Here’s a second batch of messages from my military readers for Harry Reid and the White Flag Dems:

*Updated 1145am Eastern*

From milblogger Dadmanly:

Senator Reid,

It is difficult to write this letter with any civility, but I think enough people will scream so much, with enough cursing and invective, that I will not need to add any more for you to get the point, that you infuriate those Americans who serve in the military with your careless, ignorant, mean-spirited, and frankly, dangerous remarks.

You, sir, are not any average, private citizen. You are a Senator of the United States of America, and whatever your political views or allegiances may be, you must first show loyalty to and serve with honor your country. Yet, you do not do so, and you have disgraced whatever nobility or honor you might have earned serving your constituency.

Even if our efforts in Iraq were an absolute failure, which they are surely not, you abuse your position and the Nation’s trust by declaring that the war is lost. Can you not comprehend how wrong it is for you to make such a statement?! Regardless of your partisan views, which seem to me awfully petty indeed when compared to the national security of our country or the lives of our soldiers, you must have enough sense of decency or patriotism that, at the least, to know that you don’t damage or hurt your nation and the public servants with the most on the line?!

You embolden our enemies, you discourage our allies, you demoralize the troops who serve, and you denigrate those Iraqis who have turned to the US as their hope for freedom, after decades of living under the tyranny and violence of a war criminal and a brutal oppression.

You are a disgrace. Made worse by the fact that you’re wrong.

There are many ways to view our efforts in Iraq. While a private citizen may well believe, and interpret events to indicate, that we have somehow “lost the war in Iraq,” that’s based more on ignorance and media hype than on actual, ground truth. Citizens will only be as informed, well or ill, by the sources of news to which they choose to listen. We live in a free society. But thanks to dishonest and in my view, disloyal Americans such as you, and the media who abet you, a majority of Americans have been misled about what we do in Iraq and what is really going on.

I am an Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) III Vet, mobilized with the National Guard, and deployed to Iraq from January to November 2005. I served as a First Sergeant for 160 guard soldiers. We served in Tikrit, and every one of our soldiers came back without injury. Sure, we didn’t see a lot, just our own slice of Iraq, but we were regularly exposed to mortars and rockets on base, and the threat of IEDs on supply convoys several times a week.

I think you could make a good case that we won the war in a few weeks in 2003: the war against Saddam Hussein’s Army, which collapsed in a spectacular liberation of Iraq. I am shamed to think you probably viewed this event with dismay, for purely partisan reasons.

I think you could make another excellent case that we won the war to establish democracy in Iraq, helping the Iraqis hold three hugely successful elections with huge Iraqi participation (greatly in excess of any modern US elections). I am shamed to think you probably viewed these elections with dismay, for purely partisan reasons.

I think you could make a plausible case that we have defeated the Sunni Baathist based “insurgency,” with the destruction and de facto surrender of so many holdouts among the former regime. I likewise think you could make the same case about Al Qaeda in Iraq, the presence of which you and your supporters adamantly denied for a very long time. They are on the run, they are defeated at every turn, their own intercepted communications say admit that very fact. I am shamed to think you probably viewed these events with dismay, for purely partisan reasons.

Now, as we help the Iraqis grow in strength in defending their own democracy, you say the “war” is lost. Which one? I can’t but help to think that what you really mean, is the defensive war this Administration has been fighting against you and your party colleagues since we invaded Iraq.

If the current surge can be successful at fully securing, once and for all, the security of the Iraqi democracy, this will prove you and your allies wrong. As an American, I recognize what a truly magnificent accomplishment that would represent, for Iraq, and for the Coalition who made that possible.

I am shamed, appalled, and heartsick to think, you would certainly view these events with dismay, for purely partisan reasons.

1SG Jeff Nuding
642 MI BN
42nd ID “Rainbow”
“Rainbow….Never Forget!”

Badger 6 posts a Commo Check for Harry:

SEN Reid has been given bad information - break . . .

Need Retrans - break . . .

Any station that can retrans to Capitol Hill SITREP follows -

Combat Operations in Baghdad pushing Shia militia to ground - break . . .

All forces not yet in place - break . . .

Shaping operations moving ahead close to expected - break . . .

Al Anbar situation improving as well - break . . .

Sunni tribes working with CF and encouraging members to join IP and IA - break . . .

Local populace working more with CF and GOI forces against AIF and AQIZ - break . . .

ISF taking more active part in operations - break . . .

War is not lost and surge is pushing ahead as planned. Over.

Any station please make contact with higher and let them know we are managing the situation. Proceed with current plan.

Badger 6. Out.

From COB Speicher:

Sir,

We have attack helicopters, the insurgents don’t and this unit does not take prisoners. There is no such thing as a fair weather warrior, but you have become a fair weather Senator, a disgrace to our country and a hero to spineless people who will not fight anyone. Let us fight an enemy who will not quit fighting us even if you succeed in pulling us out of this country. The Iraqis overwhelmingly support us as their allies.

What you are saying to the Iraqis is what? “Go to hell.”

How dare you say that this war is lost.

You had better thank President Bush for getting rid of Saddam Hussein and insuring that Iraq will not have WMDs for the foreseeable future.

You and Feingold are a piece of work when you assume to direct the commander in chief with your misguided defunding bills. I will follow our President, I will not follow you and your guidance.

Decide to fund the warriors here in Iraq and those lined up to take our place; quit supporting the spineless ones who have bribed you into kissing bin Laden’s ass.

SSG Hinz, Daniel
1-82 ARB 25 CAB
COB Speicher

Reader Randy in Iraq:

I have been in Iraq nearly 3 years. Six month ago, I too was ready to write off success in Iraq. The change in strategy has made a significant difference here. Outside of Baghdad and nearby cities, life has improved. The employment has not increased significantly, but the hopes of the people have improved.

Many of my friends who live in Baghdad are able to travel safely if they avoid troubled spots. My contacts with members of the Iraqi government see major changes in attitude and performance as they better understand their jobs.

Most important, the question of who is in charge of reconstruction has been answered in the latest strategies. Experts who are able to assist Iraqis rebuild their own country are now working in Iraq. Some of the NGOs are even working towards the same goals.

Iraqis have historically waited to see what faction would win, then go with the winner. Many are now taking sides with the Coalition Forces and the current Iraqi Government because they do not want the alternative.

Major changes have occurred in Iraq during the past few months. Pulling US troops or setting a time table for pulling out US troops will result in a massacre similar to Cambodia. This will spell disaster for the economy of the world. The terrorists are losing in Iraq. Their own people are informing on them. Continuous pressure and incremental gains are achieving our goals in Iraq. Now is not the time to quit!

Randy Fritz
Baghdad

LT Nichols also in Baghdad:

Senator Reid:
When you say we’ve lost in Iraq, I don’t think you understand the effect of your words. The Iraqis I speak with are the good guys here, fighting to build a stable government. They hear what you say, but they don’t understand it. They don’t know about the political game, they don’t know about a Presidential veto, and they don’t know about party politics.

But they do know that if they help us, they are noticed by terrorists and extremists. They decide to help us if they think we can protect them from those terrorists. They tell us where caches of weapons are hidden. They call and report small groups of men who are strangers to the neighborhood, men that look the same to us, but are obvious to them as a foreign suicide cell.

To be brief, your words are killing us. Your statements make the Iraqis afraid to help us for fear we’ll leave them unprotected in the future. They don’t report a cache, and its weapons blow up my friends in a convoy. They don’t report a foreign fighter, and that fighter sends a mortar onto my base. Your statements are noticed, and they have an effect.

Finally, you are mistaken when you say we are losing. We are winning, I see it every day. However, we will win with fewer casualties if you help us. Will you?

Respectfully,

LT Jason Nichols, USN
MNF-I, Baghdad

Reader Lee:

Michelle,

In one month, my colleagues and I will become the newest officers in the United States Army when we are commissioned at The College of New Jersey. We go off to various branches, infantry, field artillery, ordnance, quartermaster, aviation, medical service corps. Some of us are going into the New Jersey National Guard, some active duty.

We all expect to go to Iraq. We are all conscientious, intelligent, well-informed college students. We all contracted after 9/11 and after the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. We all chose this path and we are all proud to serve. We disagree on many things - I am an evangelical traditional conservative (I say think Edmund Burke gone federalist), but there are atheists and democrats in our program as well. We all agree that the United States faces a very real enemy and that the United States is worth defending, even unto death.

The above is true of all of us. What follows is my opinion.

I wish I could say that Senator Reid’s comments were surprising. But the truth is that the Democrats have never convincingly supported the troops. They throw the term around as a disclaimer, a modifier to be followed by political posturing. “I support our troops, but this President…” or “We support the troops which is why we want them out of this civil war.” Claiming to support the troops has always smacked of a sort of legal caveat at the end of a commercial. Like the quickly flashing text on an Audi commercial “Driving professional on closed course. Do not attempt.”

As I prepare for my career in the Army, whether it is four years or twenty four, I wonder if Senator Reid would like to speak at our commissioning ceremony. He can tell us he supports us, and that we are going off to fight a war that has already been lost. After all, the leader of the Senate has proclaimed it for the world to see. Perhaps he thinks since it is lost we should give up the struggle. There is nothing wrong with recognizing defeat and submitting to your enemy: we call it an official surrender, and we have grown accustomed to receiving them, not issuing them.

Does he honestly believe that our nation is at the end of its capabilities?

George Washington and John Adams did not surrender when the British had taken New York, Rhode Island, and New Jersey and driven the Continental Army back across the Delaware. Even when Washington’s army was leaving in droves as enlistments ended and the treasury ran dry, these real Americans clenched their jaws and prepared to surrender their lives for freedom.

You can delude yourselves and say that he is being realistic, or you can embrace some nonsense anti-war agenda. But the fact of the matter is that some things are worth the fight, worth the sacrifice. There is no “diplomatic” solution to armed extremists trying to kill us. And I seem to remember something about some airplanes flying into some buildings a few years back….

I have a message for Senator Harry Reid, a message from the past that is heard in the wailing and groaning of our founders turning in their graves:

“Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, ‘What should be the reward of such sacrifices?’ Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!” - Samuel Adams

Behold a man of virtue, worthy of the office Senator Reid disgraces.

S. Lee Whitesell II
CDT, US Army ROTC
The College of New Jersey
Philosophy//Classics//Law and Politics

Reader C.:

I am a Commander in the U.S. Navy and wrote the following to Senator Reid.

Senator Reid,

I was upset by your comments concerning the war today. We’ve lost? By what measure? It seems as though we are measuring our losses through the terrorist’s eyes and those of Al Quaida and not our own. As someone who knows many people actively involved in the war, I am not hearing about our loss. On the contrary, I hear of hospitals and schools being built, about capacity building, about smiles on children’s faces, about how we are getting Bagdhad back since the surge started. Though we mourn the loss of every troop who has died, our losses don’t even compare with ANY previous major war, especially when you consider the amount gained. Do you know how many Iraqi doctors have received training in Western medicine because of our presence? What about Iraqi engineers, economists? We CAN win this war, but only with your support. If we lose this war, and I mean IF, it will be the fault of those who have pre-declared our loss, and you seem to be their flag bearer. Remember, you can’t say that you support the troops if you have declared them to be failures. I believe your comments were irresponsible at the very least - foolish at the most.

Thanks for your time.

Reader Karl:

Had Gen Washington taken your stance at Valley Forge our nation, which you so eagerly want to lead into defeat would not exist.

Reeling and stung from recent defeats, they faced horrible conditions and fought on anyway.

They could have taken the easy way out and surrendered. They valued freedom
too much to do so.

The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have every intention of winning, they have the means to win, and they have the will to win - unless people like you continue to tell them they have already lost, and suck the fight out of them.

As a disabled veteran, I am appalled at your callous disregard for the impact of your words. Any troops killed that are demoralized by your defeatism will have their blood on your hands.

Never have so few tried so hard to lead us to defeat so thoroughly.

Karl

From CMK:

Mr. Reid,

I am a 26 year veteran, Senior Master Sergeant in the Michigan Air National Guard. When I first enlisted in 1980, the military was still suffering from the backlash against the Vietnam War. We did not wear our uniforms in public. Certain venues near military bases were strictly off limits, due to public sentiment toward the military.

During the Reagan years, that changed dramatically. We became proud to wear our uniforms in public and felt honored and valued again for what we do for this country.

Now comes the battle in Iraq, a necessary component in the War on Terror. Battle, I said, because that is what it truly is. We have drawn out the terrorists there, to be fought and defeated far from our own shopping centers, schools, monuments and public places. In this, we need the united backing of the American people.

Do we have it? Barely. Today, you ran the white flag of surrender up the pole to see if it will fly. Have you and your comrades sounded the endless drumbeat of defeat for so long that you can no longer envision winning against this enemy? Because that is the choice. We must decide if we are going to win or lose.

How long it takes, no one be certain. We are dealing with a patient enemy that is more than willing to wait us out. You seem equally willing to give them what they want. That is a decision to lose, to surrender, to tuck tail and run.

Oh that we could bring all the troops home and return to a normal and peacful life. That will not happen. The enemy will be encouraged, empowered to follow them here and begin a reign of terror that can only be imagined in our worst nightmares.

As a member of the military, a wife and a mother, this prospect does not comfort or please me. In my role of performing Homeland Defense, I will pick up my sword and fight them here, as I must. I will help to defend the very poeple who brought this war back to my own home, because that is what I have sworn to do.

You have done a great disservice to this country; its people, its military and its very safety and well-being.

This country owes much more to its servicemen and women and their families. Today was the ultimate slap in the face.

CMK

And milblogger Austin Bay on Slickee Boy Reid:

There are (and have been) four lines of operation in Iraq: security (military ops,building Iraqi defense capabilities), governmental (political participation and structure building), information (intel, media, and political perception), and economic (economic development, infrastructure creation).

No, the War on Terror and its Iraq phase are not lost. They certainly haven’t been lost militarily, and Reid knows it. Since mid-April 2003 the economic and governmental components have been the decisive dimensions. Check Iraq’s GDP — it’s growing. Its elected a democratic government. The Saddamists, Al Qaeda, and Iranian-influenced Shia militias have had enormous information successes. Senator Reid and I might discuss why that’s the case. One reason is that they are not penalized by the conventional media and the Left for a campaign of mass murder overwhelmingly directed against Iraqi civilians. You want to help end the terror in Iraq? Condemn the terrorists as the Cho-like psychopaths they are. Deny them the false celebrity they gain when dubbed “insurgents.”

It would be refreshing if Reid even had the courage of his defeatist convictions.

Thing is, his “convictions” aren’t convictions. They are political postures, and this statement is an example of his political game. He tosses a line to the Dems’ defeatist nuts then edges toward reality with an oily pirouette.

Reader Steven:

Sir,

Defeatism should not be in the English language. Nor should it be flowing from the mouths of our elected officials. You and your colleagues, on both sides of the isle, should be working harder on finding solutions on how to give our brave members of our Armed Forces the funding that they need to keep them safe. By your saying, “I believe myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense and — you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows — (know) this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday,” you and those who support this view have woefully planted the seed of doubt in the mind of every member of the Armed Forces who heard or read your statement. In some of those military members that seed will germinate and that bud will then become the choking vine of Defeatism.

Single-handedly, you sir, in the fifteen seconds that it took to make that statement, have done more to assist those who wish to see United States fail
in Iraq and to see Iraq fail!

Steven D. McKee
(DoD Support Contractor)
Fire Support Test Directorate

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An invitation for our troops: Letters to Harry Reid

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