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26,783,383 Reasons Not To Surrender
JJs Daily Snapshot | Feb. 18th, 2007 | Ryan Donavon

Posted on 02/18/2007 12:57:17 PM PST by jjgnc

Sunday, February 18, 2007

The 2006 estimate of Iraq's population was 26,783,383 people. This is a number we read, yet it's impossible for us to translate this number into manageable terms. It's beyond our ability to imagine the personal connection to this many people. Engrossed in our own lives and concerns, it is hard to understand or realize that we, as a single person, can make a difference. Yet, we can.

We've all held a newborn baby and felt that incredibly tender feeling of awe, of wonder, where our hearts were overwhelmed with the beauty of life. Holding that vulnerable, beautiful, innocent child touches us to the very core of all that we are or ever will be. If there is one possible subject we, the world, can agree upon, it's the sanctity of the life, the children, the helpless and the innocent beings amongst us. You remember what that tiny hand, grasping your finger, meant to you. Holding that precious child close, feeling their breath on your cheek is as close to being with God as we may ever experience.

Today, over 1,000 Iraqi mothers held their child for the first time. I wonder if we, America, understand that we have the power, if we have the will, to make these mothers lives fulfilled in that their children are free, fed, protected and have a chance to be successful and thrive. We take this a birthright in America, yet so few of us have paid for this for so many, it's taken for granted.

Iraq is a newborn child as a nation. They are helpless and need our protection, love and patience. We can't undo thousands of years of oppression and religious fanaticism in a few years. Yes, we do need them to mature rapidly and hold them accountable. This takes a lot of strength and belief in our cause to endure because the coffins of those who gave all are so very hard to bear.

I know the plane that comes into my city, bringing back the sons of the new Gold Star mothers. The tears flow as I salute that plane. Having written many letters to the mothers and wives of the brave men who died in Viet Nam, I understand, all too well, of the price of personal courage and sacrifice.

Because of all of this and more, I was so ashamed, so discouraged, to see Congress pass a resolution that censured our President in war time, virtually condemning 26,783,383 people to a lifetime of horror and oppression. We, through the Congress of the people, turned our back on a newborn nation and their children and grandchildren. When you multiple the population with the children of their children and beyond, the lives we've forfeited are staggering in number.

Didn't we learn the price of weakness in Viet Nam? We see these people living in communism today instead of freedom, simply because we lacked the courage, not the ability. Yet, again we sacrifice millions of people for narrow, short term domestic and political gains. My shame for my country knows no limits now.

Mothers, hold your children close, while you can. If we sacrifice others for so little, we must ask ourselves why we wouldn't be next.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: east; iraq; machiavellian; middle; terror

1 posted on 02/18/2007 12:57:21 PM PST by jjgnc
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To: jjgnc
If this guy was still on active duty the Iraq situation would be entirely different.

I'm pretty sure he was in a lot of Saddam's nightmares.

My dream 'ticket' would be him running (as a Republican, of course) for president.

In southern terms, he knows how to "git 'er done".

2 posted on 02/18/2007 1:04:29 PM PST by capt. norm (Liberalism = cowardice disguised as tolerance.)
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To: jjgnc

This country has the instant gratification disease, attention deficit disorder and Alzheimer’s when it comes to history. I'm just glad the founding fathers weren't stricken with the same problems or we wouldn't be here today.


3 posted on 02/18/2007 1:10:07 PM PST by flynmudd (Proud Navy Mom to OSSA Blalock-DDG 61)
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To: jjgnc
When others do it its called "Racial Cleansing" When Democrats (Liberal Socialists) do it its called strategic withdrawal. The result is still the same..buckets of blood!
4 posted on 02/18/2007 1:11:14 PM PST by Don Corleone (Leave the gun..take the cannoli)
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To: jjgnc
And take a look at a map of the Middle East. The countries Iraq borders is a list of the most strategically important nations on Earth. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Iran, Turkey to name a few. Iraq itself is strategically vital.

Maybe number 3 on the list of 101 things George Bush never explains.

5 posted on 02/18/2007 1:41:35 PM PST by Williams
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To: jjgnc

"Didn't we learn the price of weakness in Viet Nam?"

Nope. Although I wouldn't use Viet Nam as the analogy...I would use Cambodia instead.


6 posted on 02/18/2007 3:10:40 PM PST by RKBA Democrat (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!)
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To: jjgnc

25 MILLION of which consider Americans infidels....infidels who should turn to islam. 25 million who will teach their children in schools we helped them build with billions and BLOOD the same thing and that according to the new iraqi constitution, NO LAW SHALL CONTRADICT ISLAM.

Thats 25 million reasons to split it up and split. We got other bigger enemies to fight.


7 posted on 02/18/2007 5:05:27 PM PST by TomasUSMC ( FIGHT LIKE WW2, FINISH LIKE WW2. FIGHT LIKE NAM, FINISH LIKE NAM)
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