Life and death: progress in Iraq
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to hear right off about Abu Musab Al Zarqawi’s death on June 7th as I had when Saddam Hussein was captured. What a moment that was, that Sunday morning of December 14th, 2003 when I heard over the radio that one of Iraq’s worst tormenters and enemies was captured. This time I was in Colorado at our campsite, and Emi told me what they had heard over the radio. I hear these happenings, these steps of great progress in the Middle East, and I think; now this is something the media CANNOT ignore! No matter how hard they try, such big events as when the military takes out terrorists and evil men cannot be covered up or ignored.
Of course, I was very relieved to hear of Zarqawi’s death, but not at all surprised, for one way or another, our troops will hunt down these terrorists and end their killing tirades. This is called progress, and has been taking place in Iraq for the past couple years. To say that we are losing the war at this turning point for Iraq now would be ridiculous, though many liberals insist that progress is not possible in our “terrible” situation.
So when I say progress, what exactly do I mean? Well, try this:
Since the air strike that killed Zarqawi a week ago the U.S. military and Iraqi forces have carried out more than 450 raids in Iraq, and
Killed 104 insurgents
Captured 759 terrorists
Uncovered 28 weapons caches
Now they’re saying that we have collected enough names and information on terrorists to bring our troops home, though I highly doubt we can afford to leave this young country so soon. However, this is a huge step for both the U.S. and Iraq, and is only cause to remain optimistic and encouraged towards the cause we are fighting for.
Every time a terrorist is killed or captured, we are that much closer to keeping all of us here in the States safe. It’s time the liberal media quite fumbling for lame excuses and admit that we are not losing the war, but in fact, we have already won it.
Thank God for His victory over evil through us… may we continue to fight well for the freedoms He enables.
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21 comments:
any plans that you'll be joining the military anyime soon to really support this war which you so firmly believe it?
Gotten any messages from God about whether the military is in your future?
With such an awesome military already, I don't see a pressing need to join, and I also believe I can support the troops and the cause right here from home. And just to clear things up; I do not believe in war. I believe in the cause being fought for. No, I don't believe God is calling me, as a young lady, to join the military. However, it seems that He IS calling me to witness and speak truth to people like you, which can be just as challenging a job.
every time we kill an "insurgent" we breed 3 more.
you think this is a turning point, huh? have you seen the headlines?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13380881/
this is meaningless. things aren't getting better. there's just constant death, constant suicide bombs, car bombs, kidnappings, IEDs...its constant. this was just one man. great. we got him. but so what?
and what is it about you that is so pro-military, yet SO UNWILLING to take up arms to defend the cause you believe so strongly in? how about your brothers, are they joining the military? how about your sister? were your parents in the military? your grandparents? do you even understand how the loss and destruction and wars affect military families?
Yes!! Thank you for standing up for our troops, thepatriot15. I have seen so much mud-slinging in the past few years, and I can't believe it. We are fighting for our homes, our families, and most of all, our FREEDOM! Without freedom, we can do nothing. If you don't believe me, PLEASE read the histories of other countries such as South Africa. Read about the persecuted churches all over the world, persecuted because they LOST their freedom. Please try to understand that freedom can not be easily won, and it is harder yet to regain it once you have lost it. If 9/11 didn't show you what will happen if we don't win this war, I don't think anything will.
jay lassiter, I do not believe that God wants young ladies to be on the forefront, dying for their country. They can do just as much fighting at home (look again at the World Wars.) Besides, just as you have the right to disagree with the War on Terror, so we have a right to agree with it.
anonymous, you just made thepatriot15's point. "Have you seen the headlines?" The headlines are not necessarily right. And how, may I ask, are things not getting better when we have just ridden the world of a murderer many times over? As for "understanding how the loss and destruction and wars affect military families", you don't understand. If they don't fight, there will be more horrible things happening to those families than someone dying for their country, their honor, and their freedom!
We are not fighting insurgents, we are fighting slavery. Read the backround of Islam.
Amen, Jennifer! Keep up the good work! :)
Hehe re: Jay Lassiter.
One of my favorite moments campaigning in 2004 was when some democrats came up to us and said "I hope you guys are getting in shape, because you know Bush is gonna reinstate the draft and you'll have to go to Iraq!"
My friend and I replied, "oh we are planning on going into the military anyway."
Kinda stopped her in her tracks. :D
america's "freedom" was never threatened by Saddam Hussein or the people of iraq. Al-quaeda wasn't there until we showed up. All we are doing is breeding more and more terrorists.
I am in a military family. I have many friends who are military families. i see what it has done to these soldiers, their wives, their parents, their children. the ones who come home alive, and the ones who don't.
what are we even fighting for? we were told by Dick Cheney there were WMDs and the threat was imminent. None exist.
Bring them home, and end this disaster.
it is Vietnam all over again...
God, what a bunch of freaken idiots.
Anon- theres 2 of you! And you're speaking like John f. Kerry! :D
Alex, good to see you.
Jay, if you've been here for any length of time, that topic has been covered around a doezen times.
"america's "freedom" was never threatened by Saddam Hussein or the people of iraq."
Poppycock. Remember Kuwait?
"Al-quaeda wasn't there until we showed up. All we are doing is breeding more and more terrorists."
Really? Then how come the New York Times stated that Zarqawi was in Iraq, but he wasn't making trouble until we showed up? It would make almost no sense at all if a radical, US hating islamic dictator did not have contact with radical, US hating islamic terror groups.
"I am in a military family. I have many friends who are military families. i see what it has done to these soldiers, their wives, their parents, their children. the ones who come home alive, and the ones who don't."
And you'll pardon me if I don't believe you.
"what are we even fighting for? we were told by Dick Cheney there were WMDs and the threat was imminent. None exist. "
Freedom. Justice. US security. Iraqi people from slaughter, tourture and rape. One less nation Isreal needs to worry about. One less nutcase in an unstable region.
Hope in the middle east, to end the cycle of desperation that afflicts them, leading to new terror recruits.
And we are bringing the troops home. When the job is fragging finished. If this was vietnam, we'd have THIRTEEN THOUSAND deaths, not 2,500. If this was vietnam, we'd have left the job undone. No, this is Iraq, and the war on terror. We won't be stopping until our work is compleate.
2500 is no less upsetting than 13,000.
i don't care what you believe. my family has served honorably in this war in Iraq, and my brother is currently on his 2nd tour with the 4th ID. I live in New York, and multiple friends of mine served with the NY National Guard from Feb. 2004 through Dec. 2004 in ad dujayl. and, i have lost 2 friends. and i have helped their fiances readjust to life without the men in their lives. So you can believe whateve ryou want....but in this war, everyone suffers.
there is no victory to be had. the iraqis want us out. we are spending billions on an American embassy, and we will have troops there for years to come.
nothing has been gained.
Palm boy, I was surprised to see you use the Lord's name in vain. Normally I would delete any comment that uses God's name in that way, but I'm sure you won't do it again on this blog.
Anon.; it's very obvious you don't respect our opinions. Just keep yours polite, please.
And as to your comment about everyone suffering in war: that's true. War is not fun, and never has been. Death, unfortunately, is a part of life, and war as well. I do feel deeply for those who lost loved ones, and yet I know that the majority of military families are given the peace of mind that their soldier died fighting for a just cause, and this I know gives them strength and pride to endure.
As I mentioned in my post, you are blind if you cannot admit that killing and capturing hundreds of insurgents is not progress. It amazes me how hardened you and other liberals can be to so deny the clear truth. You obviously have no faith in your country, or our troops. This is the farthest thing from patriotism ever, and it's sad to see.
Sorry, most of that last comment was out of line. Both for using the Lords name in vain, and in calling anon a liar. And comparing both anon's to John F. Kerry. Can't get much worse then that.
And now to the issues:
"2500 is no less upsetting than 13,000. "
I beg to differ. 13,000 is about 5 times worse then 2500, both in cost of life, number of people affected, and loss of US military strength.
"So you can believe whateve ryou want....but in this war, everyone suffers. "
Please tell me how Saddams political prisoners are suffering from this war. Or Isreal. Or Saudia Arabia and Kuwait. No, this war is doing a great amount of good.
"there is no victory to be had."
Now see, thats where your wrong. Victory is when Iraq can govern, defend, and protect itself in a free and democratic form. We're making unbelieveable strides in that nation. Perhaps you ignore the news, but Iraq has it's own constitution, its own parliment, and its own president. With freedom comes hope, and with the absense of despair, terror has little room for recruitment.
And perhaps you missed the recent death of Al-Zarquaiwi. We're killing terrorists over there.
"the iraqis want us out."
Um, I don't think they do. Right now, we're pretty much the only ones standing between them and Iran, and a bunch of terrorists thugs.
"we are spending billions on an American embassy"
And what is wrong with an embassy?
"and we will have troops there for years to come. "
Realise how long we had people in germany after WWII? Going on 60 years.
"nothing has been gained."
*rolls eyes*
What would you considered gain?
it is because I have faith and trust in these soldiers and our military that i speak out against this unjust war.
patriotism - dear girl - is about speaking out in support of your nation, which is DIFFERENT that supporting the corruption in the White House. As an American, i have a duty to speak my beliefs and work towards change - which is what I do.
the families I know feel no comfort in the fact their friends and family members died for this mess in iraq. trust me, they don't care. what they care about is there is a person missing from their lives. they dont' care about this "mission accomplished" garbage comign from DC. Most of them worry how they're going to raise a child and pay the rent.
its not nearly so simple as you believe, and until you have a loved one go through this war, you cannot understand.
mms://abcrad.wmod.llnwd.net/
a49/external/0102cABAAHQAAAA
cDle6yKhvE1c0LnEJnNwFajD8QD92
LOnSD/hannity/hillary.wma
Click/Copy that. I beleive it represents your position succinctly.
How is it that you can have faith in trust in the administration, yet call them failures, and without the abilty to have victory? You have no faith in their abilities to triumph over evil.
So you speak out about an 'unjust war' What war would you consider just? The freedom of millions is not a just cause?
Patriotism? Patriotism does not involve assailing your nation in a time of war.
I have had 2 loved ones go through Iraq, one is a marine, and he's done 3 tours. He said we're having nothing but success, and would go back in a heartbeat if they asked him.
If this is posted twice, sorry.
afghanistan was a just war.
clearly our friends and family have different experiences.
Ok. Why was afanistan a just war?
There is alot of progress in Iraq. My husband was there for 12 months and let me tell you the stories I heard from him are completely different from the stories that we hear nightly on the news. The news agencies do not talk about the soldiers going out and having Chai (tea) with these Iraqi families. Or the children coming up and talking to them in the best English that they know how. The soldiers give them candy and the children like to hang around them.
I guess that is what bothers me the most is that we are making progress over in Iraq and all that the news agencies want to do is to say there is none being made and show the worst side in Iraq. Why? Because that doesn't get them the "viewers". Recently I have stopped watching the news because they will not do anything about how this works. People just want to diss on the president and other people they don't want the truth.
how is it "progress" to sit and drink tea with people? there were 80 factory workers kidnapped leaving work today in Baghdad? you call that "progress"?
here's some other viewpoints:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060621
/ap_on_go_co/murtha_hometown_troop
s;_ylt=AgHm1SKfl72Esm.A4cWA6I2yFz4
D;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--
Again, AP source. :D
You still didn't say why Afganistan was a just war.
Look you people may not agree with me but there is progress there. What I am saying is that the news agencies never ever report on the troops that actually spend time with these Iraqis. When you are at an Iraqis house you are protected it is the way of life there in Iraq.
As far as the war in Afghanistan they attacked us and needed to be gone to war with.
I know many other infantrymen who would disagree with the statement they felt "protected" in an Iraqi's house.
Yes, I actually don't live in fear of the independent mainstream media.
What sources do you prefer, Palm Boy? Fox News, perhaps?
Afghanistan was a training ground for al-quaeda, and they knowingly harbored and protected members of this terrorist organization. further, their human rights violations against women were innumerable.
Fox news, International Herald Tribune, Dallas Morning News, US News and World Report, ABC radio, and the BBC. I can live with AP, Rueters, CNN, and NBC.
"Yes, I actually don't live in fear of the independent mainstream media. "
Thats nice to know. I don't either, becuase they are a laughingstock. And laughingstocks don't get listened to.
"Afghanistan was a training ground for al-quaeda, and they knowingly harbored and protected members of this terrorist organization. further, their human rights violations against women were innumerable."
Those are all the right reasons. Terrorists and human rights. The taliban was a bunch of bloody tyrants, using a religion to rule by terror and force. Iraq was much the same.
1. Terrorists training:
The Weekly Standard
"THE FORMER IRAQI REGIME OF Saddam Hussein trained thousands of radical Islamic terrorists from the region at camps in Iraq over the four years immediately preceding the U.S. invasion, according to documents and photographs recovered by the U.S. military in postwar Iraq.
...
The secret training took place primarily at three camps--in Samarra, Ramadi, and Salman Pak--and was directed by elite Iraqi military units. Interviews by U.S. government interrogators with Iraqi regime officials and military leaders corroborate the documentary evidence. Many of the fighters were drawn from terrorist groups in northern Africa with close ties to al Qaeda, chief among them Algeria's GSPC and the Sudanese Islamic Army. Some 2,000 terrorists were trained at these Iraqi camps each year from 1999 to 2002, putting the total number at or above 8,000.
Now, I know. Here it comes: 'But they're wern't as many there before as now!'. But thats not a bad thing. They're losing to our army, not killing our civilans. Iraq was a training ground for terror before, and a deathbed of thousands now.
2. Human Rights
Saddam was a brutal tyrant who relied upon soviet and nazi style tecniques to maintain control of his nation.
Amnesty International
(This is a group that is pretty danged anti-american, but mostly accurate in the world. Most of these are also corraborated from eyewittness acounts.)
BTW, this is pretty sick stuff.
"Torture victims in Iraq have been blindfolded, stripped of their clothes and suspended from their wrists for long hours. Electric shocks have been used on various parts of their bodies, including the genitals, ears, the tongue and fingers. Victims have described to Amnesty International how they have been beaten with canes, whips, hosepipe or metal rods and how they have been suspended for hours from either a rotating fan in the ceiling or from a horizontal pole often in contorted positions as electric shocks were applied repeatedly on their bodies. Some victims had been forced to watch others, including their own relatives or family members, being tortured in front of them.
Other methods of physical torture described by former victims include the use of Falaqa (beating on the soles of the feet), extinguishing of cigarettes on various parts of the body, extraction of finger nails and toenails and piercing of the hands with an electric drill. Some have been sexually abused and others have had objects, including broken bottles, forced into their anus. In addition to physical torture, detainees have been threatened with rape and subjected to mock execution. They have been placed in cells where they could hear the screams of others being tortured and have been deprived of sleep. Some have stayed in solitary confinement for long periods of time. Detainees have also been threatened with bringing in a female relative, especially the wife or the mother, and raping her in front of the detainee. Some of these threats have been carried out.
...
Salah Mahdi, a 35-year-old traffic warden in al-Mansur district in Baghdad, married with three children, was arrested together with scores of people following the attempted assassination of 'Uday Saddam Hussain, the eldest son of the President, in December 1996. He was accused of neglect because he did not notice the car the assailants used. He was held in the Special Security building and was severely tortured. He died, reportedly as a result of torture, in around June 1997. His family was told that he had died but the body was never returned to them for burial despite their repeated requests and to date his burial place reportedly remains unknown to the family.
...
Women too have been tortured, ill-treated and in some cases extrajudicially executed in Iraq. Su'ad Jihad Shams al-Din, a 61-year-old medical doctor, was arrested at her clinic in Baghdad on 29 June 1999 on suspicion that she had contacts with Shi'a Islamist groups. She was detained without charge or trial and was released on 25 July 1999. She was initially held in Baghdad Security Directorate and then was transferred to al-Ambar Security Directorate (also in Baghdad) on 5 July. Su'ad Jihad Shams al-Din was tortured frequently during interrogation by security men. Methods of torture included mostly beatings on the sole (falaqa) with a cable.
Some women have been raped in custody. They were detained and tortured because they were relatives of well known Iraqi opposition activists living abroad. The security authorities use this method to put pressure on Iraqi nationals abroad to cease their activities. For example, on 7 June 2000 Najib al-Salihi, a former army general who fled Iraq in 1995 and joined the Iraqi opposition, was sent a videotape showing the rape of a female relative. Shortly afterwards he reportedly received a telephone call from the Iraqi intelligence service, asking him whether he had received the ''gift'' and informing him that his relative was in their custody.
In October 2000 dozens of women suspected of prostitution were beheaded without any judicial process in Baghdad and other cities after they had been arrested and ill-treated. Men suspected of procurement were also beheaded. The killings were reportedly carried out in the presence of representatives of the Ba'ath Party and the Iraqi Women's General Union. Members of Feda'iyye Saddam, a militia created in 1994 by 'Uday Saddam Hussain, used swords to execute the victims in front of their homes. Some victims were reportedly killed in this manner for political reasons.
...
A woman known as ''Um Haydar'' was beheaded reportedly without charge or trial at the end of December 2000. She was 25 years' old and married with three children. Her husband was sought by the security authorities reportedly because of his involvement in Islamist armed activities against the state. He managed to flee the country. Men belonging to Feda'iyye Saddam came to the house in al-Karrada district and found his wife, children and his mother. Um Haydar was taken to the street and two men held her by the arms and a third pulled her head from behind and beheaded her in front of the residents. The beheading was also witnessed by members of the Ba'ath Party in the area. The security men took the body and the head in a plastic bag, and took away the children and the mother-in-law. The body of Um Haydar was later buried in al-Najaf. The fate of the children and the mother-in-law remains unknown."
Now, if we were justified in going into afganistan for Terrorists and Human rights violations, what is different in Iraq?
If anything, we had even more reasons to go into Iraq then Afganistan.
1. Iraqs repeated and repeated violations of the cease fire agreement.
2. Compleate disregard for the dozen UN resolutions regarding the proliferation of NBC weapons.
3. Ethnic cleansing of the Kurdish folks, a massive human rights violation, that was reason in and of itself for the US to go into Bosnia in the '90s.
I hope you've read everything I just posted, because it's pretty long and full of fact.
The problem here is esentially that which defines America's problem.
The people a too quick to beleive mainstream media how have only a few people over there and are owned and run by people with their own agendas.
And they are less than likly to beleive the government who has howmany thoudand people over there and whose purpose is to protect the people.
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