Jul 16 2007
The Evil Of Impatience
Impatience kills. Impatient drivers are dangerous with road rage, and impatient legislators produce abhorent results. Impatience with regard to Iraq will KILL. There is no way around this reality. If we depart too soon, before Iraq can safely grab the reigns of all the success we are now seeing, there will be a blood bath that starts in Iraq as al-Qaeda takes over there for their base of operations. And that blood bath will wash over Europe, Asia and America as al-Qaeda executes its grand scheme to destroy the West. That is what impatience in Iraq will bring.
Right now the wave that is crashing across Iraq is one against the brutality of al-Qaeda and Islamo Fascism. As more and more Iraqis pledge on the Koran to fight al-Qaeda we see the stability Iraq needs to foster the Middle East’s first large Arab/Muslim democracy. With success in sight, impatience is evil right now.
Reader Crosspatch linked to an editorial from a leading Arabic news daily which puts the situation in much more basic terms and asks the simple question: which way do you want to leave Iraq?:
What Reid and Lugar must do is to say how they want this war to end.
There are three ways you can end a war:
* By admitting that you have lost, and surrendering to the victor,
* By negotiating a truce with the enemy,
* By winning, and imposing your will on the vanquished enemy.
Reid and Lugar, however, know that none of those options is available.
Yeah, none are available right now – but the last is well on its way to arriving soon. The successes are obvious to all who wish to look at reality instead of exist inside the DC bubble of political fantasy. There are celebrations now ongoing in Anbar Province which was once the capitol of Bin Laden’s modern caliphate and an al-Qaeda stronghold supposedly lost for good. These celebrations are not about how great al-Qaeda in Anbar is!
Along the banks of the Euphrates River, 400 municipal leaders and local professionals gathered July 7 for the “Promise of the People†conference in Ramadi.
“This conference is very important,†said Col. John Charlton, 1st Brigade Combat Team commander. “It’s very important from the standpoint that it shows a continued resolve from the tribal leaders to maintain unity against al-Qaida, support of the Iraqi security forces, and the government of Iraq, as well as support of the efforts of the coalition Forces.â€He said the conference occurred despite a recent attack against the tribes of al Anbar.
“This conference occurred just a few days after a major al-Qaida attack against the tribes of Ramadi was thwarted by coalition and the Iraqi security forces,†Charlton said.
“Even in the face of recent threats, the people of al Anbar continue to stand united against these threats.â€
Attendees included both Shiite and Sunni leaders from across various provinces including Baghdad, Salahuddin and Karbala. The Alwani Tribe of Ramadi planned the conference to build community ties and celebrate the unity with coalition and government forces, while denouncing insurgent activities.
Children waving small Iraqi flags greeted the attendees as they approached the waterfront. Tents were lined with streamers and signs in support of this historic day, with phrases praising the civic progress being made within the city.
These are the images of the new Iraq, the one our forces and the Iraqi people are now fighting for. These people are awakening, after decades of oppression and too many short years under the jackboot of al-Qaeda. They are now rising up to stand with America. Now is not the time to be impatient and run away. Now is the time to buckle down and add momentum to this new outlook.
Anbar today is the vision of Diyala and Babil Provinces tomorrow. And I do mean tomorrow, not next year:
Iraqi Army and Coalition Forces, using tips from local citizens, targeted al-Qaida operatives outside Diyala’s provincial capital July 11, in a continued effort to deny any safe-haven to the terrorist group.
…
“The success of this operation would not have been possible without the people of these villages who are now turning against al-Qaida,†Sutherland said. “More and more, the people and tribes are becoming disgusted and disillusioned with what al-Qaida offers. They are forming local resistance groups to guard their neighborhoods and deny the enemy any freedom of movement.â€
al-Qaeda doesn’t have the forces to take on Iraq and subjugate it to their will. Sadly for them, they don’t realize this. They have been so brutal they created the key element in our success – the rising up of the Iraqis. And in light of this sea change those who call for withdrawal are not only ignorant, they are dangerous. Here is what many military leaders on the ground are saying:
General Lynch said his troops had promised local people that they would stay in the areas they had taken from the extremists until enough Iraqi forces were available to take over, and said this had helped sustain “a groundswell†of feeling against the extremists. He said locals had pinpointed hideouts of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, an extremist group that claims to ties to Osama bin Laden, that have been used to send suicide bombers into Baghdad, helped troops locate 170 large arms caches. The general also said the locals had founded new neighborhood patrol units called “Iraqi provincial volunteers†that supplied their own weapons and ammunition.
…
“What they’re worried about is our leaving,†he said. “And our answer is, ‘We’re staying’, because my order from the corps commander is that we don’t leave the battle space until we can hand over to the Iraqi security forces.†To hold recent gains, he said, would require at least a third more Iraqi troops than he now has, and they would have to come from other battle areas, or from new units yet to complete their training. “Everybody wants things to happen overnight, and that’s not going to happen,â€
We have changed the dynamics in our favor and now we just need to nurture the Iraq security forces. This can take 18-24 months to finish, but that is the easy part compared to what has come before this step. Michael Barone also comes out today stating now is not the time to wilt, just as the Surge has started bearing fruit. And Michael Yon is quoted in a Washington Times editorial that says basically the same thing. I will add one more point to this. al-Qaeda is being routed in Iraq and pummeled in Lebanon. Only a fool would let these bloody animals get a second chance to win by simply giving up too soon. And here is a hint of what would come if we did give up in this moment of near success:
British prison bosses have said that the number of al-Qaeda terrorists held in UK prisons could top 1,000 by 2012.
According to The Sun, 40 trials involving Islamic fanatics have yet to come before UK courts and MI5 has 2,000 terror planners under surveillance.
“We are possibly going to have hundreds more entering the prison system. The radicalisation of young men will be our biggest problem,” the tabloid quoted Steve Gough of the Prison Officers’ Association, as saying.
Somethings to ponder. This is the wave of hate coming from the Islamo Fascists while we have them tied down in Iraq and the Middle East. Think of the numbers that would be coming if we gave them Iraq as a base of operations. Second: 9-11 only took 24 terrorists to pull off (with support from the Middle East). We are talking, right now in the UK, numbers that are 100 times those used to kill 3000 on 9-11. Impatience is deadly. Impatience will allow the evil to rise up and take thousands of our neighbors, friends and family. There is no miracle in Iraq – just a hard job that has to get done and done right. Stop trying to flip the channel people – get through this.
CSM has an article about how MoveOn is running a campaign to try to peel away Republican support in select areas with their developed target list
In addition the article exposes the Democrat tactic as Pelosi already mentioned to hold multiple withdrawal votes during the summer just to drumbeat up the issue no matter how many times it goes down in flames.
Pres. Bush’s vision is coming to bear fruit; from the beginning he said that Iraq would help to fight terrorism.
All thumbs up to General Petraeus for writing the strategy; it is the one to victory. The dems can’t afford victory, they invested in defeat to pick up more seats in the upcoming elections, and win the presidency.
AJ, this is a great report, and our soldiers, and generals deserve all the prayers, and more.
I only hope that the american people rise up to put the dems in their place, they are a sorry bunch of cowards, and do not deserve to lead this nation.
While the media is outright lying to the people rather than reporting the good news from Iraq, eventually the truth will prevail.
I am so proud of all my heroes in Iraq!
Merlin, looks like the GOP, including Bush, knows what they are doing. Hopefully, GOP has plans to deter Pelosi’s plans. GOP for both houses has to hang in there.
Did anyone see the post on Drudge about Keith Ellison our Muslim congressman comparing Bush to Hitler and indirectly the GOP to Nazis? Read it and let me know if it doesn’t sound like Al Qaeda has infiltrated the Dem Party…and Congress.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/14/wbush114.xml
“impatience” might be what’s motivating Lugar and the other wavering Republicans (although I think it’s more likely fear for their cushy jobs for life which is making them panic) but that’s not what is going on at Move-on and their ilk at all. I think quite a few of them actually do realize we are about to win and are desperate to stop a victory at all costs, since that would prove they were wrong and might damage their political prospects in the future?
Do I think they are deliberate, knowing traitors? Absolutely I do. They would burn this country to the ground just so they could say “see? I told you so!” Causing Iraq to collapse into chaos with millions dead would be (in their minds) the most perfect way possible to stick George Bush with the blame for all time, and that’s the outcome they desperately desire.
Impatience kills?? Absolutely true.
If the idiot in the Oval Office had waited for UN inspectors to complete their surveys in Iraq – we’d have known there were NO WMD’s and 600,000+ Iraqis and 3,500 Americans would be alive today . . . because Chimp-Boy, who has the attention span of an ADHD 4 year old – just couldn’t wait to the the Deciderer.
Glad you finally joined the “reality-based community”.
Soothie
I don’t tolerate commenters trying to twist my words. Make YOUR points I will make mine. Trust me – I will ban quickly for that infraction.
Ban him please. the guy would rather see a million dead Iraqis that a victory. people like that deserve to be banned.
And Lugar is not wanting to pull the troops out, he wants to “recalibrate” the mission. That is just as ridiculous, but it gives him room to move.
If there’s a million dead Iraqis – you can lay the blame on the doorstep at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Hey Soothie, respect the Office-Stop the personal slurs against the President of the United States. But that would be something you could not understand…
And you better check the record back in the 90’s regarding WHEN the inspectors were stopped from “inspecting”… yeah, “inspecting”…which leads me to ask: How gullible can one be?
And I guess TWELVE YEARS is just too short a time to find out anything regarding Saddam’s intentions…
When who was President soothie? The Democrats refused to give Bush1 authority to go after Saddam and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died. After that Clinton over saw the no fly zones, the Oil for food scam etc at which time it was said that Saddam was letting 100,000 Iraqis die every year from hunger or lack of medical care. And then in 1999 in the last report to President Clinton the UN said that Saddam still had weapons and was still a threat etc.
Bush is the man who had to take out the trash that you and your buddies let pile up.
The truth is Saddam could have wiped out half his population and enslaved the other half and you would not have given a damn. The Iraqi people exist for you only as a talking point.
I’m going to make an off the wall comment here, and this is more of an overall Iraq/Bush/Democrats comment, only somewhat related to the article mentioned.
Adversarial relationships makes for strong competitors I’m actually glad that the Democrats are finding the ability to challenge Bush over Iraq. Without them he was doomed to failure.
Bush did the right thing going to Iraq, the public approval was very much behind him at the time. Indeed I don’t think that there’s any doubt that things are better in Iraq than they would have been had he stayed out (but that’s a different topic). However he lost focus on what he was there to do. The high command’s attention caught in building roads, prisoner abuse, and Iraqi political machinations. The fact that the overall responsibility of the military was to kill the bad guys was forgotten.
The Democrats have brought that fact back, and the command structure has gotten the message that prioritization is necessary. Iraq will be won or lost not by the number of civic centers built, but by our military’s ability to execute a process that interdicts materials and kills the enemy. Anything that keeps them so focused is good.
The great sports teams of the past are defined by their great competition. The Big Red Machine of the 70’s wouldn’t have been forced to excel if they hadn’t been in the same division as the Dodgers. The great 49er teams of the 80’s knew they had to keep working to stay ahead of Dallas. I work in the IT consulting industry. During the late 90’s I worked with a number of internet companies. They had ideas, virtually unlimited money, but virtually none are still around. Life was too easy, then suddenly it became too hard. If they had been forced to compete more fiercely from the beginning they might still be around.
So 2 cheers for the Pelosi and Reid. Although their motives are far from pure they are now providing the impetus for Bush to focus that he lost from late 2003 to mid 2006. Maintaining the focus on pressuring the bad guys is the only way we will succeed in Iraq. Hopefully it’s not too late.
Terry – you are now officially bereft of reality and a liar:
Democrat permission or the lack thereof had NOTHING to do with it. Bush41 did not go into Baghdad because he and his military adivisors KNEW it was a horrible idea — for the same reasons that are made plain on the ground in Iraq every day.
To quote George Herbert Walker Bush’s memoirs:
[I decided]We should not march into Baghdad, turning the whole Arab world against us. Assigning young soldiers to a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning them to fight in what would be an unwinnable urban guerilla war, it could only plunge that part of the world into ever greater instability.
Is that clear enough, ya idiot.
There was no NEED to invade Iraq – it was a vanity war for a guy with a very small pee-pee, a guy who lived his entire life under the shadow of his father . . . and who will now go down as the WORST president in history. Every US troop death is entirely the fault of George Walker Bush, coward and criminal.