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We Must Press Forward in IraqThe Costs of Retreat are Enormousby Pete Hegseth Greetings from Baghdad! I have embedded with fellow American soldiers and am witnessing the dramatic progress first hand. It is a very different Iraq from the one I once patrolled with my unit in 2005. Unfortunately our congress refuses to acknowledge this progress and this is made evident as yesterday, Senators Feingold and Reid introduce two bills whose ostensible goal is to force the administration to "re-focus on our top national-security threat - al-Qaeda and its affiliates. The Senate has now debated this over three dozen times since taking over Congress, demonstrating that they have completely lost touch with the reality of what's happening on the ground in Iraq. I have addressed this issue in my piece in National Review Online. "If only certain U.S. Senators truly understood the global nature of our vicious enemy in Iraq. ... Given the fact that today we are facing a determined al-Qaeda effort to destabilize Iraq, wouldn't any rational person include Iraq in their list of places where al-Qaeda must be defeated? Not Obama, Feingold, and Reid, who believe "we need to safely [i.e., immediately] redeploy U.S. troops from Iraq." Whatever misgivings these senators may have felt about the invasion of Iraq in the first place, today we are there. And so is al-Qaeda. Any "strategy to combat and defeat al Qaeda globally" must begin there." Yesterdays comments made by Senator Reid, claiming that we need to "take care of Americans before Iraqi's" demonstrates how far from reality he has fallen. He continues to recite talking points from radical anti-war liberal front groups such as MoveOn.org and Code Pink on the floor of the U.S. Senate, I am embedded here in Iraq with American soldiers, witnessing first-hand the tremendous success of General Petraeus's ‘surge' strategy. With sectarian killings down 95 percent, suicide bombings down nearly 70 percent, and IED attacks cut nearly in half in the last year in Baghdad, it's about time that defeatists in Congress recognize that we are achieving success in Iraq, and that a safe, secure and free Iraq is critical to our security here at home. WHAT YOU CAN DO: Call these five Senators and let them know that the costs of retreat are enormous so we must complete the mission in Iraq by defeating Al Qaeda. These senators need to hear from Iraq & Afghanistan veterans, and those who support them about the importance of success in these missions and our national security. Now is the time to keep up the pressure-we are winning in Iraq, and the American people need to know it. Join us in supporting the brave troops in the field who are taking the fight to America's enemies. Move out and Draw Fire! Captain Pete Hegseth, who served in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division from 2005 to 2006, is executive director of Vets for Freedom. Related Links: |
