April 13, 2008
Six Days Ago…
…General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker wasted their valuable time testifying before Congress.
Oliver North tells it like it is.
Five years ago this week, American soldiers and Marines liberated Baghdad from Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard and the foreign fedayeen who had flooded into the despot’s capital. For those of us who were there, it was an unforgettable event. But as Ambassador Ryan Crocker so cogently noted this week while he and Gen. David Petraeus were testifying before Congress, “The euphoria of that moment evaporated long ago.” The assembled lawmakers, perched on their raised daises, barely noted the anniversary — while subjecting the warrior and the diplomat to a 16-hour spectacle. For the general and the ambassador, it had to be an excruciating exercise in patience and bladder control.
The hearings — two in the Senate and two more in the House — all were choreographed carefully to give maximum exposure to the potentates on the Potomac. The masters of the mainstream media all were gathered. Professional protesters were present. The solons, all carefully prepared by their staffs, made their little speeches and then shamelessly angled for the best “gotcha” question to win the sound bite sweepstakes — and the honor of being replayed repeatedly on the news and entertainment channels. Like so many of these hearings, it was a bit like Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s “Greatest Show on Earth” — without a ringmaster. I know — as they say — I’ve “been there, done that.”
Yeah, he’s “been there, done that”, all right (and I can’t say I envy the man for that particular ordeal, when I worked on Wall Street some quarter century ago, my immediate supervisor, who had gone through a congressional grilling over the Hunt Brothers affair, told me in graphic detail what that’s like), though I don’t know if he was ever issued the tee-shirt. I’ll say this though: Despite the rhetoric of our political left, the man is the kind of patriot this country needs a hell of a lot more of, and the kind of journalist the media should be proud of (fat chance of that!) — the kind who calls it like he sees it and retains the perspective that he is an American who knows what it means to serve his country in time of war. The kind of guy who would rather cover a combat situation with shrapnel and bullets whizzing past his head than sit in a lounge in the “Green Zone” and get his information second hand, or buy photos from some photographer who may or may not have Photo-Shopped them to favor the enemy’s propaganda campaigns.
Sadly, the attending members of Congress evinced little interest in hearing from a decorated general fighting a bloody military campaign or a skillful U.S. ambassador trying to help a democratically elected government survive against brutal foreign and internal foes. Rather, it seemed as if our elected representatives would have preferred hearing from soothsayers who could read palms and interpret horoscopes. That our Congress has sunk to such a level is a sad testament to the state of our political process.
Sadly, indeed.
Our Democrat-run Congress isn’t interested in facts, only in a political agenda that hasn’t got room for the concept of victory or for the elements of common sense necessary to protect our country from future terrorist attacks. In order to appeal to their political base, which consists of a Code Pink/Michael Moore/Cindy Sheehan (remember her?)/George Soros/Jane Fonda/Barbra Streissand mentality, they are more concerned with an agenda that would involve our abandoning the Iraqis to an Islamic extremist take-over and the resulting Taliban style rule that would transform Iraq into what would amount to a terrorist stronghold with “legitimate” nation status.
This is a very liberal “progressive” point of view. Let’s enjoy instant gratification without giving the proverbial rat’s hind quarters about whatever tragedies it will present for us down the road apiece.
So rather than ask pertinent questions or seek the truth about our brave troops’ progress in Iraq…
When will it end? When will we be out? When can we take the money we’re spending on the war and divert it to bailing out our constituent borrowers and lenders caught up in the subprime mortgage mess? Petraeus and Crocker came equipped with facts, maps, charts and progress reports, but for this crowd, they should have brought Ouija boards, tarot cards and a crystal ball.
I don’t know, though I can guess, how fellow right thinkers and other sane Americans feel about this, but speaking for myself, I find it rather chilling that the majority of those we’ve elected to lead our country seem to be addressing this grave responsibility we’ve bestowed upon them using a far left field (perhaps pre-adolescent would be a more accurate term) approach.
They apparently don’t see fit to apply any sort of reality to their reasoning, that’s for sure, it’s more like “screw the down-the-road penalties, get the votes now!”
Well, good for them! When suicide bombers, briefed in Baghdad, walk into restaurants, theatres, shopping malls and other crowded places in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago and Duluth and blow themselves up along with scores of men, women and children, our fearless leaders can always “blame Bush”.
Speaking of whom…
While Congress was berating the general and the ambassador, the commander in chief was honoring one of the more than 4,000 Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq. In an Oval Office ceremony, President Bush presented the Medal of Honor — our nation’s highest award for valor — to the parents of Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor, a Navy SEAL. Mike — as his fellow SEALs called him — was killed Sept. 29, 2006, in Ramadi, Iraq, when he threw himself on top of an enemy grenade in order to spare the lives of his fellow SEALs.
His platoon commander, now a lieutenant commander with whom our Fox News team has been embedded, said of the 25-year-old hero, “He made an instantaneous decision to save our teammates.” Though wounded by shrapnel in the explosion, one of those with him that terrible morning said of Monsoor’s unhesitating action: “He never took his eyes off the grenade. His only movement was down toward it. He undoubtedly saved mine and the other SEALs’ lives.”
Monsoor is just the fourth member of our armed forces to be awarded the Medal of Honor since war was declared against us Sept. 11, 2001. Call your grandstanding members of Congress and ask whether they know the four names.
Hmmmm, let’s see, there were Corporal Jason Dunham, USMC, U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Paul Smith and Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor, Iraq, and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, Afghanistan.
Saying “Thank you” is not nearly enough.
I wonder if Representative John Murtha knows these four names or, for that matter, if he even cares. Probably not.
http://hardastarboard.mu.nu/wp-trackback.php?p=807
April 13th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Seth:
Our people in the beltway are too far removed from real life. They don’t think about the sacrifices our troops make - and not just the supreme sacrifice like Michael Monsoor’s - but in the every day sacrifices of living in sub standard conditions(sand and desert heat), eating crappy food (MREs), missing their family and loved ones, living under the possibility of sudden death or dismemberment, etc…
Indeed, these folks, and their Lefty supporters live in such a cushy berth that it is impossible for them to even imagine what life is like for the “little guy”. These wealthy Liberal elites never worked as a dishwasher, or as a sales clerk, but sailed into their position because of the great opportunities afforded them, and are protected by those men and women in uniform.
I recently watched a biography about Thomas Jefferson, which also touched upon the Founding Fathers at our nation’s birth. What men they were! Yes, they were lawyers and affluent landowners, but they also farmed and lived closer to the earth and never forgot that it is the PEOPLE who are served, NOT the State!
Now, we have these petty, power hungry politicians who would rather see this country destroyed than win this war. They would rather be “right” than see real justice served. They would rather promote lies and misinformation to keep themselves in control, than humbly accept reality and facts which may not support their agenda.
“The times do certainly render it incumbent on all good citizens attached to the rights and honor of their country to bury in oblivion all internal differences and rally around the standard of their country in opposition to the outrages of foreign nations. All attempts to enfeeble and destroy the exertions of the General Government in vindication of our national rights, or to loosen the bands of Union by alienating the affections of the people, or opposing the authority of the laws at so eventful a period, merit the discountenance of all.” –Thomas Jefferson to Daniel D. Tompkins, 1809. ME 16:341
There. My rant of the day
April 13th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
“They apparently don’t see fit to apply any sort of reality to their reasoning…” With these words my friend you pretty much summed up Democrats!
Although the Generals time seemed to be wasted he was:
1. fulfilling a Constitutional requrement to report to Congress so our that the laws as designed by our Founders could be adheared to.
2. The people were able to hear straight from the horses mouth, so to speak, the truth about Iraq and even liberal morons could not over shadow Patraeus. The American people will take his testimony and his word over any member of Congress especially a bleeding heart, anti - war, vote pandering democrat whose only purpose in participating in the hearings was to put a bad light on the success and preach their ridiculous hate America agenda.
April 13th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Seth, I would feel so honored to be sitting in the same room with Genereal Petraeus, but I can see why many of Congress wouldn’t feel that way. First they would have to know something about honor!
Excellent post.
April 13th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
It amazes me how stuck they are on yesterday’s negative news. For Hillary Clinton to insist that we need to refocus on Afghanistan where the real fight is at….
It just baffles the mind. Iraq is just one battlefield in a greater war. What is it with today’s Democratic leadership that partisan politics gets in the way of clear thinking? The partisan politics, from my vantage point, is coming mostly from the left. But then, maybe I’m just too partisan to notice it on my side of the aisle?
April 13th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Atheling –
Awesome rant, and right on point!
Today’s politicians have either forgotten or chosen to ignore the lessons of their predecessors, of those that founded our nation, of those whose words and deeds made America what it is today.
They are more interested in their own careers than they are in our country and its future, in the people they are there to serve and the Constitution they are employed to protect and defend.
Personally, I feel as though my own lifespan was precisely placed so that I could witness, despairingly as it may be, a negative cycle in history.
I grew up in an America that made sense during the second half of the 1950s and the 1960s, and I will exit this world watching self-seeking politicians toss the entire concept of America into the nearest dumpster.
The fact of left leaning political leaders and their media sycophants defecating on our young people who lay down their lives for our country seems, unfortunately, to fit well within the parameters of our internal political situation.
I’m extremely proud to be an American, but I’m ashamed of most of those we’ve elected to lead us.
Ken –
I only hope the American people were able to absorb General Petraeus’ message amidst all the B.S. political grandstanding he had to speak around. I’ve spent a lot of time on the witness stand in the past, and had to work around hostile attorneys who interrupted me or tried (unsuccessfully, LOL) to manipulate my testimony as soon as they realized that it wasn’t going in their clients’ favor, and most members of Congress are lawyers, so…
Then, of course, there’s the MSM’s spin to consider. Since I don’t watch “the news” on TV anymore (if I want propaganda, I’ll look for old back issues of Pravda, which are far more amusing) I can only imagine what they cut and chopped in their reporting after the original live airing of the Petraeus/Crocker testimony.
I only hope that The People were able to get the gist of what the general and the ambassador were reporting.
Gayle –
Thanks.
There is so little honor or patriotism in the present Congress that to hope for either is a stretch.
Both of those houses are today dominated by people who, in more sensible times, would have been exposed for the traitors they are, taken out and either hung or shot.
Wordsmith –
You aren’t being “too partisan” at all.
Most of the “screw America, politics first” rhetoric is coming from the port side of the aisle. Unfortunately, those on the starboard side are much too docile to do their jobs and return fire.
Hence, we have a government that’s moving gradually to the left, moving into the enemy appeasement arena and moving into the socialist sector.
20 years from now, I doubt we’ll even recognize this country.
April 13th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Congress is contemptible, that’s about all I can say about this.
April 13th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Seth:
“I grew up in an America that made sense during the second half of the 1950s and the 1960s, and I will exit this world watching self-seeking politicians toss the entire concept of America into the nearest dumpster.”
My parents have told me about how American politicians sacrificed partisanship for the good of the nation, i.e., the hated Richard Nixon, who, when he lost very closely to John F. Kennedy in 1960, refused a recount even though it was legally warranted, because he said it was time for the country to “move forward”.
Now I must make a distinction. I have seen more partisanship and low level viciousness with the Left, mainly the Democrats in Congress. Harry Reid’s and Nancy Pelosi’s poisonous rhetoric about our soldiers and the defeatism they preach is among the worst I’ve seen in my life time. I recall during Desert Storm, Democrat Richard Gephardt threatened to cut funding on our troops, who were sitting in the desert (like my sister who served and was there), preparing for war. I was infuriated. I was a lifelong Democrat at that time, but I was turned off by the apparent traitorous rhetoric at the expense of our soldiers in uniform during wartime by my party. Thus started my defection to Conservatism and migration to the Republican Party. That wasn’t cemented until Bill Clinton’s first term.
I guess many of us grew up. Unfortunately, many in Congress and on the Left have not.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:24 am
Shoprat –
Congress is most definitely contemptible, the left for their self centered, socialist, defeatist politics, the so-called right for allowing them to get away with it to the extent that they do.
Atheling –
My own farewell to the Democrats came during the Carter Administration, and to see what he’s been up to more recently, it appears my judgement of the man was totally correct.
Democrats are almost always the ones getting caught in corruption scandals, yet as in all things, they attempt to cloud this by accusing the Republicans of being corrupt. They get caught in more sex scandals and explain things away as human weakness, excusing the transgression, yet when a Republican gets caught in a sex scandal, they make it a long, loud dog & pony show. They are the party of hypocrisy.
For downright viciousness and shameless, treasonous behavior, they have the market cornered.
April 14th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Seth,
TAG!. But you don’t have to play if you don’t want to.
April 14th, 2008 at 8:30 am
AOW –
I have emailed you.
April 14th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Let’s enjoy instant gratification without giving the proverbial rat’s hind quarters about whatever tragedies it will present for us down the road apiece.
that just bout sums it up my friend!:)
April 14th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Angel –
We, as Americans, like it or not, are going to pay the price for this penchant of leftist politicians, and no matter how we vote as individuals, we’re not going to like it, yet the liberals responsible will, as usual, disclaim their responsibility for the mess and somehow blame their Republican counterparts for the tragedy they themselves will have created.
Naturally, the MSM will back them up and too many millions of people who depend upon the liberal media for their news will believe the propaganda being shoved down their throats, and vote us even farther into oblivion.
In one of the Star Wars films, Padme says, “So this is how liberty dies… with thunderous applause.” Coming from Hollywood, that’s pretty bizarre considering that it will be their kindred spirits that make it happen.