The Opinionator

A Soldier and MILBLOGGER Falls; SPC Francisco G. Martinez R.I.P.

Blackfive points his readers to this painful story of the combat death of Army SPC Francisco G. Martinez. He was a Fire Support Specialist assigned to the 1/9 Inf. and  a MILBLOGGER when he had the chance in Iraq. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. Be sure to stop by his blog or that of his father and leave your condolences.

An Iraqi's View of the War

Iraqi blogger Husayn Uthman asks, on the second anniversary of the War in Iraq, whether it was worth it. His answer is quite a juxtaposition to the views of the "Peace" protesters mentioned in an earlier post. Here is what he has to say,

To may outsiders, like those who protested last year, who will protest today. This was a fools errand, it brought nothing but death and destruction. I am sheltered in Iraq, but I know how the world feels, how people have come to either love or hate Bush, as though heis the emobdiement of this war. As though this war is part of Bush, they forget the over twenty million Iraqis, they forget the Middle Easterners, they forget the average person on the street, the average man with the average dream.

Ask him if it was worth it. Ask him what is different. Ask him if he would go through it again, go ahead ask him, ask me, many of you have.

Now I answer you, I answer you on behalf of myself, and my countrymen. I dont care what your news tells you, what your television and newspapers say, this is how we feel. Despite all that has happened. Despite all the hurt, the pain, blood, sweat and tears. These two years have given us hope we never had.

Before March 20, 2003, we were in a dungeon. We did not see the light. Saddam Hussain was crushing Iraq's spirit slowly, we longed for his end, but knew we could not challenge him, or his diabolical seed who would no doubt follow him and continue his generation of hell on Earth.

Since then, we now have hope. Hope is not a tangible thing, but it is something, it is more than being blinded by darkness, by being stuck in a mental pit without any future.

Not much that I can add to that, go read it yourself.

(Hat Tip: Roger L. Simon)

Useful Idiots "Support the Troops" in Fayetteville, NC

Yesterday was the second anniversary of the beginning of the War in Iraq. Approximately 3,000 war protesters decided to show their "support for the troops" by having an anti-war protest through the streets of Fayetteville, NC, home of Ft. Bragg. For those of you that are not aware, Ft. Bragg is the home of the 82d Airborne Division, 18th Airborne Corps, 3d and 7th Special Forces Groups, Delta Force and other assorted Special Warfare and conventional army units, the bulk of which have served at least one tour in Iraq in addition to Afghanistan.

The protesters decision to protest in Fayetteville, Camp Pendleton, the major Marine Corps base in Southern California, as well as in San Diego near a major naval base is a curious and disgusting one (See more on the San Diego protest at Citizen Smash). If you support the troops, why protest at their home bases and communities where they and their families live? All that is going to do is hurt the morale and undermine the spirit of our troops and their families, who have no choice but to go where they are ordered. The headline in this story of the protest in the Raleigh News and Observer says is all, "Observance Stirs Pain." If you want the war ended, protest in Washington DC or other major cities. However, do not feed me this bullshit that you care about our troops as you march past the front gates of the bases that house them and tell them that they are fighting the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is not as if they have a choice. This is the same crap that my father had to put up with when he returned from Vietnam.

Not surprisingly, these protesters refuse to acknowledge that freeing the Iraqi people from a murderer is a good thing. They refuse to acknowledge the success of the recent elections or that this has unleashed the pent-up desire for freedom among the oppressed and disenfranchised people of the Middle East, something that could prevent future terroism. They would rather have Saddam Hussein in power, which tells us a lot about them. Many still think it is all about oil. Of course if that was the case, then we would not have to have troops throughout the country, we could put them in the oil fields, along the pipelines and at the shipping points and let the country rot as I have pointed out before. And if the War was about the oil, why does it cost me so much for a gallon of gas? Given that we have not taken over the Iraqi oil and we are paying through the nose for gasoline, that argument does not pass the common sense test. Not that these idiots have any arguments that make sense as logic has never been the strong suit of protesting Leftists. And why protest now that the war is essentially over in terms of major clashes and the bulk of the action is engaging enemies of a free Iraq killing innocent Iraqis while we help them set up the infrastructure to run their own country? (Side Note: The Left is scared to death that Conservative Christians in this country are out to set up a theocracy and crush their freedoms but do not worry about terrorist groups like Al Qaeda that really do want to set up a Taliban-like theocracy in Iraq). Instead of celebrating that fact that we have freed over 20 million people, they would rather demean and denigrate the horror of the deaths of over six million Jews by comparing President Bush to Hitler. News flash, if Bush was Hitler, Hussein, Stalin or Castro you would all be locked up or dead so shitcan the hyperbole and get some perspective!

Anyway, here are some photos from the Fayetteville Observer. Note the only person causing trouble is the "Peace" protester. Seems to be the case that a lot of these protester types are not big on non-violence themselves. If he is so full of fight, let him go to Iraq and put it to good use. He can choose which side he wants to fight for when he gets there!

A Fayetteville police officer escorts a war protester, left, away from a group of counter-demonstrators he had confronted.

John Bolton

Clearly John Bolton is very qualified to be the next Ambassador to the United Nations. His comments below and here, show that he has what it takes to take on that den of inequity and Euro-Wussies! The truth is painful, eh UN?

"There is no such thing as the United Nations."
—On the United Nations itself

"If you lost 10 storeys, it wouldn't make a bit of difference."
—On UN headquarters in New York

"If I were redoing the Security Council, I'd have one permanent member: the United States."
—On the UN Security Council

"A gleam in one beholder's eye but looks like flat-out aggression to somebody else."
—On humanitarian intervention

"It is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international law even when it may seem in our short-term interest to do so - because, over the long term, the goal of those who think international law really means anything are those who want to constrict the United States."
—On the US and international law

"Some Europeans have never lost faith in appeasement as a way of life."
—On Europe

What amazes me is that anyone would think that his focus  would be on anything other than the agenda and interests of the United States. The Left wets their pants over these comments but did they really think we would appoint someone with a UN first agenda? Duh!

(Hat Tip: Tim Blair)

I Love Australia!

Australian Prime Minister has made it clear he is willing to replace the surrendering, I mean departing, Italian troops with those from Down Under if they are needed. When times are tough, you learn who your real friends are and Australia has shown itself to be a good friend indeed. Makes you want to drink a Victoria Bitter while grilling shrimp and watching Crocodile Dundee and The Crocodile Hunter...or The Wiggles for the kids in the audience. G'Day!

By the way, Mrs. Opinionator, who spent a summer session at the University of Western Australia, echoes my sentiments as well.

(Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs)

"What's Left? Shame." Yet Another Great Krauthammer Column

Charles Krauthammer writes another brilliant column about the new-found consensus that President Bush may have been right about Iraq and the Middle East all along. He makes special note of the Left's fall from it's moral high ground to it's depraved state today. A key excerpt of this column you should read for yourself,

    

After all, going back at least to the Spanish Civil War, the left has always prided itself on being the great international champion of freedom and human rights. And yet, when America proposed to remove the man responsible for torturing, gassing and killing tens of thousands of Iraqis, the left suddenly turned into a champion of Westphalian sovereign inviolability.

    

A leftist judge in Spain orders the arrest of a pathetic, near-senile Gen. Augusto Pinochet eight years after he's left office, and becomes a human rights hero -- a classic example of the left morally grandstanding in the name of victims of dictatorships long gone. Yet for the victims of contemporary monsters still actively killing and oppressing -- Khomeini and his successors, the Assads of Syria and, until yesterday, Hussein and his sons -- nothing. No sympathy. No action. Indeed, virulent hostility to America's courageous and dangerous attempt at rescue.

Hard to add anything to that, go read it for yourself.

(Hat tip: Realclearpolitics)

 

 

Italy to Remove Troops From Iraq

It has been widely reported that the Italian government has decided to bring it's troops home from Iraq due to intense public pressure. As I noted in this earlier post, this is exactly what Italian "journalist" Giuliana Sgrena was hoping to bring about as she milked and exaggerated the unfortunate story of her wounding in a friendly fire incident. Her contention that she was deliberately targeted really makes sense now as another ally goes Spanish on us, eh?

I salute the sacrifice of the Italians that have died in Iraq. But this decision once again makes me question my pride in, if not make me ashamed of,  my Italian heritage. Thank G-d my forefathers took the leap of faith and came to this country so that their children and their children's children could be Americans.

The Wolfowitz Nomination

This Financial Times story on the nomination of Paul Wolfowitz as the next President of the World Bank by President Bush is quite biased and revealing. First, this is what passes as "reporting",

Instead, along with the nomination last week of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations, Mr Bush has put forward two men who have been the most passionate advocates for the view that if the US leads, the rest of the world will follow and fall into line.

That is clearly editorial comment within a news story. But it is the blogosphere that cannot be trusted, right?

Secondly, this is a very revealing comment that offers insight into the world community,

Some non-governmental groups fear Mr Wolfowitz will have a different focus, seeking to enlist the bank in the larger project of building US security by spreading democracy. "There will be concern about the possibility of introducing the war on terror into the projects and policies of the World Bank," said Manish Bapna, executive-director of the Bank Information Center.

You can just hear them, "Good G-d man, those Americans might try to bring freedom and democracy to the world's oppressed people, we cannot have that!"

If this keeps up, the world's tyrants and despots that are feeding at the tit of the World Bank will be out of power as their oppressed populations rise up as in Lebanon. Clearly some in the "World Community" do not want that to happen. And that attitude by the bureaucrats that make up the UN, World Bank and NGO's is a prime example of their inability to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil. If the Left in this country has it's way, our nation would be more like these people; non-judgmental and morally relativist. Aren't you glad we are not like the rest of the world. I am proud that we are staying the course and spreading democracy, freedom and capitalism. We keep this up and we might not need a World Bank!

It Was All About Oil?

For all those Mensa members on the Left, if the war in Iraq was all about oil, then why does it cost so much now? And if we really only wanted the oil, why not just put troops in the oil fields, along the pipelines and harbor facilities and let the rest of the country fend for itself?

What a Day

Your humble author, needing to burn some vacation time that will not carry over past this month and wanting to relax after the big 4-0 on Sunday, took yesterday off. It was glorious. Unfortunately, it ended far too soon. Today I walked into a maelstrom of crisis. Everything had to be done yesterday if not sooner. The world would end if we did not get this billing issue straightened out now. You know the deal, as we used to say in Arkansas. We all have those days and today was mine. I have plenty to say about just about everything except the Michael Jackson trial but it will have to wait. I need to rest. Hopefully, your day was better than mine!