Let Me Paint A Picture

As to the argument that some debate is counterproductive and not worth the time it requires comes this comment. To me, it is the kind of comment one waits eons for and I would like to thank the author (I am sure he would stand by every word) for providing such an illustrative example of the left's position on the war.

Does it disturb you to realize that no matter how many bombs are at your
disposal, you could still lose?

Of course, wars are won or lost at home. The author knows this. And, of course any war can be lost if the strategy were based on how many bombs we dropped. The question the sentence raises is, in the context of this war, why would someone want to lose? These are not the words of someone who is merely thinking about an unthinkable alternative, but someone who is confident of a defeat. Someone who indeed even hopes for it.

Apparently you didn't learn anything from Vietnam. Not surprising.

An ironic statement considering that it is the left who so clearly are those who refuse to learn from Vietnam. It was their peace efforts that cost almost a million lives in the wake of our withdrawl. One can say what they like about war, it is what it is, but when a peace effort kills that many people, its hard to even see a distinction.

Carter (D) put Allah in power. Clinton (D) turned a blind eye to terrorism, and made North Korea a nuclear power. Nixon ended Kennedy's (D) debacle in Vietnam, Reagan/Bush defeated the USSR, and younger Bush is now being forced to clean up the mess traced all the way back to Carter.

Were the left to get its way, another Vietnam is exactly the outcome they envision. Again, this is the statement of someone who desires that result. The author offers no alternative plan for victory, just preparation for inevitable defeat.

Your in the military to take orders, not to think. You're cannon fodder, and I suppose that's ok with you.

Strip everything away. Take away the security felt in the vast majority of Iraq. Take away the American presence in the remaining hot spots. Take away the sacrifice of the American soldier. Take away love of country. Take away the innumerable, unreported, successes and victories claimed by our armed forces in the last two years. Take away, even, the chance that they could very well accomplish that goal.

Leave only the mission.

To free a people from horrible oppression. To free a people from rape rooms, torture chambers, message killings, starvation, mass murder, use of WMD. To replace it with self-rule and a unique destiny.

One would think that a group of people who dare to accomplish these things would be deserving of some semblance of respect, if not admiration. The person who would make this statement has no respect for that mission.

But for those of us who can think, the question of what constitutes a "win" is an important question.

One can only imagine what constitutes a "win" in the eyes of the left. Whatever it is, it obviously includes the demoralization of our military and our country. It obviously includes a return to treating terrorism as a criminal act of political dissent (credible and therefore to be tolerated and understood).

It also speaks to the self-righteous elitism of the left. That "those who think" is a Joe Schmoe buddhist carpenter who has somehow pondered this on a level the rest of us are incapable of. No one who disagrees with him could have ever thought it through. This is the old, "you must tolerate my views, including that which characterizes your thoughts as intolerable" disease that permeates the left.

Otherwise, we would need an endless supply of idiots like you to sign up and go die until we figured it all out.

The left has an entire stable of idiots. Its called "the youth vote." Of course, in this case the idiots are the military. If one strips the left away, this is what they believe. It doesn't require one to debate, dispute, or disprove. It stands on its own.

Funny, the military's mission is that which most closely resembles the left's. Free the oppressed, establish basic human rights, stop genocide, and bring relief like food and medicine. The only difference between the two in this case is the accomplishment of self-rule. Left prefers to hand over the cash, pay lip service, sign sanctions, reprimand, and all the while fill their own pockets with the proceeds.

The military takes over when leftist rhetoric runs dry, and succeeds where "advocacy" fails. That is what they hate so much. The military is proof of their own failures.

Thankfully, you're on the side of the idiots. Don't worry, we'll figure it all out.

By all means do. Solve it. So far I have heard not one strategy from the left for victory in the war on terror. There is no plan for victory because victory isn't sought, at least not one that a free people would envision for those not free.

We don't need to wait for the left to figure it out. They already have. This comment is a clear indication of the left's "solution," or at least their strategy. It is not a plan for victory, but one for American defeat, which is their victory. That would be their victory over "tyrants."

But the world knows better. Australia reelected a pro-war leader, and Germany has elected a pro-Bush leader. Chirac is in trouble and we have dozens of allies.

The left's victory then, is simply one for rhetoric and nothing more.

This comment illustrates perfectly why the legitimate left is distancing itself from the far left. The country has learned the lessons of Vietnam. We can file Americans like this author in the dusty regions next to the tax returns of 1992. The far left knows this, which has led to the frustration that is obvious in the author, which has in turn led to this truth, which in turn has led to the enlightenment of the country at large, and the Democratic Party.

What we need is more of this from the left, not less. We need to get potential liberal Democrat candidates to speak this plainly.

To expose them? No. To let them expose themselves, just as this author has so kindly done.