Sources on the war

Jumped in my car yesterday, flipped through the radio dial looking for news, heard President Bush talking fervently about the war on terror, the troops, the American people. It was the Rush Limbaugh show and the president was his guest.

I really wanted to hear this. The media and other politicians daily analyze what the president is doing in Iraq and why, and how it’s going, and whether we should get out. But on any news story, it’s best to get your information and statements straight from the source, and not through others talking about the source.

The MSM frequently cover anti-war guests, stories and images. Limbaugh brought that up to Bush, particularly this (transcript available online): 

RUSH: You riled the press corps at one of the press conferences at the White House when you intimated that their work in Iraq has sometimes advanced the cause of the enemy, and there’s a recent example of this. CNN recently aired video that they got from terrorists. They reached out to these terrorists, and according to accounts, the way they got the tape from the terrorists was to promise the terrorists a “fair shake.” This video showed terrorists taking pot shots, assassinating US soldiers in cold blood. What are your thoughts as the Commander-in-Chief when you see this and when you hear about this?

THE PRESIDENT: My thoughts are that we face an enemy that will kill innocent people. They murder to achieve their objectives, and they use propaganda in order to do two things. One: proclaim their might, and secondly to discourage us. Obviously the idea of their propaganda being displayed is something that bothers me in the sense that I don’t want the American people to become discouraged. One: I want them to understand the stakes in this war; and, two, that we’re going to win this war and not to be discouraged about the violence and the propaganda that they see. Obviously, some of the violence is not propaganda, but these tapes that they put out are all aimed at shaking our confidence.

It’s working–in the media and much of the public. Brit Hume just gave the assessment on Fox this afternoon that the economy is not the primary issue on the minds of voters, the war is.

Nobody is “for” war. Many people — legislators included — who originally voted to enter it this way, have now turned against it. And most everybody is concerned with the way it is going. Bush has said that himself. But since we’re there, and we’re about to determine the next Congress in the elections several days from now, we should know what the plan is. A lot of candidates aren’t talking about that, just that their’s would be different.

So back to the president’s remarks. What about that confidence issue?

Osama Bin Laden himself has said that it’s just a matter of time before the United States loses its will and retreats.

We’ve heard that in Bin Laden’s own words since his tapes started surfacing after 9/11.

I am deeply concerned about a country, the United States, leaving the Middle East. I am worried that rival forms of extremists will battle for power, obviously creating incredible damage if they do so; that they will topple modern governments, that they will be in a position to use oil as a tool to blackmail the West. People say, “What do you mean by that?” I say, “If they control oil resources, then they pull oil off the market in order to run the price up, and they will do so unless we abandon Israel, for example, or unless we abandon allies. You couple that with a country that doesn’t like us with a nuclear weapon and people will look back at this moment and say, ‘What happened to those people in 2006?’ and those are the stakes in this war we face.” On the one hand we’ve got a plan to make sure we protect you from immediate attack, and on the other hand we’ve got a long-term strategy to deal with these threats, and part of that strategy is to stay on the offense. Part of the strategy is to help young democracies like Lebanon and Iraq be able to survive against the terrorists and the extremists who are trying to crush their hopes, and part of the democracy is for a freedom movement, which will help create the conditions so that the extremists become marginalized and unable to recruit.

I interviewed Blackhawk helicopter pilot Joe Lemens from the Chicago area on my radio show after he was back from Iraq for a few months, and he told compelling stories about the troops there doing a lot of positive building work, though we never hear of it. Besides building the infrastructure, they built relationships with the people, “to show them another way of life,” he said.

That helps marginalize extremists, as Bush said.

I fully understand the nature of this enemy. One: they’re great propagandists, and two: they truly believe they can cause us to retreat by inflicting enough damage, and three: they’re lethal. But I also understand they have no vision; they have no ideology. I mean, they have an ideology, they just can’t convince people that their ideology makes sense…

Which is why they use the propaganda.

The recent debate here on Iraq, some say Iraq is a “distraction” from the war on terror. My answer to them is, listen to Osama Bin Laden who says: “Our objective is to defeat America, which will disgrace America, which embolden the terrorists,” which will then enable them, them being al-Qaeda and extremists, to have safe haven just like they had in Afghanistan — and we’re not going to do let them do it.

Bush’s resolve comes, to a great extent, from the other part of the “we,” the military. 

I am… I guess “amazed” is the proper word at how courageous our troops are, and I am amazed at the fact that they are so capable, and that they volunteer in the midst of this war to defend us, and these troops deserve all the support of the United States of America, and they understand as well as anybody that we are making progress in Iraq, and they know when their comrades are out there fighting that they’re bringing enemies to justice. They see that firsthand. The enemy has got an advantage in that by killing innocent people it looks like they’re winning, because it gets on our TV screens.

But what doesn’t go on our TV screens is men like Joe Lemens, and women serving there who have similar stories. Last evening on Fox News, I heard political commentator and radio host Laura Ingraham tell Bill O’Reilly that the media aren’t running the stories and sound bites and emails from the troops, while they’re quick to run criticism of what the troops are doing.

O’Reilly said exactly what I thought on hearing that: “Excellent point.” The only positive stories I hear in the media from the troops is on Lt. Col. Oliver North’s War Stories on Fox News Network. When I interviewed him on my show, Col. North praised our troops with utter admiration for their character, preparedness, honor and spirit of self-sacrifice.

The president said the same thing.

The morale in our military is high because these young men and women understand the stakes. Reenlistment rates are very high and recruitment rates are strong, which all says to me we’ve got an amazing country when we’ve got people who put on the uniform say, “Put me in. I want to go fight for this country.”

…I repeat: the only reason we could lose in Iraq is if we leave, and, therefore, we’ve got kids sacrificing in Iraq, and when they hear politicians say, “Get out before the job is done,” that’s discouraging to them, and it’s discouraging to the Iraqis, and it’s encouraging to the enemy. That’s why my voice is so loud in saying to our troops: “What you’re doing is noble and important and you’re going to win and history will look back and thank you for your sacrifices.”

I thank them, and their families, right now. I’ll give you this link I just got today from my Marine friend, Carmen, to get firsthand information about our military and what they’re really doing in different parts of the world. It’s not filtered through the press.

And I want to hear from those who serve. Either click over on the right the email link to contact me. Or click ‘comment’ here under this post. They can be among our best sources of stories you’re not hearing in the news.

Here in the Forum, service men and women, and their families, will get the attention they deserve.