The Momentum Must be Kept UP 
By Rob Skinner

While speaking to Lou Dobbs on his CNN nightly political talk show March 27, CNN's military analyst, General David Grange said President Bush was correct to say (while at the Air Force Museum in Ohio) that Al Qaeda's grip on Baghdad and Iraq was broken. When Dobbs asked the general to comment on President Bush's assessment of success, of "positive results" in Iraq Grange said, "Well I think throughout most of Iraq that is true . . . but the momentum [the surge] must be kept up because they'll come back into any crack that seen is available. Any situation down in Basra will cause them to react somewhere else. You'll have second and third order affects where any of these things that start to break down - An Bar Province, Basra or in Baghdad itself."

On the issue of soon withdrawing the troops as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have made a cornerstone of their campaigns, Grange retorted: "Why would you send them home just because you want to send them home in July. If conditions are not right there will be failure." 

The failure of our troops to defeat America's enemies in Iraq is something that high level Democrats, like Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy and Howard Dean, have been predicting publicly for many, many months if not a couple years. Dean almost became the Democratic Presidential nominee for being the first high level candidate to challenge the decision, the wisdom, to war against Saddam in order to recover his Weapons of Mass Destruction. Even President Clinton believed his CIA intelligence estimates that Saddam had all of them - chemical, biological and nuclear capabilities. But Saddam skillfully bluffed the world’s intelligence agencies on this one. But this defeatist message has been adopted by nearly every one of the recent 9 Democrats running for President and to the point that it's become this self-fulfilling political prophesy. But if the prophesy fails rather than the war before the 2008 elections - its essentially doomsday for a Democrat sitting in the Oval Office. 

Shall we recall, just one more time, a most prominent voice pronouncing public defeat in Iraq at the lips of US Senate leader Harry Reid? Yes. It was just a year ago such words by him, and others, were spoken and not misspoken, in an attempt to derail the sending in 30,000 more US troops into Iraq - the surge. "The War is LOST" announced Harry Reid as scores of other Democrats cheered quietly in public but boisterously in private. Wow. What a despicable strategy to order to secure political power and a victory over one’s political opponents - cheer leading for our troops to be defeated in Iraq!! 

But Democrats understand that "Bush's War" once supported by a high majority of House and US Senate Democrats in 2002, must now be perceived as a horrific mistake; that is, if they have a real chance of winning the 2008 Presidential election and more Congressional seats. Political fortunes to be made on the defeat of our courageous men and women fighting for America’s vital interests and for their own lives. A disgrace really. 

But go back and recall all those positive Democratic voices in late 2002 and in much of 2003 for "Bush's War". That Saddam posed a great threat to America as many Democrats like Hillary John Edwards, and John Kerry insisted. All those positive voices for warring against Saddam have withered away to become just a bunch of misspeaks. Furthermore, since the same Democrats have recanted their original 2002 vote to support the war, those votes are now officially mis-votes. Yes indeed - a whole lot of Democrats did a whole lot of misspeakin' and a lot of misvotin'. Now going into the last months of this soap-opera like campaign season of drama queens, dirty political racial and gender card tricks, to say nothing about that Judas of a Governor Richards - all those misspeaks and mis-votes is their story, by God, and they’re sticking to it. Sticking to it like super glue? I wonder. 

Hold on there. Hold on there partner. What if - just what if the Iraqi government gets its political and military act together in late summer 2008. What if America's and Iraqi's enemies in Iraq just wither away. What if in September or October the Iraqi Government declares that major combat operations against the hydra-headed Islamic enemy is over. And what if banners and bill boards across Iraq begin to read, "Mission Accomplished". I think the Democrats will begin to recant their negative assessments of "Bush's War" and we all know that a double negative (the first going negative on Bush) is a positive, of sorts. Don't be surprised - don't go into "shock and awe" if you begin to hear some in high Democratic places begin to sing "hail to the Chief". He wasn't mistaken after all. In politics, especially this year, the major issues, alliances and complaints make Full Circle! 
 

Rob Skinner is a former Editor of TrueNorthRadio.com