American Troops Are Coming Home From Iraq by Gregory Hilton

After a year in Iraq the 250 soldiers of the 146th Signal Battalion came home to Jacksonville, Florida today. They suffered no casualties. They faithfully answered our nation’s call and the U.S. mission to foster a free and secure Iraq is almost complete. Our troops pulled back from all of the Iraqi cities and towns in June.
The tremendous change was demonstrated this week when Prime Minister Malaki announced his unity slate for the January 16th elections. It includes Sunnis, who turned on al-Qaeda, Kurds, tribal leaders, religious minorities and, of course, the dominant Shi’ite’s. The campaign will be difficult and the opposition National Alliance could win. That is what democracy is all about.
There is still violence and basic services have not been restored everywhere, but Iraq is now safer, more orderly and farther along the path to liberty than ever before. For six years American soldiers stood between the elements of a fledgling free market democracy and the forces of destruction. Now the Iraq Army is standing up and the baton is being passed. We are witnessing the dawn of a new Middle East and we should be proud and eternally grateful for the sacrifice of our armed forces.

President Must Decide on More Troops for Afghanistan by Gregory Hilton

President Obama is back from vacation and he will soon have to make a tough decision regarding a new strategy and more troops for Afghanistan. Public opinion has turned against the war, and Senators Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Bernie Sanders (D-VT) are working to bring the troops home. Rep. Jim McGovern’s (D-MA) amendment requiring an Afghan exit strategy was supported by a majority of House Democrats, including key members of the leadership, such as Rep. David Obey (Chairman of the Appropriations Committee) and Rep. John Murtha (Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.) Congressional Republicans will support a troop increase. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) and House Republican Leader John Boehner (OH) have all said they would support President Obama if he requests additional troops.
In August, 45 Americans were killed, and while no one wants to see an increase in spending, the Taliban is making progress. They also are continuing to destabilize Pakistan (a nuclear weapons state). Unfortunately U.S. public opinion has turned around. Afghanistan is no longer “the good war” of the 2008 campaign.
The new strategy will call for boosting the Afghan army to 240,000 from 135,000 and the Afghan police to 160,000 from 82,000. This will require thousands of additional U.S. trainers. The new strategy involves safeguarding the Afghan population while the U.S. and the Afghan Army hunts down militants.
Some of the questions the President will ponder are: Will the Taliban and al-Qaeda stay in Afghanistan or will they once again export terrorism? Will our allies finally come through with the pledges they have made regarding troops for Afghanistan? The EU and our other allies appear to prefer Obama to Bush, but nothing substantive has come from this change of attitude.
Pakistan is also a problem and the United States has given the government roughly $10 billion in military and civilian aid. There is nothing wrong with a Pakistan first strategy, and some are referring to this as the Afghanistan/Pakistan war. The Joint Chiefs of Staff will endorse General Stanley McChrystal’s report, but his recommendations regarding an increase in U.S. troop levels will not be made public for several weeks.
Ambassador Eikenberry and General McCrystal both have extensive experience with terrorism and they are presenting a solid plan which is ready to go. U.S. policy appears to be stuck at a stage where there is fear of making any decision, meanwhile lives and the fate of both Afghanistan and Pakistan are at stake.

Washinngton Post Editorial: Don’t Abandon Afghanistan

Senators Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Bernie Sanders (D-VT) want the United States us to get out of Afghanistan. and they are trying to enlist support for a resolution which will set a timetable for withdrawal. I am in agreement with the Washington Post. It will be difficult but we should stay the course. President Obama is very popular overseas and it would be wonderful if he found other nations to share this burden with us.
The Post is emphasizing why we should not abandon Afghanistan and I hope conservatives will support Obama if he asks for more troops. According to the Post: “The Democratic left and some conservatives have begun to argue that the Afghan war is unwinnable and U.S. interests can be secured by a much smaller military campaign. Sen. Feingold has proposed a timetable for withdrawal. The alternatives they suggest has already been tried — and led to failure in both Afghanistan and Iraq.”
“For years, U.S. commanders in both countries focused on killing insurgents and minimizing the numbers of U.S. troops rather than pacifying the country. The result was that violence in both countries steadily grew, until a counterinsurgency strategy was applied to Iraq in 2007. As for limiting U.S. intervention in Afghanistan to attacks by drones and Special Forces units, that was the strategy of the 1990s, which, as chronicled by the September 11 commission, paved the way for al-Qaeda’s attacks on New York and Washington. Given that the Taliban and al-Qaeda now also aim to overturn the government of nuclear-armed Pakistan, the risks of a U.S. withdrawal far exceed those of continuing to fight the war — even were the result to be continued stalemate.
Yet if Mr. Obama provides adequate military resources, there’s a reasonable chance the counterinsurgency approach will yield something better than stalemate, as it did in Iraq.”
“The Taliban insurgency is not comparable to those that earlier fought the Soviets and the British in Afghanistan. Surveys show that support for its rule is tiny, even in its southern base. . . Stabilizing the country will require many years of patient effort and the pain of continued American casualties. Yet the consequences of any other option are likely to be far more dangerous for this country.”

World War II Started 70 Years Ago Today by Gregory Hilton

Winston Churchill: “There never was a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action than World War II.”

World War II started 70 years ago today and it would have been to stop Adolph Hitler at so many points during the nightmare years of the 1930s. Britain, France and the US did not have a united national will to meet the Nazi challenge. He was allowed to get away with aggression so many times. I highly recommend “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” (1960) by William Shirer who was present at so many of the significant events. The book is over 1000 pages and it includes many documents captured from the German archives. For over 10 years no one looked at them while they sat in storage at Alexandria, Virginia’s torpedo factory.
For a long time we did not realize what they were and one reason is because the documents were in German. The Reich Chancellery and other government buildings were in East Berlin which was in the Soviet sphere. The U.S. Army was able to gather many documents and sent them by truck to Hamburg. They were put on a ship for Alexandria and then gathered dust for many years. We are fortunate that historians such as Shirer were given access to them.
Albert Speer’s “Inside the Third Reich” was especially valuable because he knew Hitler so well. He obviously had a unique perspective and said “If Adolph Hitler had a best friend it would have been me.” He was one of the few Nazi’s to plead guilty at Nuremberg and served 20 years in Spandau prison. Speer was 20 years younger than Hitler but he was an architect and that was Hitler’s hobby.
Pat Buchanan’s column today is also devoted to WW II. I have enjoyed many of his articles on domestic issues in the past but it is lunacy to claim Hitler was misunderstood. Even if Buchanan is correct and Hitler would have been satisfied with Poland, what about “the final solution” and murder of 6 million innocent people? That alone justified America’s role in WW II.
On foreign policy Buchanan and Cindy Sheehan are identical. They are both isolationists who are opposed to WW I, WW II, the Gulf War, Bosnia, and Iraq. Buchanan believes WW II was a mistake because Germany was not a threat to America. That is exactly what the liberals say who now want us out of Afghanistan. Hitler had clear plans to invade France irrespective of whether England declared war. The idea that he would simply stop with Poland is rebutted by his own statements. I find Buchanan’s anti-Israel rhetoric offensive, but I have to admit it is mild compared to what appears on the Huffington Post.

Afghanistan: Our Next Big Challenge by Gregory Hilton

Afghanistan will be our next big issue. In two weeks our commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, will send his report to the White House. He is expected to recommend three options: 15,000, 25,000 or 45,000 additional troops. If Obama and the Joint Chiefs says this is necessary, Sen. McCain will support the request for more troops. Their mission will be doubling the Afghan police and army forces to a total of 400,000.
Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Bernie Sanders (D-VT) have already said they will lead the opposition, and 14 House Members have signed a joint letter to Obama pledging to work against any additional troops. The Senators will appear at the DC premiere of a new anti-war movie, “Get Afghanistan Right,” and a left wing coalition is being formed. Our terrorist enemies live in Afghanistan, and this week’s vote proved the people want democracy. The Taliban attacked polling stations and cut off the fingers of some voters. The left wing always attacked Bush by saying Afghanistan was the necessary war. We will soon know if they really meant it.
Adm. Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this morning and said he was worried about declining public support for the war on Afghanistan.
The Taliban claims to be a religious organization but they take credit for spraying battery acid in faces of little Afghan girls. They are intent on stopping the education of girls, and the Taliban has already destroyed 478 schools. Many schools have been set on fire or endured attacks from mustard gas rockets. The cruel Taliban attacks will continue, but they are not going to win.
In 2001, only a million Afghan children were enrolled in school, all of them boys. The education of girls was banned. Today, approximately 7 million Afghan children attend school, of which 2.6 million, or roughly a third, are girls. All of the children receive a free school lunch from U.S. AID. There are 23 year old young women in elementary school because they never were given that opportunity earlier in life. Practically all of their parents are illiterate, but change is slowly coming.
A Washington Post/ABC News poll this week reveals that a majority of Americans now believe that Afghanistan is not worth fighting for — and only 24% back a troop increase. While 45% say the American troop commitment there should actually be reduced. For over two years Barack Obama has often said: “The real war on terror is in Afghanistan,” and I hope he will be able to convince his supporters of the importance of the U.S. and allied mission.

Pentagon Does Not Want New Congressional Jets by Gregory Hilton

I support our troops and President Obama’s threatened veto of $2.8 billion in pork barrel spending. A spokesman for Defense Secretary Gates says the unnecessary spending Congress is requesting: “Just forces us to take money from things we do need to fund and redirect it for things we don’t need, and in a time of war, we just can’t afford that.” The Congress also wants to spend $550 million to buy eight business-class passenger jets to ferry senior government officials.
President Obama has proposed a zero growth defense budget through 2014. We are also experiencing a procurement holiday and worn out equipment is not being replaced. Obama is not requesting new presidential helicopters but now the House is setting aside $485 million toward reviving this terminated program.
The House included more than 1,000 additional spending provisions totaling more than $2.8 billion. We are experiencing significant setbacks and casualties in Afghanistan, and do we really want to take funds away from our troops to be spent on luxury travel for lawmakers?
Our nation paid a high price when Congress decimated our covert operations budget in the past. The Pentagon will also have to suffer because of stimulus spending. According to the survey data few people are concerned about defense spending right now, and the outcry after 9/11 has faded. Obama is not going to veto the defense bill and the final product will be determined in the Senate, but we should support the President when he makes an attempt to restore funding for the troops. To meet budget requirements last week, Defense Secretary Gates ordered $54 billion more be cut from the Pentagon’s five-year defense budget plan.

Is Rep. Ron Paul an Isolationist by Gregory Hilton

Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-TX) has twice sought the GOP Presidential nomination and he has run for president as a Libertarian. He claims to be a non-interventionist but his policies are very similar to isolationism. He wants the United States to ignore all of the state sponsors of terror. The Congressman’s repeated insistence that “There is no risk of somebody invading us” is just what the isolationists of the 1930s believed — right up until Pearl Harbor.
He is wrong and they did attack us: 1993 (WTC I), 1996 (Khobar Towers), 1998 (African Embassies), 2000 (USS Cole), and 2001 (WTC/Pentagon). His logic would have caused the US to lift not a finger to help Europe against Hitler (remember: “non-intervention”), nor help the West Berliners (1948), nor help the South Koreans (1950), nor help the Grenadians (1984), nor help the Kuwaitis (1990).
Paul’s idea that we can maintain peace by halting our projection of military strength has been proven wrong by history.

Was The Iraq War a Mistake Because WMD Stockpiles Were Not Found by Gregory Hilton

The United States and its allies believed Saddam Hussein had WMD stockpiles. Prior to the U.S. invasion no one could determine if these stockpiles had been destroyed because the Iraqi regime had kicked out the UN weapons inspectors four years earlier.
The stockpiles did not exist but the UN Report by weapons inspector Charles Duelfer concluded that Iraq had the ability and infrastructure for instantly creating new WMD stockpiles in about a week. They intended to begin churning them out the minute the sanctions ended.
Many of the allies we wanted to help us bring down Saddam Hussein were already in a corrupt coalition to keep him in power. The UN found documents which showed the “guiding theme” of Saddam’s regime was to be able to start making WMD again “with as short a lead time as possible.” Once again, Saddam was convinced that the UN sanctions – which stopped him acquiring weapons – were on the brink of collapse and he bankrolled several foreign activists who were campaigning for their abolition. He personally approved every one.

Attacks From Child Suicide Bombers are Expected to Increase by Gregory Hilton

His death was caused by a child suicide bomber.

Attacks From Child Suicide Bombers are Expected to Increase by Gregory Hilton–
Many events will occur on July 4th to honor our active duty service members and coalition partners who are now on the front lines. U.S. troops pulled out of Iraqi cities two days ago, but unfortunately the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq are not behind us. This week intelligence reports from the government of Pakistan demonstrate that the Taliban is increasing its recruitment of child suicide bombers.
Per capita income in Pakistan is $2,600, but the Taliban is paying between $7,000 and $14,000 to families who will allow their young children to be used as suicide bombers. Corporal Marc Birch, 26, was killed just four months after this wedding photo was taken. He died along side Sergeant John Manuel, 38, Corporal Damian Davies, 27, and Lance Corporal Steven Fellows, 26. They were all killed by a 13 year old boy who was pushing a wheelbarrow. Similar attacks will occur in the weeks and months ahead.
July 4th — Are our soldiers dying in vain?
Those who defend our freedom are volunteers. Regardless of how one feels about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the worst thing we can do is to say they died in vain because the war on terror is not winnable. The hundreds of firemen and police officers who perished at the World Trade Center did not die in vain even though their efforts to save lives proved to be futile. Those who have given their lives in the Drug War have not left us in vain, even though drug activity continues.
Deaths are pointless only when people go through their entire lives without knowing why they exist and what they should do with their lives. Evil will flourish only when good people do nothing. We can never have a world where we hold back and do nothing simply because evil will always be with us. Sacrifices in the service of humanity are not wasted, and our soldiers have not died in vain.

Even Cindy Sheehan Does Not Understand the Anti-War Lobby by Gregory Hilton

In a recent interview liberal activist Cindy Sheehan made the following observations:
“I think people are starting to wake up to the fact that even if they supported Obama, he doesn’t represent much change. There are people still out here who oppose the war and Obama’s policies, but it seems like the big organizations with the big lists aren’t here. I’ve been protesting but it’s not covered. The one time I did get a lot of coverage was at Bush’s house in June.”
Not only is the President escalating the war in Afghanistan she said, but he’s not withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq as quickly as he originally promised. “That’s why I am opposed to him,” she said. “The anti-war left was used by the Democratic Party. I like to call it the ‘anti-Republican War’ movement. Sites such as the DailyKos are completely hypocritical, I have known for a long time that the Democrats are equally responsible as the Republicans. That’s why I left the party in May 2007 and that’s why I ran for Congress against Nancy Pelosi in 2008.”
Cindy Sheehan has always been wrong about foreign policy but it is amazing that the anti-war movement vanished when Obama was elected. I am glad they are gone, but it sure seems their target was George Bush, not the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Islamic fundamentalists or terrorism.
While the anti-war movement has now gone away they did have an enormous impact on the battle for the Democratic nomination. Organizations such as Moveon.org worked actively in support of Obama, and the big difference was that Hillary and Biden had originally voted for the Iraq war.
Obama said he was consistently against the war, and Mrs. Clinton publicly said these activists were responsible for her defeat. Her campaign was never able to overcome the individuals who packed the caucus states and were motivated by various anti-war organizations.
While I agree with Mrs. Sheehan’s observation about the recent activities of the anti-war lobby, she is still a charter member of the looney left. Sheehan says Bush “murdered” her son, and she has publicly said that an excellent U.S. President would be Hugo Chavez. He wasn’t born in this country, he doesn’t speak English, he’s a Communist and he’s a dictator. But other than that, why not? Sheehan also said said her fantasy was to go back in time to kill President Bush as an infant, to prevent the war in Iraq from ever happening. What is amazing is that the mainstream media gave her so much prominent coverage for such a long time.