America cannot afford to pull out of Iraq

I have not been this upset and angry since about 1969 or 1970. I am in this state of turmoil because the same thing is happening all over again that happened then. The media has convinced the American people that the war in Iraq is lost and not winnable, just as they did during Vietnam. Understand, we did not lose the Vietnam war in the jungles of Southeast Asia, we lost it right here at home.

Ho Chi Minh understood that he could not beat us, but if they just did not give in, eventually the American media would turn the people against the war and we would give up. Which is just what has happened. Osama bin Laden and the other radical Muslims stated at the beginning that America could not win because they were too soft, they did not have the courage to take the casualties necessary to win. It appears that he was right. It makes me sick.

I am sick that Americans allow themselves to be influenced by a media that is more concerned about its political agenda than the country and its welfare. I am sick of politicians that put political objectives ahead of the country and its welfare. Imagine how short this war could have been if we all got behind the troops, including the commander-in-chief, and said, “Do what you have to do, but win this thing. We support you 100 percent.”

How would the war be going, if instead of reporting just the difficulties of the war, they reported the triumphs as well? War is an art, not a science. It does not follow a script. Mistakes happen, there are friendly fire accidents, people die, and that is the nature of war. It takes a great deal of fortitude to fight a war and win. Thank God we have a commander-in-chief and a military that has that type of courage. They do not take polls to see how they should fight. They are committed to winning, unlike the media and political hacks that are trying to get us to capitulate for their own political gain.

My dad was part of the invasion of Tarawa during World War II. They lost nearly 2,000 Marines in 48 hours to take this island. A good part of the loses were due to the fact that the commanders did not know there was a coral reef some 200 yards out from the beach; the result was the Marines had to wade ashore under heavy machine gun fire. It doesn’t take much of an imagination to understand what happened. Can you imagine what it would be like if we lost 2,000 soldiers in one engagement today? The media would incite the whole country to quit!

The war in Iraq makes sense from all points of view. From a security point, Saddam Hussein had used weapons of mass destruction against Iran and the Kurds. All the West’s intelligence services supported the thesis that he still had them. He supported the terrorists and it was not a big leap to believe that he would give them WMDs to use in the West.

Politically, we had to show these terrorist groups that there was a price to be paid for messing with the United States. If stronger steps had been taken by other administrations when our interests were attacked earlier and that point was firmly made, the invasion of Iraq may not have been necessary.

Strategically, it made sense as Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran were the major seats of terrorism. By taking out the middle, Afghanistan and Iraq, we isolate Syria and Iran. The free flow of terrorists in the region stops. That is a no-brainer in war, divide and conquer. That is why Iran and Syria are spending so much supplying the insurgency in Iraq. If Iraq becomes stable, Iran and Syria as they are today are doomed.

How come the media never reports on the money trail that is supplying the insurgency in Iraq? Do they think these imams are sitting outside the mosques with a tin cup collecting for IEDs? How come this is all our fault and not the fault of the countries supplying the insurgents, namely Iran and Syria? Where is the media pressure on them to help stabilize the region?

It is time we told our media and politicians to smarten up and get behind the war effort so that we can end it sooner. The course their talk now only encourages the enemy and makes them think that all they have to do is hold on and they can be like Vietnam. Speaking of which, how come the media never stepped up and took responsibility for the millions of people murdered by the Communists after we left Vietnam?

I am just a regular guy who pays attention and I figured this out. Come on America, get with the program. We have to send the message to our politicians that we are not defeatist. We have to demand that they win this war. Not only for our safety, but the safety of the entire world. Terrorism in any form can not be allowed to exist. If the Europeans, Canadians and others are too weak to help deal with it, we have to do it ourselves. That is a sad commentary but unfortunately it is true. It is noble to fight for your own freedom; it is even nobler to fight for another’s. America is a noble country with noble ideals and some noble leaders, and this war is a noble endeavor.

Bob Mercer is a retired school teacher who resides in Bucksport.