Commentary by H.G. Listiak

Thursday 10/23/2003

Welcome to my world, where I've been looking at a questionable liberal poll that shows Americans growing more disunified over our post war role in Iraq. Those who want to keep our troops there slipped from 64% to 58%, and those who want immediate withdrawal went from 32% to 39%, with 40% saying the news media is painting too bleak a picture of Iraq. This could be fairly accurate, when you look at Capitol Hill, where the administration wants 87 billion dollars, a request that is causing all kinds of confusion among rank and file Americans. Both the Senate and the House pass it, but it's hung up over 20 billion for rebuilding Iraq. Should it be a loan, or a grant? I like the loan idea, but they don't have government enough to sign for it, so it has to be a grant. That hassle doesn't bother me. It's the 67 billion that would go to refresh our troops over there that bothers me. It's hung up at a time when I feel we need more troops and more gear, hell maybe even a little more shock and awe, in Iraq. We've got hot zones like the Sunni triangle, where our forces must fight invisible terrorists. Terrorists left over from the Baath Party, the Fedayeen, and fresh terrorists from Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, even Egypt, not to mention Islamic Fundamentalists, who are coming out of the Iraqi closets. We are low on troops, and occupations are always tougher than wars because the liberators always seem to become the bad guys, especially when there is disunity at home. We still have troops stationed in South Korea, Japan, and Germany, left over from wars long gone. The bottom line is that we are going to have to cast aside the petty politics, lighting a beacon of freedom in the area, if we are going to have a prayer of winning the war against terrorism, as I see it ... I'm H.G. Listiak.