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I got a number of reactions to my column, “A black
man in the White House” published June 7. One of the most
comprehensive came from Juanito Fuerte, apparently writing from the
US using an AOL address. Here is his letter in part:
“I agree with most of your
statements concerning your observations of Obama, McCain, and of
America’s current general political and economic atmosphere.
However, concerning your assertion that the Irag war is unwinnable,
I would have to guess that you’ve been reading too much news
stories and analyses from the mainstream liberal media; those
talking heads who have been making a career of destroying Bush since
the Iraq war started by counting American casualties 24/7
(concentrating on the young ones) especially during the height of
America’s losses in its campaign to clean Iraq of militants.
“For sure, no war is without
casualties—collateral or otherwise—and Americans have suffered
its share, (some would say more than its share), since this war
started. But, you have to remember, you can’t fight a war without
knowing exactly who you’re fighting and not suffer huge losses,
especially in a country like Iraq with various religious and
political factions and where the tribal system makes it even harder
for foreign forces to win the population over.
“As to whether or not
America’s decision to invade Iraq is justified, it is probably a
question that can only be answered, without today’s bias, by the
world 20 or 30 years from now. For whatever it’s worth, my opinion
sides with the argument that says America made a huge blunder by not
finishing its mission first in Afghanistan before going after Saddam
Hussein. But, that’s not to say that I’m faulting Bush for his
decision to go into Iraq. Remember, nearly all of the major
countries’ intelligence were convinced that Saddam had weapons of
mass destruction (WMDs), and every bigwig in Washington, Republicans
and Democrats alike (Clinton, Kennedy, Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, besides
Bush and others) have repeatedly stated that Iraq’s WMDs posed a
danger to the world. How they now ridicule Bush for that reason in
invading Iraq seems incomprehensible.
“The problem is that the
liberal media never did like anything and everything about Bush. So,
when the Iraq war broke out, and when we started suffering losses
(admittedly due to tactical error), the liberals had a feast in
roasting Bush. God! How they roasted the guy day in and day out over
the radio, on TV, newspapers, Internet, etc.). His missteps
(sticking by then Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s poor planning of
the Iraq invasion against the advice of some of his generals, and
his not-so-diplomatic declaration of “either you’re with us or
against us” that alienated many of our European allies) only gave
credence to the liberals’ portrayal of Bush as an incompetent
leader and a cowboy warmonger. And so, Bush became known to the
world as what the liberals painted him to be; inept, awkward,
bumbling, fumbling, dumb, and all those ugly adjectives. Worse, Bush
is also now being blamed for the slowing US economy. It’s really
funny because we’re hearing just about everything being blamed on
poor Bush.
“Remember, Bush was first
elected in 2000 by over 52 percent (if my memory serves me right) of
the American voters. Against Kerry, Bush won 48 states out of 50. If
he is dumb (as most liberals say), then the great majority of
Americans who elected him twice are also dumb. The problem though is
that, we seldom, if ever, hear from the so-called silent majority
so, we’ll never know. That’s why the liberal media pretty much
have its way in feeding the exaggerations to the liberal-minded
including those outside the continental US who must depend on those
sources to have an opinion of what is going on inside the US. The
question of going after Saddam Hussein and being seemingly bogged
down in Iraq only adds fuel to the fire.
“These days, however, since the
success of the so-called “surge” initiated by Bush last year,
you hardly hear from the liberal media about how the Americans have
been winning over even the most militants who, only a year ago, were
the very same ones killing Americans with their roadside bombs.
Instead, and for the most part, the liberals still capitalize on
reporting isolated negative incidents to keep the flame of some
American’s disenchantment with the Iraq war going.
“Personally, I like to believe
that we are actually slowly but steadily winning since the surge
under General Petraeus began last year. You hear the encouraging
stories from friends and neighbors who have recently returned from
the war. I was at Fort Lee Army base here in Virginia last Friday
making a commissary run (I’m a retired Navy man), and every
soldier I encountered talks of markedly different Iraq from only a
year ago—a lot more peaceful, former militants hunting and turning
in those few who still pose a threat to the Maliki government, and
reconstructions going on in places that were previously scenes of
everyday fierce fighting.
“This war is winnable.”
biznewsasia@gmail.com
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