Yes

by J.R. Anthony

Created on: July 12, 2007

The United States has the obligation to stay in Iraq until peace is secured - but not for the Iraqi people. The obligation the United States has is to the United States.

Face it, if we were in Iraq for the benefit of the Iraqi people, we would have invaded a LOT earlier - or we would have finished the job and took out Saddam Hussein after Desert Storm.

He had rape rooms. Torture chambers. Mass graves. He killed many, many, many of his people. It sickens me when people think it was the "good old days" when he was in power.

So, we have two things that need to be made clear in order for Iraq to make sense:

1. We're there for us. It is the central front in the War on Terror. It is where we are actively killing thousands of terrorists, who are flooding into Iraq in order to BE killed - no thanks to the national media for overlooking this fact. Peace for Iraqi people is a positive side-benefit of safety for the United States and all of the civilized world.

2. It follows, then, that when our national security interest is realized, we leave. This point impacts the definition of "peace being secured."

"Peace" has to be defined. Obviously, there will not be a complete absence of violence. Not even the best city in the United States has that.

So "peace," as far as the United States is concerned, should be defined as the condition under which a free, moderate and strong government/military is established.

Peace is not the lack of roadside bombs. It is the scenario under which the Iraqi police will try to prevent such crimes, and investigate when they fail.

Peace is not the lack of terrorists. For our practical purposes, it is when Iraqi intelligence is trying to find them out, and when the Iraqi military is trying to kill them.

It's no different than in England or France or Germany. If these countries were being overrun by terrorists, we would be in there helping their governments, too.

Meanwhile, we have the bigwig networks - NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, etc. - looking at the fact that Iraq's goverment missed 8 out of 18 benchmarks as a sign of failure.

Nevermind that the U.S. Congress has a much worse record - and that the benchmarks that the Iraqis HAVE met are impressive.

Here's what the defeatists/leftists/mainstream media want you to believe:

1. Americans are being killed at a tremendous rate in Iraq (go ahead, study your history of wars - this one is actually going EXTREMELY well. And may God bless those troops who have died for this noble cause.)

2. America is the problem in Iraq, and removing Americans from the country will benefit the situation. Now, do you want to tell me how exactly this makes any sense at all? Go ahead, name any democrat who can explain this inane point. Which of the presidential candidtates is explaining how the situation would get better if the U.S. were to leave?

3. Progress is not being made. The surge IS working. Look at the July 12 Wall Street Journal (refreshing we have a newspaper willing to report progress instead of doom and gloom). The surge wasn't in place until mid-June, by which time the Democrats already were declaring defeat. The truth is, America CAN win.

4. The enemy is not that bad. The media has even taken to calling terrorists "insurgents." Here's a couple stories you probably DIDN'T read in the New York Times: The discovery of an entire village of children being decapitated and put into a mass grave. A common strong-arm terrorist practice in which they invite a family over for dinner, and serve them one of their own children, cooked, with an apple sticking out of their mouth. Increased confidence by the Iraqi people, including a healthier economy.

Folks, don't believe this tripe. DO believe in our mission in Iraq. The United States is doing something extremely idealistic - and that is good. It is a rough road, but we ARE winning, and we CAN finish the job.

We have an obligation to be there. And our troops have the will to be there. It's sad when the American people don't have the courage or clarity of mind to know what's right, and to do it.

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