This open letter to Congressr was sent to me by friend who helped me get this blog started by letting me rant on his Political Forum (aptly named The Opinion Forum) over at delphi forums.

Dear Senators and Representatives:

You shared in starting this war, now you want to end it, without regard for our progress, or the consequence of defeat?

…

We ran over a hundred convoys. We withstood mortar attacks, a rocket sailed right over our billets, a nearby vehicle-borne improvised explosive device rained car parts and shrapnel down around us. A rocket hit the dining facility, and mortars hit its parking lot. One sailor attached to us, having a late night smoke, lost his legs when a mortar landed at his feet.

We aggressively identified terrorist cells and local area anti-coalition forces for targeting. Our ground surveillance radar guys ran missions with Army scouts in remote areas, survived IEDs and a complex ambush. We came back home knowing there was more job to be done, but we knew we’d done well.

We did our job. Why are you resigned to failure?

Read the whole thing – it is amazing and powerful. And there is a special call out for Senator Clinton and Schumer – this guys Senators:

Back in 2003, you — including both of my senators, Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton — voted to authorize the President to take military action. You voted, and by virtue of your authority, that means the U.S. government went to war.

You approved the appointment of Gen. David Petraeus, who last week sat in front of your committees and explained the progress of the war and the difficulties of the way ahead. It was an honest and forthright assessment from a soldier who thinks the military can achieve our objectives and that the military can create the environment for real change in Iraq.

Critics seemed to tune him out even before he began. They seem to believe that this war has already been too long and too painful to continue. Sen. Clinton, you rejected Gen. Petraeus’ testimony as a “positive view of a grim situation,” stating that accepting his testimony at face value required a “willing suspension of disbelief.”

I wonder if being a politician means knowing how to call your opponent an opportunist and a liar to his face, without ever stating it plain.

I voted for you in 2000. Could I take that vote back, the way you seem to want to take back your vote to authorize force?

Hillary has no hope of leading the US military until she can answer why she quit on them as a Senator, and why this nation will believe she won’t run and quit on them as President. The Democrats will never be able to run a successful Presidential candidate if their platform is “we can lose any war, at any time, no matter what the cost”.