Quote of the Day
By N.E. Republican
Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani apologizing to President Bush (via Wash Times):
"I owe you an apology," Mr. Giuliani began. "I made a mistake during my [Republican National Convention] speech ... I said that with 64 days to go, John Kerry could change his mind five or six times about what to do in Iraq. Well, he's already changed his mind four or five times and I'm going to be proven wrong again because I think we're looking more like eight or nine times."
Here is a runner-up for quote of the day from an unnamed Democratic consultant (via Wash Times):
"I would have called you crazy if in 1989 you would have told me that a decade and a half later this party was going to nominate Dukakis' lieutenant governor — another aloof Massachusetts liberal who would overconfidently feel he would mop the floor with this clueless guy named Bush. But I fear I've seen this movie, and it's 'Groundhog Day.' "
Shameful Democrats
The first few paragraphs of this editorial in the Tennessean describes the harm the Democrat's strategy is causing better than any of my posts below:
Men and women in Iraq: Don't count on media to tell your stories
These are the best of days to be a terrorist.
If you can convince a wacko desiring 70 virgins to detonate himself and a car bomb in Iraq, you're guaranteed to see your handiwork leading the nightly news from America.
Then, the Democratic Party candidate wanting to replace the U.S. president you hate for standing up to your madness will personally cite your actions as proof that America is failing in Iraq and more than 1,000 of our heroes died in vain.
It doesn't get any better than that in the terrorist world. Compared to this propaganda weapon that detonates nightly in U.S. households and psyches, RPGs and IEDs are mere slingshots. And it's impossible for our sons and daughters in uniform to fight that kind of advantage thousands of miles away back home.
That's why we their family and advocates must fight for them here. We must keep trumpeting the truth on what's actually happening in Iraq — through eyewitness reporting in their e-mails. Consider this e-mail from the son of Carol and Mickey Rose of Old Hickory. Marine Lt. Col. Jim Rose provides a helluva different perspective than reporters in Baghdad hotels:
''Spent last weekend and the beginning of this week in Fallujah. I enjoyed it from the perspective of actually seeing what the media miss or rather what they fail to report. My take is the media show that, as Fallujah goes, so goes the rest of Iraq. This is certainly not the case.
''Fallujah is the center of gravity for insurgency and radiates it throughout the region. Most, if not all, of it starts there. That being the case, most of Iraq is working with us to set the right conditions. I guess that part is not as glamorous to the media, so they continue to film the fighting.
''Fallujah … has been the center of discontent in Iraq since 1935. Saddam didn't even have control of it. And now, the media portray us as not having a handle on it. For sure, we don't control Fallujah proper. I wish I could explain more, but we're moving in the right direction. I'll leave it at that.
''An example of the media report, I just saw today on the news where they reported innocents wounded and killed in the raids on Fallujah last night. No wonder everyone hates us.
''Here's the real story: The operation was actually the destruction of a cache of weapons with vehicles around that were taken out by air, artillery and ground forces. There were many, many secondary explosions as the arms cache exploded. Incidentally, this was in a remote location where no collateral damage was possible. Weapons were seen being transferred from a large truck (semi) into SUVs and pickup trucks. There were many people around helping. We had eyes on them for a long time to ensure this was an enemy target.
''We win on the ground, we lose in the news.''
Carol Rose contacted her son to tell him I wanted to use his e-mail. He wrote back: ''I can do better than the one you have. We all watch the national media over here, and it's pretty numbing to see how the stories get reported.''
Truly, I apologize to heroes like Lt. Col. Jim Rose for my profession. During one nauseating sermon-and-question session with CNN's Aaron Brown, reporter Walt Rodgers in Baghdad provided a poor excuse for the media's failure to provide a true picture of Iraq.
Brown asked of conditions in Iraq: ''Why is it getting worse?''
Rodgers responded: ''That's a simple and complicated question, Aaron. It's complicated because we don't ever see the entire picture, and there are areas of the country where U.S. forces are indeed working to restore medical facilities and help people.''
So then, why are CNN and Brown saying things are getting worse, that Iraq is in chaos? Mark Steyn of the Sunday Telegraph in London puts Iraq in a context the media ignore:
''There is a problem in the Sunni Triangle and in certain Baghdad suburbs. If you look at the figures for August, over half the 71 U.S. fatalities that month died in one province — al-Anbar, which covers much of the Sunni Triangle. Most of the remainder were killed dispatching young Sadr's goons in Najaf or in operations against other Sunni Triangulators in Samarra, with a couple of isolated incidents in Mosul and Kirkuk.
''In 11 of Iraq's 18 provinces, not a single U.S. soldier died. In two-thirds of the country, municipal government has been rebuilt, business is good, restaurants are open, life is as jolly as it has been in living memory. This summer, the Shia province of Dhi Qar, southeast of Baghdad, held the first free elections in its history.''
Chaos? Yes, but it's not all over Iraq. The chaos is in America, in the values of media and politicians who are making terrorists more powerful than they ever dreamed. |
