Waffling on Iraq

Yesterday Conservative news site NewsMax seemed to give credence to the as yet unpublished Pentagon report claiming we have a “broken” Army, because of all its numerous missions in the War on Terror. It amazes me how many Americans confuse hard times and trials as “losing”. Here’s what Don Rumsfeld had to say about the allegations:

The force is not broken. The implication in what you said is also, I think, almost backwards in this sense: the world saw the United States military go halfway around the world and in a matter of weeks throw the al Qaeda and Taliban out of Afghanistan, in a landlocked country thousands and thousands of miles away. They saw what the United States military did in Iraq, and the message from that is not that this armed force is broken, but that this armed force is enormously capable.
Second, I would say that it is not only capable of functioning in a very effective way and therefore ought to increase the deterrent rather than weaken it; in addition, it's battle-hardened and it is not a peacetime force that has been in barracks or garrisons.

During the Battle of the Bulge, another military that had been through severe trials was the 101st Airborne Division. Having recently endured the debacle at Arnhem, and also in almost continuous combat since 1942, the troops were sent to the Ardennes for a well deserved rest. Instead they soon found themselves holding the frontline at Bastogne, badly outnumbered and without air cover. When the German generals gave the beleaguered 101st an opportunity to surrender, the supposedly doomed force responded NUTS!!

This should be our response today to those who criticize our brave troops who have sacrificed so much: homes, families, and even their lives to bring real peace to a long-suffering people. Let their sacrifice embolden us at home to see the War on Terror through until the end, and our troops can return victorious and justified.