The President spoke tonight. This is the speech that we have been waiting for. (Full text of speech)
There were many key words that we have heard so many times before. Freedom. Liberty. He said freedom 6 times. He said liberty 4 times. Of course, he tied this speech in with 9-11.
Unfortunately, the president is recycling and old plan. Operation Together Forward was supposed to stabilize Baghdad. It didn’t. Why? Many Iraqi’s are playing both sides of the fence. Many Iraqi politicians support both the Americans and Iraqi security forces and the death squads and militias. The president still has not demanded in public that the Iraq politicians choice one side or the other. This is key. No operation in Iraq will be successful unless the leaders in Iraq choose between the militias and the Americans.
As a mother of a soldier, I read with interest the AP news headline that Mr Gates is going to increase the size of the Army and Marines as to better handle the war on terror. They can hardly fill their quota now. They are keeping in drug users and alcoholics and have lowered the testing standards ( proof of this from my sons roommates). The moral among the soldiers has fallen off because the Army had turned itself around before Iraq to only accept applications of ANYONE. The Guard and the Reservists are going to have to help pick up the slack of rotations. The president wants to shove down the Iraqis throats democracy. They have lived to long under tribal leaders and don’t know how and don;t want it. The other mideast countries will just make sure it never happens in their country.So what we have is more people like Saddam and the other African countries who will suppress their people to keep it from happening. So are we still going to become everyones savior. How many more days is he still in official office?
Thanks for your thoughtful comments!