the President of the United States has to waste valuable time endlessly explaining the war on terror to these people is ridiculous.

The debate is over and the war is on.  Stop acting like wilting, Victorian maidens demanding smelling salts every 10 minutes and get with the effort to win this thing.  All that hanky waving is only going to convince the terrorists that they can win.

Fort Qualls

The AP is finally reporting what I've been seeing in my local paper for the last week:

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - A patriotic camp with a "God Bless Our President!" banner sprung up downtown Saturday, countering the anti-war demonstration started by a fallen soldier's mother two weeks ago near President Bush's ranch.

The camp is named "Fort Qualls," in memory of Marine Lance Cpl. Louis Wayne Qualls, 20, who died in Iraq last fall.

"If I have to sacrifice my whole family for the sake of our country and world, other countries that want freedom, I'll do that," said the soldier's father, Gary Qualls, a friend of the local business owner who started the pro-Bush camp. He said his 16-year-old son now wants to enlist, and he supports that decision.

Qualls' frustration with the anti-war demonstrators erupted last week when he removed a cross bearing his son's name that was among hundreds the group had put up along the road to Bush's ranch.

Qualls called the protesters' views disrespectful to soldiers, and said he had to yank out two more crosses after protesters kept replacing them.

::snip::

Bill Johnson, a local gift shop owner who created "Fort Qualls," said he wanted to offer a larger, more convenient place for Bush supporters to gather.

So let us be clear.  Ms. Sheehan is demanding the president stop using her son's name  to talk about the War on Terror, but her crowd of anti-war protesters have appropriated Lance Cpl. Louis Qualls' name and after being asked by his father, Gary Qualls, to stop using his son's name, they refused to do so.  Gary Qualls was on the local news last night and again in the Sunday paper this morning talking about it.

He initially drove down to remove his son's cross on Wednesday:

Gary Qualls, 48, of Temple on Wednesday removed a cross bearing the name of his son, Louis Wayne Qualls, from the roadside memorial of the anti-war demonstrators near President Bush’s Crawford ranch.

“They have the right to protest,” he said of the followers of Cindy Sheehan. “But they are not there for a just cause.”

::snip::

Qualls said he has given several media interviews, including one with CNN. Today he is supposed to go back to Crawford for a CNN television conference that he said would be broadcast worldwide.

“I’m just trying to support our troops,” he said. “Our sons and daughters are true fallen heroes and their names do not need to be used in any personal vendettas.”

His son, a Marine lance corporal, died last year in Fallujah while protecting his convoy during an ambush. Qualls is himself a military veteran, and participated in the evacuation of Saigon when the United States withdrew from Vietnam.

“I’m standing up for my son,” he said. “For all soldiers of the military services, all fallen heroes and President Bush.”

And guess what?  The anti-war protesters put up another cross with Lance Cpl. Louis Qualls' name on it.  Gary Qualls again drove to Crawford to remove the cross and Sheehan's group had the unmitigated gall to put up yet a third cross with Lance Cpl. Louis Qualls' name.  Gary Qualls removed that one as well. 

Reading several stories about this on the web today, I noticed they also left out several details reported in our local paper this week.  Gary Qualls is veteran, a hero in his own right:

Qualls is himself a military veteran, and participated in the evacuation of Saigon when the United States withdrew from Vietnam.

Given this, I would imagine he's going to protect his son's reputation and the reputation of his fellow soldiers quite fiercely and rightly so.  According to today's paper:

Temple resident Gary Qualls, the father of fallen Marine Lance Cpl. Louis Qualls, said he disagrees with the opinion of Sheehan's supporters that it is time to pull soldiers out of Iraq. 

"She (Sheehan) has a right to express her opinion, but she's only expressing what she wants," he said.  "She's in self-interest mode, and she's using this as an opportunity to promote her radical views.  The Sheehan camp only wants to get troops out without solving the terrorist problem."

Also omitted, but of interest:

Hundreds of bikers and parents of fallen soldiers who agree with Qualls gathered at the Yellow Rose in downtown Crawford on Saturday for the ribbon cutting for Camp Qualls.

"I'm not here to protest the Sheehan camp," Qualls said.  "I'm supporting our soldiers.  They are heros, and if we pulled our troops out now they will have died in vain."

Regarding the removal of his son's cross from the Sheehan protest site:

Qualls said the Sheehan camp has repeatedly replaced a cross bearing his son's name even after he asked them to stop.

"I repossessed my son's cross, and then the other day I found another one with his name on it," Qualls said.  "I took that one too, and today I found another one.  Other parents of fallen soldiers who disagree with Sheehan's point of view have gone to pull the crosses with the names' of their fallen soldiers, but the Sheehan supporters won't let them pull them up."

My heart goes out to all the military families, especially those who've lost loved ones in the war.  So many have had to pay a terrible price and now this added burden of speaking out in the midst of the anti-war protest in Crawford.  Of course Ms. Sheehan and all of the anti-war crowd have every right to be in Crawford letting their views be known, but it didn't stop there. 

The media and the left insisted Ms. Sheehan's views were in some way sacred and untouchable because her son was killed in Iraq.  Any argument with or criticism of her public statements regarding the war were dismissed as hateful smear mongering of a grieving mother.  Many have believed the ridiculous idea that the only people allowed to comment on Ms. Sheehan's anti-war views are other families of fallen soldiers.

And so it is that the families of the fallen who support this war and this president, having already made the ultimate sacrifice, are once again needed to speak up for our heroic men and women in uniform and insist we stay and win the war in Iraq.  All I can say is hooray for Gary Qualls, a hero himself, and his support of our military and their eventual victory in this war, no matter how long it takes to get the job done.   

Update:  Just watched the local news at 10 this evening.  There was a bomb threat called into Fort Qualls in Crawford, TX this afternoon.  The entire place had to be evacuated while the Waco bomb squad searched for explosives. 

It Seems I Spoke Too Soon

Yesterday I commented on another website that the good folk of Crawford, Texas were being restrained and decent because it's the polite thing to do.  Then I ran across this article and realized I'd forgotten something critical.  September 1st is the opening day of dove season and shots rang out at Camp Crawford!  It all started well, just as I'd predicted:

Mattlage: "When they first came out here, I was sympathetic to their cause, right. They as American citizens have a right to march to protest."

As Mattlage goes on to point out,  however, fish and company stink in three days:

"It is like this – it's like having company, if you have your brother-in-law at your house for five days, wouldn't it start stinking after a while. You are ready for him to go home, aren't you? Five weeks of this is too much. We live here. It's our community. Apparently we have no respect over here and we have no respect over here. Somebody has got to get together and clear it out. It's a damn shame."

And fer cryin' out loud, it's nearly Ope-nin' Day:

"I got a right to fire up in the air," Mattlage said. "I am getting ready for dove season and you all are messing up my dove huntin', so if you all could please leave and go somewhere else, this whole community would be behind you."

I'm highly skeptical about this quote.  I mean, what self-respecting Texan says "you all" once, let along twice in two sentences.  Mattlage goes on:

Mattlage: "No, in Texas, you can shoot ... I ain't threating nobody. I ain't pointing a gun at nobody. This is Texas."

It's true.  This is Texas, says the sheriff:

When McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch was asked about the shooting, he told reporters Mattlege was not breaking any law.

"He's on his own property," Lynch said. "He's getting ready for dove season."

*cough**giggle**cough*  I love Texas.  There have been millions of words written about this entire incident, but this Texan sums up the situation so neatly it really should be the very last word:

"You all got started out going to the bathroom in a five-gallon bucket. Then they moved one porta-potty in here. No we got two porta-potties. And now we have three and if this keeps up, it will be all the way down the road. And they've got more porta-potties over there (pointing at the Bush ranch). The only one winning here is the one cleaning the porta-potties."

Yep.

Just Some Thoughts

I love football and I have since I was a young child.  On Sundays in the fall, we had church and football and not necessarily in that order.  Dad and I were not so secretly annoyed with the Baptists.  Their pastor had the decency to get the service over in time for the kickoff, but our nondenominational pastor didn't seem to understand the importance of the sport.  Mom and our pastor, Walter,  would probably have said we should care more about God than the Cowboys, but I always thought it was a sin to throw stumbling blocks into your brother's path.   Don't even get me started about Sunday night services and Super Bowl Sunday.

I say this in jest, but hey, I was raised a Dallas Cowboy football fan.  Once upon a time, I knew all the names and numbers of the entire Doomsday Defense.  It was not uncommon for Mother to jump up and down screaming in the middle of my living room, "Go, Rogie baby, go!!"

When my own son had the opportunity to play football, I was thrilled and he didn't want to play.  I didn't give him a choice.  I told him he was playing in no uncertain terms.  If he wanted to quit after the first season, fine, but I insisted he give it a try because I knew him and I knew he'd love it.  He'll be the first to say it was one of the best things I ever did for him.

People get hurt playing football, of course.  Some permanently injured and a small group actually die, but it's sometimes a dangerous sport.  I never thought much about that, actually, because life is always somewhat dangerous and living with a million precautions just to make it to the next day doesn't seem like a very satisfying way to live.  I mean, you're still alive, but what's the point?

When my daughter wanted to be a cheerleader, I about gagged.  Cheerleading is not on the list of things I want my girls to do.  Flitting around in tiny skirts and tops, standing on the sidelines of someone else's accomplishments on the field waving pom-poms?  Please.  My girls are better than this.  They don't need to bask in the faded glory of someone else's deeds.  They have their own mark to make on the world and it sure as hell doesn't include being an ogled, ignorant, rah-rah chick. 

And cheerleaders have the reputation of being dumb as a box of rocks.  They're known airheads, the butt of all kinds of jokes, and their focus on looks and hot bods and the like is just not anything I want my daughters associated with because my girls are smart enough to be successful without all this silly, girlie clap-trap. 

Part of the thing about raising children, however, is getting over yourself.  This chip on my shoulder over cheerleading is just that, my chip.  My dreams are not their dreams.  Living my own life through my children is a grave disservice to them.  It's self-absorbed, narrow, constraining to them and just a bit sick.  It's cramming them into a box with my name on it and stomping on them until they fit in my box  so I can slam down the lid and entomb them in my thoughts and dreams.   Like I said, sick.   

So I shut my mouth, crammed my thoughts down my own throat, and signed up my daughter to be a cheerleader.  I began to watch and applaud her efforts.  She's very, very good at what she does and she works hard to accomplish it all.  In fact, she blows me away every time she does those flippy things that must defy the law of gravity.  It's not my first choice, but it's hers, and she just rocks.  I'm so proud of everything she can do.  She's amazing.

People get hurt in cheerleading, of course.  Some permanently injured and a small group actually die, but it's sometimes a dangerous sport. I never thought much about that, actually, because life is always somewhat dangerous and living with a million precautions just to make it to the next day doesn't seem like a very satisfying way to live.  I mean, you're still alive, but what's the point?

And with cheerleading, it might be a very different kettle of fish if someone gets hurt because I don't like it, right?  One football playing child following a dream, a quest, a goal that I endorse and approve of might be different than another cheerleading child following a dream, a quest, a goal that I disdain.  Nope.  Not if I love my children, applaud their accomplishments, and respect their dreams and their lives, well lived, in exactly the way they choose to live them.

If either one of them were seriously hurt or killed chasing their own rainbows, I'd feel no differently.  Life well lived entails risks.  Getting in a car and driving to the grocery store is a risk.  Everyday we can stay home and risk a gas fire, or get out there, live, and risk all the other things that make life worth living.  I'd neither stage a protest rally against football with Greta Van Susteren, nor invite Katie Couric to a sit-in at a cheerleading competition.  I'd be beyond devastated that they were gone, but so proud of all they'd managed to accomplish.  Period.

Which brings me to the situation going on 30 miles down the road from me in Crawford, Texas.  There is a mother there who is understandably out of her mind with grief.  I would be too.  My heart aches for her loss.  I have a son who has seriously considered military service for the last 2 years.  He wouldn't be the son I raised if he hadn't considered military service after 9/11 and he wouldn't be the son I raised if he'd left his obligations at home to go and serve at this time.  That doesn't mean he won't go.  It means he isn't going now.

His best friend, Jared, is in Iraq.  I love Jared and I cannot imagine the agony and pain we would go through if we lost him.  His family would feel the same to the tenth power all the way to infinity.  Unimaginable.  But Jared volunteered to go.  He signed up to serve, and he asked to go to Iraq this spring.  He's an amazing patriot, a brave man, and he's doing what he wanted to do.  He chose it, no, embraced it, and we can do no less to honor Jared and all the brave men and women who've embraced this fight than to support them, their dreams, quests, and goals.  And give them our unending gratitude, thanks, and applause. 

I wish this mother in Crawford, Texas would allow her son the same gratitude, awe, honor, and applause for his amazing service to our country without trying to stuff him into her own little box while slamming down the lid.  He was an American patriot, a voluntary hero, and he deserves our respect, our thanks, and our unending gratitude for his service to this country.   His choice, his glory, his life.

God bless him and comfort his family.

God bless and comfort all of the families who've sent their loved ones to war.  God bless and comfort all of the families who've endured the loss of a loved one in this war.  We will never forget their honor and sacrifice to our country.  God bless and comfort all of the families who've endured the injury of a loved one in this war.  We are praying for you all.  God bless all of our soldiers still fighting this war on the front lines and let us continue to pray for them all daily.  They are the best of us and the least we can do is pray for them, honor and support them to the fullest of our abilities until they come home.