Iraq: No Time for a Lull

Fire of Liberty

Rowan Scarborough has a good article in today's edition of The Washington Times on Lt. General John R. Vines, US operational commander in Iraq, assessment of the situation in Iraq and the War on Terror in general. Though General Vines admits that the transition of Iraq from a tyranny to a democracy is slowly but surely improving everyday, he also noted his increased concern about a lull in public support for the war and a stream of people calling the effort in Iraq a mess. Take a look at what Lt. General Vines has to say about such a concern:

"The United States has not been attacked again since 11 September. And so there's some questioning, perhaps, of whether or not what's going on here is worth it," said Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who commands the Multinational Corps Iraq. "Quite honestly, I think we have a pretty clear-cut choice. We either deal with terrorism and this extremism abroad, or we deal with it when it comes to us, as it would inevitably, as it has previously."

The comment from Gen. Vines came as American support for continued troop presence in Iraq is slipping in the polls and some members of Congress have offered particularly negative war assessments. All of this comes as the American death toll in Iraq topped 1,700 since the March 2003 invasion.

Gen. Vines, speaking via a teleconference to reporters at the Pentagon, said the "bit of complacency" stems in part from the operations in Iraq and at home that have been "relatively successful."

Asked about Americans who say Iraq is "a mess," Gen. Vines said, "I would say they don't have a good perception of what is at stake here. I would say that they don't recognize that the people that are attacking the coalition and that are murdering innocent men, women and children here want to impose that same value system on a large portion of the word."

I guess General Vines realizes how important a complete victory against the evil forces in Iraq is to the success of our current War on Terror. I enjoyed seeing the fact that the General has adopted Canadian columnists David Warren's concept of a fly-paper effect being created in Iraq for the terrorists in the Middle East. The US has created an area that attracts the terrorists to a central location in the Middle East to be destroyed rather than waiting for them to spread their deadly tentacles into the US hinterland. While we continue to fall victim to the Gotcha!!! journalism of the MSM and the petty ramblings of slimy politicians, the terrorists continue to launch their attacks on the forces of freedom. It time we heed Margaret Thatcher's advice at the beginning of the War on Terror, which is not to concede the information/media war to the terrorists and foes of the free world. Hopefully, the Pentagon will get back on the ball and push the successes of the Iraq War and keep the citizenry more informed about our mission. Time is not on our side, so get busy.