DEMS RESPOND TO BUSH 'SURGE SPEECH'

President Bush said in his prime time speech to the nation Wednesday evening that changes are coming to the strategy in Iraq. The full text of the speech is here.

The Democratic response to the President’s speech was given by Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. FULL TEXT HERE. Turning on a political dime, Durbin now says our troops are courageous, praising them for their “immense sacrifice”. In June 2005, however, Durbin compared our “courageous” soldiers to Nazis, Soviets in their gulags and Pol Pot.

Durbin quoted GEN Abizaid, commander of CENTCOM Middle East, which includes Iraq, saying, “More American forces prevent the Iraqis from doing more, from taking more responsibility for their own future,” end of quote. Yet GEN Abizaid also told the Congress in November that all options were on the table and he ruled nothing out. In fact, when Abizaid said he felt troop levels should stay where they were, Abizaid was accused by Democrats of promoting the status quo.

The worst part of Durbin’s asinine assertions are about Iraqis themselves:

And we have given the Iraqis so much. We have deposed their dictator. We dug him out of a hole in the ground and forced him to face the courts of his own people. We’ve given the Iraqi people a chance to draft their own constitution, hold their own free elections and establish their own government.

We Americans, and a few allies, have protected Iraq when no one else would.

WE? WE have given Iraqis so much? WE deposed their dictator? WE gave them a chance? WE have protected Iraq when no one else would? Since when have the Democrats protected Iraqis? If “no one else” isn’t the Democrats, who is? “No one” has stood more opposed to Iraqi freedom beside insurgents and terrorists than the Democratic Party. Even Iran and Syria side with Democrats in opposition to President Bush’s plan to bring resolution to Iraq. When Osama bin Laden endorsed John Kerry for President in 2004, it’s pretty clear who is on the side of the Iraqis and who isn’t. If it were up to Democrats, Saddam would still be on his throne, torturing his people and living well from bribes and kickbacks from the United Nations.

Now, in the fourth year of this war, it is time for the Iraqis to stand and defend their own nation. The government of Iraq must now prove that it will make the hard political decisions which will bring an end to this bloody civil war, disband the militias and death squads, create an environment of safety and opportunity for every Iraqi, and begin to restore the basics of electricity and water and health care that define the quality of life.

Apparently Mr. Durbin doesn’t know how long it took for America to stand and defend herself or how long she battled against the “insurgency” born out of the American civil war called the KKK. Left wing Democrats launched a “reign of terror” against Republican leaders both black and white at the end of the civil war. The KKK was literally a terrorist group that came from the left wing of the Democratic party. 141 years later, the KKK is petering out. How long does Mr. Durbin afford Iraqis to rid themselves of their death squads and militias?

When the Iraqis understand that America is not giving an open-ended commitment of support, when they understand that our troops indeed are coming home, then they will understand the day has come to face their own responsibility to protect and defend their nation.

If anyone understands this it’s the Iraqis, not the Democrats. In reality, Iraqis have stood up for themselves and defended their nation since the beginning. They’ve challenged terrorists armed with nothing more than a purple finger in three historic elections. They’ve lined up outside police and military stations to serve their country knowing they could be targets of suicide bombers. They’ve worked with Coalition Forces to turn in insurgents and terror suspects in trying to reclaim their neighborhoods, supplying our best intelligence at great risk to themselves.

“The Iraqis must understand that they alone can lead their nation to freedom. They alone must meet the challenges that lie ahead. And they must know that, every time they call 911, we are not going to send 20,000 more American soldiers.”

What utterly contemptible ignorance! Sen. Durbin might recall that Iraqis counted on the U.N. to be the world’s 911, but their hopes were crushed when the U.N. crawled into bed with Saddam under the guise of the Oil for Food program. Iraqis hold only Saddam Hussein in greater contempt. It was America, compliments of the Bush administration, that did what the U.N. was supposed to do in enforcing the resolutions that the world’s “911″ refused to. If Democrats have their way, it won’t be long before Iraq knows it can never count on the U.S. again. That’s a win-win for Democrats.

Democrats might want to remember that they also voted for this war in Iraq and that they share an equal obligation to support the war effort. To do anything else is morally and politically wrong. While the United States under the Bush administration deposed Saddam Hussein, it also totally gutted the Iraqi government from the inside out and it is the obligation of the United States of America to help rebuild Iraq and support a people who have been victimized by a dictator, exploited by the world’s “911″ and forgotten by everyone else.

It is not U.S. involvement in Iraq that has created more terrorists, but solidarity the Democratic party has shown America’s enemies. By May 2006, Zarqawi and al-Qaeda in Iraq admitted they were losing the war in Iraq. They claimed in written documents to be outnumbered, outwitted, inept, and that their mission was “getting worse year after year” because of Iraqi and US resolve and resiliency. Al-Qaeda admitted trying to divide and conquer Iraq through sectarian violence and that “American investment in (Iraq) was not in vain.” By June 2006, Iraq had al-Qaeda on the run and Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie said:

“We believe that this is the beginning of the end of Al Qaeda in Iraq. (These documents show that al-Qaeda) is in pretty bad shape. Now we have the upper hand.”

So what happened? Joe Wilson conducted a false public campaign challenging the premise that Saddam had sought uranium from Nigeria so as to undermine the President’s claim in the State of the Union address 2003 that Saddam was indeed seeking to build a WMD program. In fact, Wilson admitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee in July 2004 that he “misspoke” about the uranium procurement. Based on this lie, Democrats then began an all out political campaign to discredit the war and with extreme left wing anti-war groups began to give hope to the terrorists and insurgents. With every passing month that John Murtha, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, et al, proclaiming the demise of Iraq, the failure of America and the success of the terrorists, more and more “willing martyrs” signed up for al-Qaeda training camps or sectarian militias. Who wouldn’t want to be on the winning side?

Durbin said a troop surge in Iraq is not what Americans voted for in the November mid-term elections, giving Iraqis more cause for concern. The enemies of Iraqi freedom are encouraged now more than ever and believe they can simply wait out U.S. withdrawal. This undermines Iraqi confidence that the U.S. will see through the mission, putting Iraqis in a position to align themselves with groups looking to inherit the power the United States is leaving behind.

The Democratic Party is the party of “choice”, yet despite the exceeded re-enlistment and recruitment rates by every branch in the United States military in 2006, liberals seek to take away the choice of Americans in uniform. These brave Americans believe in this mission and volunteer to fight this enemy in Iraq to prevent another 9/11. Instead of condoning the choice of the soldier to finish this job, they sabotage it. Liberals say they don’t always agree with a woman’s choice to kill her unborn child, yet they support her right to do so. It’s no wonder soldiers don’t believe Democrats really support them.

President Bush said in his speech:

I have made it clear to the Prime Minister and Iraq’s other leaders that America’s commitment is not open-ended. If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people — and it will lose the support of the Iraqi people. Now is the time to act. The Prime Minister understands this.

It’s clear what Prime minister al-Maliki understands: there is no change in Iraq but retreat and withdrawal that can satisfy the Democrats and they now have a majority in the House and Senate. The only hope for Iraq is rapid response to counter the Democrats sabotaging of Iraq’s destiny.