Now that the Iraqis have had their first election, I would like to get your thoughts on the situation in Iraq, whether it will get better or worse and if the Interior Minister for the Iraqi government is right in claiming that US troops could leave in 18 months.

Here are mine. I feel that the Iraqis crave freedom and that the insurgency (from Syria and Iran) have suffered a major defeat. The situation will be tense for a few days, but I feel that it will stabilize as the new national assembly asserts its power over the nation. The police and army will grow as more will be trained and more will join. I do not believe that our troops will come home in 18 months, though I applaud the Minister for their confidence in the people. It does depend on how the other elections go, but I think we will need to have some presence as in Germany for a few more years to assist the Iraqi police and army to grow and become better. I praise the Iraqis for their commitment to freedom and not allowing the terrorists to stop them from their goal of democracy.

Now that elections are over, and the brave Iraqi people have voted, I think we will see the insurgency crumble in the face of democracy. As a general rule, tyranny cannot stand up to the rule of the people.

Iraqi's voted with their feet as much as with their purple stained fingers, they chose to come to the polls despite the attendent dangers of suicide bombers, rouge gunmen, and brutal extremism. I am deeply encouraged by this. After this victory, I understand that it may be tempting to ask, "when will our troops come home?" What I would answer is, our troops should come home after the victory is secured. There should be no timetable, and as long as Iraqi's cannot defend their nascent republic, we should be there to defend them.

Once Iraqi's can defend their state, we should begn to withdraw. And, I think- increasingly over the next year- that is exactly what we will see happen, as more of the solider's on the street become Iraqi defense forces-and less American.

Americans can be proud that we have stood with the Iraqi people, despite criticism, mistakes, despite all the NY Times editorializing; our brave men and women stood with the Iraqi's to see the fulfillment of this moment. Leaving them now would be a terrible betrayal of their hope for freedom and aspiration to self-government, in much the same way that federal troops left the black Americans in the south during reconstruction, or our withdraw from South Vietnam.

A message from the General, that I received last night. I hope all the forum members enjoy this.

Subject: Iraqi Elections
>
>
> Brigadier General Mike Jones,
> Assistant Division Commander (Maneuver) of the 1st Cavalry Division
in
> the Baghdad Central area.
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> It isn't over yet, but today there was a resounding victory for
freedom
> and democracy here in Baghdad. Having been here for a while now, many
> of us have grown weary of the hand-wringers, worriers, pessimists,
> whiners, and host of others who have been telling us for so long that
> all is lost in Iraq. Today we witnessed just how courageous the Iraqi
> people can be and how much they love their new-found freedom.
>
> After listening to the pundits tell us how terrible the Iraqi
Security
> Forces are, today I watched the Iraqi Security Forces stand tall.
They
> protected 1,188 polling sites in Baghdad. Although there were a
number
> of suicide bombers who attacked today, not a single one penetrated
the
> perimeter of a polling site. There were several Iraqi policemen, and
> several Iraqi soldiers who lost their lives today. But they did not
> lose their honor or their courage; none of the 30,000 plus Iraqi
> Security Forces on duty in Baghdad ran away from danger today.
>
> At the site of our first suicide bombing of the day, voters did not
lose
> their courage either. They quickly lined back up at the same site,
> spitting on the body of the suicide bomber as they passed by in line
to
> vote. A woman came out of line and took the shoe of the bomber and
put
> it on his face- a great insult to an Arab. The same was true at any
> polling site that had violence. Voters immediately lined up again to
> cast their vote. How many Americans value their privilege to vote
enough
> to show that kind of courage?
>
> We have listened to many experts talk about how the Sunnis would not
> participate in the election. Polling sites in Abu Guyreb were moved
to
> Gasaliya because the Iraqi Election Commission was concerned about
> security in Abu Guyrb. We watched thousands walk down the highway-
> Sunni Moslems- on the 7 mile round trip to the polling sites so they
> could vote. All under the threat that terrorists had been making that
> they would kill anyone who voted. How many Americans would do that?
>
> All over Baghdad the story was the same and I could tell a dozen
stories
> of great courage and determination. Despite the enemy's campaign of
> terror, despite danger, threats, intimidation, and the sporadic
> incidents of violence and terror today, Iraqis turned out in
determined,
> large numbers to vote. The excitement was moving. Even though the
> terrorists have said they will kill anyone with a "marked finger"
(when
> you voted your finger was dipped in ink to keep people from voting a
> second time), voters paraded down the street holding their fingers up
in
> joy and overwhelming pride.
>
> When I told one Iraqi I was sorry that people had died or been
wounded
> today, he just said "freedom has a price, and this is the price that
we
> must pay". And every Iraqi I talked to said thank you to the United
> States for this opportunity, for this freedom, and how grateful they
> were for our help.
>
> I am sure it will only be hours until you start hearing all the
> "experts", most of which have never been to Iraq, start trying to
> convince us that today was flawed, failed, or somehow less than a
> wonderful day and a blow for freedom. They are the same people who
say
> we are failing here, that you couldn't do an election on the 30th of
> January, and on and on. It is true we haven't "won" here yet. It is
> not predetermined that we will win, and it will take continued
sacrifice
> and determination on our part. Those who hate freedom and democracy
will
> still fight, many to the death, to try to stop this march to freedom
and
> prosperity by the Iraqis with our help. They are terrified of the
> thought of a free and democratic Iraq that leads this whole region to
a
> democratic future.
>
> But despite this, I encourage you from here in Baghdad, for at least
one
> day, to ignore the pundits and experts, to enjoy a day where a blow
for
> freedom was struck. Know that somewhere in the world, because of the
> sacrifice of your friends, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and
> countrymen, good won over evil, freedom over terror, and democracy
over
> despotism.
>
> Last June 30, Iraq was given their sovereignty. Today, they earned
> their freedom. And we should all be joyful for that.
>
> All the Best,
>
> Mike

A wonderful day, indeed - I only wish Sistani hadn't betrayed us afterwards by reversing course and heading Iraq towards an Islamic theocracy.

I think the administrations current objectives in the Middle East are by far the most deceiving ever undertaken in history. The world operates on very simple terms, such that whoever is the biggest kid on the block, the USA must collect rent from the smaller neighbors.

We aren't in Iraq or the middleast to spread ideology which as a result of illiteracy and no free press, let alone an "objective one" cannot take route. Life is hard and brutal in some parts of our planet and so shall it stay. America fell into place quite nicely but the process isn't easily duplicated.

The real problem is our dependency on oil, we import over 12 million barrels daily of crude and are now fending off the asians for long term supply contracts. Big deal though, we deposed a tyrant and claimed a country's natural resources in the name of liberty. As a result of folk being so politically correct and refusing to step off high moral grounds no one will ever concede to this basic fact. It's like a 2 ton elephant in your bedroom which no one mentions.

Clearly there were no WMD's. And consider this, if there were, if there were what soverign state in there right mind would attack us? They would evaporate in short order. This isn't to say that a terrorist faction has the same concern however and if the events of 9/11 weren't contrived to serve as a catalyst to secure our "vital interests" in the area we should be gathering intelligence which we have always been doing bettern than everyone else.

So as America watches The Simple Life and American Idle they are growing simply stupider by the minute and are so jaded by the loss of troops to even consider what sacrifices must be made for teh preservation of an empire. Politicians stopped selling breads and circuses but now sell multilateralism and climate treaties.

On the UN, who cares, we have over 700 military bases outside our country, we dictate the course of events in the world. And I'm a republican, I can't even begin to imagine how difficult the persent state of the country is to democrats.