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Georgia Loyd of Denver writes:

Senator McClain’s comments during Iraq testamony on Tuesday.
I strongly object to Senator McCain’s suggestion today (during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee) that our service men and women can only return home with honor if we achieve “victory” in Iraq. The only requirement for honorable service is to have carried out the lawful orders of their commanders, and not to have abused the power we entrusted them with. Winning is not their responsibility or problem. If the politicians of this country make foolish decisions, formulate bad plans to extricate themselves from their mistakes, and then are unable to muster support for the continuation of their folly, this can hardly be laid upon the conscience of America’s military service men and women. Shame upon anyone who has disrespected them.
In fact, though no one actually said so, if I read between the lines correctly, I suspect that any successes we are currently having in Iraq are probably a direct result of the character and integrity of America’s foot soldiers on the ground in Iraq. While it sounds like a wonderful idea to “give” the Iraqi people a democratic government, in fact, it is not possible to give freedom to someone else. If they are not willing and able to take and hold it for themselves, they cannot have it. The counter insurgency tactic of “embedded” troops, that is American’s living in Iraqi neighborhoods, is changing the face of the problem because, I suspect, that Iraqi’s are learning democracy from American soldiers living among them.
It is not the fancy guns or the satellite photography, the smart weapons, or the diplomatic efforts that have changed the Iraqi landscape, but the ordinary American solider, our sons, daughters, brothers and sisters, caring for their fellow humans in Iraqi neighborhoods. No matter what the politicians do, whether they call this a “war” or a “police action", whether they call it a “victory” or a “defeat", America ‘s soldiers will return home with honor.

This letter has not been edited.

READER COMMENTS

Very well said, Georgia.

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah, same tired rhetoric, just another day.
Why don't you peaceniks just say it, You want the Democrats to bring the troops home and admit defeat.
I'm sure the terrorists who are now in Iraq will go home quietly and back to their daily chores once our troops are gone. (Dream on)

And yes, I know, the majority, if not all of them were not there prior to our invasion, so don't start with that tired old rhetoric either.

Tragically if that becomes the chosen course we will have to go back. It will be much bloodier the third time around than the first two combined if we do "a redeployment" (cut and run) that you on the far left believe is the answer.
There have been monstrous mistakes made in the execution of the Iraq conflict, but you don't just bail out when things aren't going your way. (I also know many years, treasure, lives all valid)

What if you were in a fine china store and you knocked their display over, breaking some items and making a huge mess, would you just say "oh, sorry, my mistake" and leave once you realize what a mess you've created and how much money it is going to cost to pay for the damage?
I suppose if you live in the myopic world of a bleeding heart lefty, the answer is yes.

I kind of wish the Democratic leadership gets their way, and we remove the majority of our troops in swift fashion so we can see what will happen. A bad experiment with many lives on the line, but let's see who is right. I can only hope their solution is the correct one, though I seriously doubt it.

Clearly, our only answer is to kill everyone in the entire Middle Eastern region.

Pull the troops out and let the bombing begin.

I like your analogy Jack, but let's keep running with that. You knock something over and need to pay for it, so do you continue knocking things over and telling the owner that somebody will be coming in and paying for it sometime later?

If McClain and the Repukicans care so much for the Troops why did they shoot down the latest Bill to get the Troops the rotation and time home they need to do the job. Oh I forgot, it was proposed by the Democrats so screw the Bill and screw the Troops, right?

Point taken Larry, I am well aware that we are in a mess, and I do not have any answers just a different way of looking at the situation.

I'm not so sure that we are continuing to "break" things, but we are definitely not getting the mess we've created cleaned up as would be expected this far down the line.

I'm up for trying what the Democrats want - and see how the cards fall. I will even be glad to admit it if I am wrong, and this is one point I would want to be wrong on because the consquences could be very dire.

And "support the troops" I also would have thought more republicans would have supported that bill as well, and a few did. I think giving our soldiers the same amount of time away from Iraq and Afghanistan or anywhere for that matter is a good thing both mentally and physically.

So called"support the troops".Why did the dems. just present a bill to take away finacial support of our troops?

Senator McCain says over and over: "The war was lost in 2003; why can't you accept this assessment, an assessment echoed by Harry Reid and the bulk of the American people in the last election? Hitler's "final madness," according to his general was his final surge called Battle of the Bulge and it failed as will Bush's "final madness" fail. Hear the words of Senator McCain.

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