President Bush, Please Keep Speaking About Irresponsible Senators

It is about time that President Bush finally denounced Senators Reid, Kerry, Schumer, Kennedy, Durbin, Rockefeller, Representative Pelosi, and Howard Dean for what they are.  Irresponsible. 

I myself would have added unpatriotic and dangerous to the security of the United States and the safety of our soldiers who are already in harms way.

Yesterday, in a speech at the Tobyhanna Army Depot, President Bush said:

"When I made the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power, Congress approved it with strong bipartisan support. I also recognize that some of our fellow citizens and elected officials didn't support the liberation of Iraq. And that is their right, and I respect it. As President and Commander-in-Chief, I accept the responsibilities, and the criticisms, and the consequences that come with such a solemn decision.

While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began. Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war. These critics are fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments related to Iraq's weapons programs.

The stakes in the global war on terror are too high, and the national interest is too important, for politicians to throw out false charges.  These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will. As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them to war continue to stand behind them.  Our troops deserve to know that this support will remain firm when the going gets tough. And our troops deserve to know that whatever our differences in Washington, our will is strong, our nation is united, and we will settle for nothing less than victory."

Just to repeat, "the stakes in the global war on terror are too high, and the national interest is too important, for politicians to throw out false charges."  I guess their hatred of President Bush has overwhelmed any feeling of national unity these folks might have had.  How hard is it to figure out that a divided America is a weaker America.  Do Senators Kennedy and Kerry think OBL and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi don't get CNN International in their hideouts?  If I were running a terrorist campaign against the US, I would bide my time while waiting to see if the Democrats pull off their charade of "Bush lied us into war".  Irresponsible.

When I was a kid and struggling to be an "instant Dad" to my wife's two sons, I got one piece of advice that I remember to this day.  It was to argue or discuss behind closed doors, reach a decision we both could live with, and always present a unified front to the kids.  The same holds true when running a business or a team.  Argue all you want in the conference room, but once you open that door, everyone on the team buys in to the plan.  This approach is also a good idea when thousands of raving murderers are trying to kill us and destroy everything we value on this Earth.  Why can't the Democrats figure this out?  Irresponsible.

With respect to the US effort in Iraq, the time for discussion and argument was PRIOR to March 19, 2003.  The US House and US Senate voted to take Saddam out (pdf link) on October 11, 2002.  Iraq and Saddam Hussein failed to comply with one UN resolution after another, since shortly after the end of the Gulf War in 1991.  Some rush to war, huh?  The US Congress had MORE THEN 10 years to get their act together to resolve this issue, and they finally did on October 11, 2002.  Now some of the Democrats want a do-over.  Irresponsible. 

Yesterday I attended a Veterans Day ceremony in my home town of Frederick, MD.  A young man (Colonel Mark Baines, USA) spoke of what it means to be a Veteran.  He said that veterans share a common bond that is not readily understood by those who have not served. 

"This bond is molded with a shared love of this great country, a shared sense of duty, a shared willingness to place the greater good of the whole over that of the individual, that's what it means to be a veteran."

It is irresponsible, and dangerous to America, that the Democrats do not share Colonel Baines' and his fellow veteran's love of this country, sense of duty, and willingness to place the greater good of the whole United States over that of individual political motivations.  If the Democrats did have this sense of national pride, they would join the President and the United States military to execute everything in our power to quickly defeat the enemy, complete the mission of the war on terrorism, and return our troops home with the honor and respect that they deserve.

Copyright © 2005 Robert McNickle All Rights Reserved