A Blue-tipped Finger to the Naysayers!
I'm tipping a stiff one in salute to the Iraqi people. Whatta country! Here are some preliminary numbers, courtesy of The Corner...
Note that there are two anniversaries today which strike me as germane to the events in Iraq. This day in 1968, which was the eve of Lunar New Year that year, began the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. General Giap, leader of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), and the National Liberation Front (NLF), which we called the Viet Cong, led a widespread attack with the objective of stimulating an uprising by the South Vietnamese people. The offensive failed in that regard, but the unforseen result was that it planted doubt, the U.S. media flinched, and the resolve needed to accomplish the American mission began to dissolve. On the contrary, the Bush administration, US military, and above all, the Iraqi people have the resolve to see that freedom and democracy will sustain in Iraq. If not for the Fox News, talk radio, and internet, we would hear nothing today but what went wrong in Iraq today. I pity anyone who believes that Iraq is Bush's Vietnam...you hear me, Tippsy Ted Kennedy?!
Forty years ago today, Winston Churchill was laid to rest. He received the only non-royal state funeral of the century. I am in the middle of the the second volume of his six-volume, The Second World War. I found a great deal on the set in a used book store. Winston had a gift for history and for writing. But, Churchill is renowned by both critics and admirers as the solo voice to cry the warning that Germany was a developing threat to western Europe, and that England was woefully unprepared for meeting that threat. I believe that George W. Bush has read The Gathering Storm, Churchill's first volume, and he will not doom America to repeat the failings of Churchill's peers. Like Churchill, W sees a clear and present danger to the world, and thankfully, he's in a position to do something about it.
Still relatively earlier, so take these as preliminary (coming from admin source): 14.27 million registered voters in and outside Iraq.; 5,159 polling centers; 184,000 local officials working at the 5,159 centers; Approximately 45,000 local Iraqi monitors and 199 international monitors. Total of 53,000 - 55,000 monitors; in 14 countries nearly 187,000 Iraqis voted in the first two of three days of voting for Iraqis abroad. This is 65.86% of all Iraqis who registered to vote abroad. Roughly two-thirds of Iraqis in the US who registered voted in the first two days of OCV voting.This is what's called baby steps, folks. But, it's a sign that the freedom loving people are taking the offensive against those psuedo-human vermin of terror. There will be trying times ahead, but I will bet you a bucket full of red ants that we are witnessing the genesis of a struggle which will reverberate throughout the Middle East.
Note that there are two anniversaries today which strike me as germane to the events in Iraq. This day in 1968, which was the eve of Lunar New Year that year, began the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. General Giap, leader of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), and the National Liberation Front (NLF), which we called the Viet Cong, led a widespread attack with the objective of stimulating an uprising by the South Vietnamese people. The offensive failed in that regard, but the unforseen result was that it planted doubt, the U.S. media flinched, and the resolve needed to accomplish the American mission began to dissolve. On the contrary, the Bush administration, US military, and above all, the Iraqi people have the resolve to see that freedom and democracy will sustain in Iraq. If not for the Fox News, talk radio, and internet, we would hear nothing today but what went wrong in Iraq today. I pity anyone who believes that Iraq is Bush's Vietnam...you hear me, Tippsy Ted Kennedy?!
Forty years ago today, Winston Churchill was laid to rest. He received the only non-royal state funeral of the century. I am in the middle of the the second volume of his six-volume, The Second World War. I found a great deal on the set in a used book store. Winston had a gift for history and for writing. But, Churchill is renowned by both critics and admirers as the solo voice to cry the warning that Germany was a developing threat to western Europe, and that England was woefully unprepared for meeting that threat. I believe that George W. Bush has read The Gathering Storm, Churchill's first volume, and he will not doom America to repeat the failings of Churchill's peers. Like Churchill, W sees a clear and present danger to the world, and thankfully, he's in a position to do something about it.
Comments