I Was Wrong, Iraq Was The Issue. How many Days Until April 30, 1975?
Posted on November 8, 2006
Like many others, I badly “read” the American people in the days and months prior to the election. While there was reporting amongst the media and even by a certain number of conservatives, I could not believe that Iraq was an issue with the American people. After all, this is a “war” in which only 1% of the population has been asked to make any kind of sacrifice. The only “sacrifice” that the 99% of the American Population has to make is having to watch the media coverage of it on television. Further, unlike the Vietnam Era there are no large scale or organized actions being taken against the war by those in the military. To the military, this is “our war” and we are doing just fine, leave us alone, thank you.
I looked at the election with a soldiers heart and that was the mistake that clouded my overall judgment. However, that soldiers heart can tell you what is going on in the hearts of soldiers around the world today.
As an Army, we are extremely slow to change and we have a sense of tradition and history. Drill Sergeants wear a special badge that says “this we’ll defend.” That badge however, speaks for all soldiers in that we defend the military institution itself. Every soldier that I have spoken to today is in a state of disbelief. There is a real sense of abandonment by the American People from my vantage point.
Today, every single soldier clearly understands that we are now on the path of leaving Iraq. Elections have consequences, we accept that, we understand that. Our “collective memory” from the 59 year old sergeant that served in Vietnam to the young 18 year old private tells us that we are counting the days until April 30, 1975.
The thought that will occur for every soldier today in Iraq is “Do I want to be the last man to die on the way out?”
The thought that will occur for every military family who has lost a brother, sister, mother or father in Iraq is that they have sacrificed for nothing.
The thought that will occur for every veteran who has left part of their body in Iraq is that they gave for nothing.
The thought that will occur for every soldier in the Non-Commissioned/Commissioned Officer chain of command in or who has served in Iraq is that they lead good men into battle who sacrificed for nothing.
The thought that will occur in every soldier involved in operational planning for SW Asia is to mentally start planning the withdrawal sequence. Every action now will be taken with the mental note “but we are leaving.”
The thought that will now occur amongst senior uniformed operational planners is the the consequence on Afghanistan due to an inevitable Iraq withdrawal.
The last thought is that every soldier is wondering when all we asked for were the tools to do our job and the American people abandoned us while we are on the field of battle.
It took 30 years for the uniformed military to “shake” away the ghost of SE Asia. It will now take another 30 years for the uniformed military to “shake” away the ghost of SW Asia.
When the American People, through the Congress, pulled out of Vietnam, my brothers of that past generation lost their honor. On November 7, 2006, the American people stripped the honor of all my comrades.
The “hooah” is gone, the Army has now been “broken,” no one will want to fight the “next war” because we do not know if that mission will be completed.
{Please not that when I refer to “soldier,” I also refer to every Sailor, Marine, Airman…….}
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6 Responses to “I Was Wrong, Iraq Was The Issue. How many Days Until April 30, 1975?”
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Do you mean to say that we weren’t previously on the path of leaving Iraq?
The play has always been to “stay in Iraq as long as we are needed, and not a day longer.” - Bush
Jeff,
What he is saying, is that pulling out before the job is finished, is different from the blind pull out that has been discussed. If we leave when the Iraqi government can stand on it’s own, job done. If we just leave, then the job is not done. To sacrifice so much and then see the job go unfinished, is probably the most disheartening thing that could happen to a person.
No doubt, but can you or he demonstrate that that will happen? Sure, the Dems beat the Republicans over the head with the war, but very few of them were ever foolish enough to suggest that they will pull us out early.
That’s why the Republicans always countered with “they don’t have a plan, just criticism.” It’s largely true. Give the Dems a little credit. They know that if they pull out of Iraq and it descends into a bloody civil war, they won’t sniff power again for at least a decade.
Can I demonstrate that that will happen? I can’t demonstrate that any more than you can demonstrate that it won’t. I can only go by what the democrats have said and done, look what they did to Liberman for suggesting that there be a orderly pull out.
Ok, I’ll restate. Can you demonstrate that that is what the Democrats intend to do?
I’m sure they also noticed that he won.
Oak Leaf,
Take Courage as you should take the claims of the media with a grain of salt. The blue states are against the war in Iraq which is no real surprise. Iraq was probably a factor but not necessary the overwhelming one the media makes it. Of the Senate races the victories of the Democrats can be traced to other causes. Lincoln Chafee was against the war and still loss. He probably loss that race because the cultural conservatives voted against him. In Connecticut Lieberman who is pro Iraq war won by a land slide against anti Iraq war opponent. In both Ohio and Virginia low wages and high unemployment played a role. Missouri was probably the stem cell amendment because the candidates lost and the baby’s loss was roughly the same margin. In Montana the Abramoff scandal probably played a large roll. In Pennsylvania, Sen. Rick Santorum’s loss had voter anger going against him because of GOP dominated state politicians giving themselves a raise and his support of the RINO Arlen Specter in 2004. Other factors are that conservatives are angry about Republican unfaithfulness and so the conservatives did not vote or voted against them in order to punish them
The details the media forgets to mention are very interesting.
I do not know enough about the House losses to say why the occurred but I am not taking the anti war media’s over generalization and the reason.
That is my opinion.