RE: The Stomach Of The Political Class

Representative John Murtha's (D-Pa) contention that the war is unwinnable and we should leave Vietnam Iraq as soon as possible is so well-known that even I, sans TV or newspapers or radio news, had heard of the man and his "tired," worn-out" et ceteras. But since I'd avoided hearing his anti-war rant, I didn't stick around for the outcome.

I should have.

What I hadn't heard, and which gave me great pleasure, was the real story, the actual outcome of Rep. Murtha's "heroic" stance before the MSM, slathering on the words they love to hear. What actually happened is that when Murtha growled, the Republicans turned around and bit him. The House Republicans showed the real grit: they called for an up-or-down vote on Murtha's musings, and Murtha lost so bad you couldn't have found him under the pile: 403-3 said the House. We're not abandoning the Iraqis. In other words, we're not going to make this another Vietnam, no matter how many boomers and their groupies in the MSM long for it.

Can you imagine the headlines the next day? I'll bet you can. Instead of reporting Murtha's drubbing, the old Grey Whore led the pack with “Uproar in House as Parties Clash on Iraq Pullout.” 403-3 is an "uproar"? A "clash"?

The whole thing makes obvious that the nation is not losing hope in the war. 403 Congressmen know which side their bread is buttered on. While the Dems may have cheered Murtha on, they weren't going there with him. Do you think he knew that? Does he get some kind of pay-off for being their canary in the coal mine?

Much has been made of Murtha the Warrior by the MSM. For a different perspective The Buffalo News ran this essay as its lede on the op-ed page today. Reading this soldier's response provided the incentive to go back and find out what happened to Murtha. And by the way, finding the final outcome on google wasn't easy. I had to drill down through three pages of hits before I found out what happened.

The writer of the piece is David Bellavia. He is from Batavia, New York and earned the Silver Star in Iraq. He has also been recommended for the Medal of Honor. Obviously, Representative Murtha's words, and their repetitive drumming by the MSM, have their effect.

As the debris continues to settle from the explosion detonated by the defeatist comments by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., I wonder how he expected his statements to be perceived. As an infantryman whose boots are still caked with blood and dust from Iraq, I am beyond confused by the insistence by Democratic Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Louise Slaughter that he preserve his title as a combat visionary.

As rancor and hyperbole peak, we continue to be fed bastardized statistics and a complete denial that Iraq, according to al-Qaida intercepts, is indeed the front line in the war on terror.

[...]

Iraqi veterans are without apologies for not finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Former administrations ignored the danger present in this region for years, and we in the trenches now pay the price for our past inability to confront our enemies. Each day, the enemy hopes that one more 10-plus death toll inflicted against the coalition via a roadside bomb will be the last straw of the American collective will.

Make no mistake. This is a middle- to lower-class war, fought by volunteers of the greatest generation of American warriors ever born. I have written more than 47 recommendations for Bronze Star valor awards for the members of my 34-man infantry platoon. That award, alarmingly, is growing more and more common during this fight. And yet my peers cannot use their awards as a platform to defend their noble struggle, because they are still deep in the fight.

Neither Murtha, who wears his Bronze Star as his badge of authority, nor any other congressional representative has held a position in a skirmish line under fire in Iraq, yet they pontificate to the masses from "their war" experience. Not one has borne witness to the extreme close-quarter nature of this fight or commented on the tearful thanks from a deserving and proud people who need us to stay the course.

Yet Murtha has the extreme audacity to call my peers "broken." Funny how a man like Murtha, who made his career on detailing his heroism under fire, is the first to chip away at my generation's valor.

Each day, the Iraqi war veteran grows closer to the embarrassing disrespect of the Vietnam warrior. Each day, legislators like Murtha move us closer to losing a winnable war and abandoning a worthy ally. Staying the course isn't a campaign slogan; it is a life support message to my peers. Like Vietnam, the American soldier cannot be defeated on the field of battle, only by the failure of the political class to stomach the hardships of combat.

Remember that last sentence:

The American soldier cannot be defeated on the field of battle, only by the failure of the political class to stomach the hardships of combat.

These guys are the grandsons of the "Greatest Generation." Obviously the gene pool is in good shape. And it was in Vietnam, too, until the MSM smashed our efforts and led millions of Vietnamese and Cambodians to slaughter. As Bellavia says so well, "Staying the course isn't a campaign slogan; it is a life support message..."

It is the cowards in the MSM we have to be afraid of. Their fear will do us in again if we listen to them. For those of you who read The New York Times, I have a suggestion for your New Year's resolution. Think of it as what you can do for your country when you help this "newspaper" disappear from the horizon just a little sooner. Don't renew.


And Thomas Sowell agrees with the soldier from Batavia, New York. In an essay today, entitled Only Irresponsible Politicians, Media Want Iraq Pullout, Mr. Sowell lays it out:

	…No matter how many towns are wrested from the control of the terrorists by American or Iraqi troops, it just isn't front-page news like the casualty reports or even the doom-saying of some politicians.
	The fact that these doom-saying politicians have been proved wrong, again and again, does not keep their latest outcries from overshadowing the hard-won victories of American troops on the ground in Iraq.
	The doom-sayers claimed that terrorist attacks would make it impossible to hold the elections last January because so many Iraqis would be afraid to go vote. The doom-sayers urged that the elections be postponed.
	But a higher percentage of Iraqis voted in that election -- and in a subsequent election -- than the percentage of Americans who voted in last year's Presidential elections.
	Utter ignorance of history enables any war with any casualties to be depicted in the media as an unmitigated disaster.

I think one of the requirements for "J" school is an absence of the history gene. That way you can just go with whatever feels right at the moment. Or, less radically, you can ignore the facts in the name of larger Truths to which only you and your kind are privy.