Posted by
Scottie on Thursday, November 16, 2006 7:24:52 PM
I read Mona Charen's Column today and it breaks my heart. The fix is in; we’re bugging out. If we do, I will be ashamed of my country. We will have done nothing to be proud of in abandoning Iraq. The face of the old woman in Muslim headdress, smiling and proudly holding her ink stained finger up for all to see, haunts me. How do we face the brave people of Iraq that stood in queues all day in the hot desert sun risking their very lives to vote, counting on us to deliver on our promise? What balm is there for our collective conscience if we “redeploy”?
The left wants us to remember Viet Nam. Well I do remember.
I remember winning the war, and a feckless Democratic congress withdrawing support for our ally as part of the victory celebration for having ousted Richard Nixon. I also recall that hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people were slaughtered. I recall that the power vacuum we created by turning our backs on an ally emboldened Pol Pot to massacre a couple of million more. I recall the humanitarian crisis the cowardice of our policy shift created. And I recall the shame we felt as a nation for having lost the war.
Today, we’re forming a blue ribbon panel to certify that running away from our responsibility to the Iraqi people is the only logical course. As I type this, I see the Speaker of the House elect Nancy Pelosi on television vowing to push for immediate withdrawal. The Democrats have already organized a group headed by none other than the inimitable Maxine Waters to push the agenda forward. And I also see the specter of shame this nation felt at the abandonment of Viet Nam preparing to visit us again.
How will any nation take us seriously after we abandon yet another nation to chaos? What nation will believe us when we make a pledge? When the inevitable purges come in our wake and we have the blood of millions on our hands again, how can we ever expect to recover our dignity and self respect as a nation? I thought America stood for something. I don’t think lining up allies for slaughter and turning our backs on them was it. Weren’t we the ones that would pay any price, bear any burden? We’re developing a poor track record as an ally.
We will be withdrawing despite the pleas of our honorable fighting men; and in doing so we will dishonor them and all of their sacrifices. We will be withdrawing from an Islamist world that already wishes us ill and in so doing we will be inviting them to bring the fight to us here at home. We will have proven a throwback to the seventh century squatting in a cave absolutely correct; America doesn’t have the stomach to stick it out. And while I pray for our nation, he will pray for our death.