We Haven't Forgotten You

Cross posted from Snooper's Take Our Country Back.

Support The Troops

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A Soldier Speaks...

Swiped from Spree at Wake Up America!

From Digital Freedom Network.

Written by :
Ray Reynolds, SFC Iowa Army National Guard 234th Signal Battalion

As I head off to Baghdad for the final weeks of my stay in Iraq, I wanted to say thanks to all of you who did not believe the media. They have done a very poor job of covering everything that has happened. I am sorry that I have not been able to visit all of you during my two week leave back home. And just so you can rest at night knowing something is happening in Iraq that is noteworthy, I thought I would pass this on to you. This is the list of things that has happened in Iraq recently: (Please share it with your friends and compare it to the version that your paper is producing.)


* Over 400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations.
* School attendance is up 80% from levels before the war.
* Over 1,500 schools have been renovated and rid of the weapons stored there so education can occur.
* The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be off-loaded from ships faster.
* The country had its first 2 billion barrel export of oil in August.
* Over 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for the first time ever in Iraq.
* The country now receives 2 times the electrical power it did before the war.
* 100% of the hospitals are open and fully staffed, compared to 35% before the war.
* Elections are taking place in every major city, and city councils are in place.
* Sewer and water lines are installed in every major city.
* Over 60,000 police are patrolling the streets.
* Over 100,000 Iraqi civil defense police are securing the country.
* Over 80,000 Iraqi soldiers are patrolling the streets side by side with US soldiers.
* Over 400,000 people have telephones for the first time ever.
* Students are taught field sanitation and hand washing techniques to prevent the spread of germs.
* An interim constitution has been signed.
* Girls are allowed to attend school.
* Textbooks that don't mention Saddam are in the schools for the first time in 30 years.


Don't believe for one second that these people do not want us there. I have met many, many people from Iraq that want us there, and in a bad way. They say they will never see the freedoms we talk about but they hope their children will. We are doing a good job in Iraq and I challenge anyone, anywhere to dispute me on these facts. If you are like me and very disgusted with how this period of rebuilding has been portrayed, email this to a friend and let them know there are good things happening.

(Emphasis mine)

Dispute his facts, do not look backwards, do not harp on the past, try dealing with the reality of the present and either dispute his facts or sit down, shut up and get out of their way.

By the way, the Iraqi's ratified the De-Baathification law today.

Rough road still ahead but we are winning. Our troops and General Petraeus have a strategy that is working and I second SFC Ray Reynolds challenge...dispute the facts or STFD.

Thanks for the article, Spree--we ALL need news like this to show just how great our troops and the spirit of the Iraqi people are.

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This Christmas, Remember the Troops and All They Do for You

Two poems landed in my email, almost simultaneously. Both are to the cadence of "The Night Before Christmas" and both bring home what the troops do for us. Keep them and their families in your hearts and prayers, never forget they're ultimately fighting for you and YOUR rights--and they're giving time away from their families they'll never get back, they're blood and in some cases, their lives.

When you see a soldier, shake their hand, thank them sincerely, buy them lunch--anything to show you are grateful for what they do for you.

The first poem comes from Norm:

A Christmas Soldier Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps American, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at "Pearl Harbor,"
Then he sighed, "At Christmas we always remember."

My dad stood his watch in that "Asian Land",
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
Something red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a trench with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

********************

The second comes from Lew:

Santa meets a Soldier

"'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
PLASTER AND STONE.

I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO
IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED
A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO
OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN'T HELP WONDER
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT
BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
"SANTA DON'T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;

I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED
FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.

I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA,
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT."

Lt Col. Bruce Lovely, USAF
Dec. 1993

********************

The way these came it occurred to me perhaps the soldier Santa meets in the second poem is an older version of the soldier in the first poem. Regardless, remember our brave men and women.

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I have an emotional connection with those people in Iraq.”

Cross posted from Wake up America by request.

Rick Moran writes an excellent MUST READ article for PJM after speaking with the soldier that was expelled from the YearlyKos convention for daring to produce evidence that they didn't want to hear, the surge is working.

I am going to show you the end of that interview, and then link to the whole thing so you can see the whole thing.

“This isn’t something political for me. I have an emotional connection with those people in Iraq.”

To illustrate his point, he tells the story of one day while he was on guard duty, protecting a group of Iraqi workers, his command was unable or unwilling to supply him with lunch.

“With the little food they had – and I mean little food – they each pitched in some of their own lunch so that I could eat. It’s amazing that 5 Shiites and 2 Sunnis cared more about my well-being than my own soldiers.

Sergeant Aguina then took a candy wrapper out of his wallet where he had carefully folded it.

It was just a wrapper. But for him, it was a reminder that there are many Iraqis who are grateful for the American presence and that his personal connection with those people was worth standing up in a place like YearlyKos where there was passionate objections to his views and opinions.

“That act of compassion meant so much to me that I kept the wrapper from the first piece of food they gave me and I kept it in my body armor for the rest of the time I was in Iraq to remind me that there’s a lot of good people over there that deserve to be free.”

The whole article is here and he admits he shouldn't have originally gone there in uniform, then he proceeds to nail Soltz for his hypocritical stance as well as Soltz's unprofessional conduct in his actions.

It is a great piece, go read it all.

Why did he bother to go to the Yearly Kos to begin with?

Simple, he understood that it is part of the battlefield..

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John Edwards Supports the Troops? Sure He Does--Just Like I'm a Nappy Headed Ho (Unless That's What You Consider Red Hair/Green Eyed Irish to be)

This one is from my friend Lew at Right In A Left World. Lew, like Snooper at Capitalism or Socialism...You Decide, is a Vietnam Vet--an honorable one, unlike John Kerry.

As a certified paralegal, working for an ethical attorney (no, it's not an oxymoron, there really is such a thing), John Edwards offends me--HIGHLY offends me. For him to be using legitimate troop support websites for his propaganda is, at the very least, extremely unethical. He no more supports the troops or their mission than the moon is made of green cheese. But, why should we be surprised at the depths to which this man will stoop to win an election? He of the $400 campaign funded haircuts, the "Two Americas (with his McMansion)", and his allowance of his wife's name-calling of a neighbor a "Rabid Republican" whom she's never met and never intends to meet because he "frightens her"? Not to mention, of course, his ambulance chasing law practice that is now responsible for ludicrous malpractice insurance rates for doctors, unnecessary C-sections on women for doctor's to cover their hides against those of his ilk, etc.

I guess ETHICS isn't in his lexicon--although traitor, treason, liar, etc. SHOULD BE.

Here's Lew's article: (I have emphasized some things in Lew's article, just to be snarky to Edwards)

John Edwards: Support The Troops, End The War
May 12, 2007

In yet another attempt at seeming to Support the Troops while undermining them, Democrat party hopeful and former FAILED vice-presidential candidate, ‘silky’ John Edwards, better known as the “Breck Girl,” has launched a new web site, Support the Troops. End the war.

Edwards, before he was elected to the Senate to represent North Carolina, was known as a pretty slick lawyer well practiced in glib speech. His talent of misleading juries into awarding clients--and himself--huge, multi-million dollar judgments is put into practice on his new venture as he skillfully blends a FEIGNED Support for the Troops with his anti-war message.

In a large bold block, titled “Reclaiming Patriotism,” he enunciates,

“Throughout our history, military men and women and their families have sacrificed for America. The troops in Iraq and their families continue to sacrifice today. So this Memorial Day Weekend, John Edwards is asking the American people to give some part of their weekend in return—to honor and remember all those who have gone before in service to our country, and to let our government know we want to honor our troops by ending the war and bringing them home.”

“This Memorial Day weekend, John Edwards is asking that we all take responsibility for the country we love and the brave men and women who protect us. As citizens, let’s volunteer in support of our troops, and offer our service to honor theirs. As Americans, let’s take a moment to join in prayer for our troops. And as patriots, let’s gather together this weekend and make our voices heard. It’s up to us. If we are loud enough, and clear enough, we can end this war. Because it really is possible to stop a president who believes he can do no wrong—it just takes people with the courage to do what’s right.”

In what we have come to expect from the Democrat party as they strive to ruin the country and reform it into a rebirth of the FAILED Soviet Union, nowhere is there any mention of Supporting our Troops on to Victory, as was largely seen throughout World War Two by BOTH major party’s.

In a shameless show of obfuscation, he posts links to REAL AND HONEST Troop Supporters Anysoldier.com, Operation Gratitude and Troopcarepackage.com. (I also support Soldier's Angels--see my icon on the front page and click to go there)

I also notice a definite lack of acknowledgement for Appeal for Courage, a growing number of our Brave Troops calling on Congress to Support their Mission.

Under his “10 things to do this Memorial Day Weekend” is:

“Pray. Organize a prayer vigil for our troops at your house of worship. Tell us about it.”

Did he suspend “separation of Church and State” for his campaign?

While in the Senate, Edwards voted YES on authorizing air strikes in Kosovo (Mar 1999); voted YES on allowing all necessary force in Kosovo (May 1999); voted YES on authorizing use of military force against Iraq (Oct 2002) and voted NO on $86 billion for military operations in Iraq & Afghanistan (Oct 2003). On The Issues, John Edwards

Most shameful is his call to:

“Get vocal. Buy a bunch of poster-board and markers. At a picnic or with family and friends, make signs that say “SUPPORT THE TROOPS - END THE WAR.” Bring them to your local Memorial Day parade. Then take a digital photo of yourself and your family or friends holding up the poster and tell us about it. We’ll include it in a “Democracy Photo Album” on our site.”

He is actually calling for anti-war displays at Memorial Day Activities! How dishonorable is that to our Veterans who have sacrificed so much to keep America free? And, send him photos so he can post them? Photos of anti-war displays dishonoring American Veterans who paid the ultimate sacrifice? Can a politician sink any lower?

Most telling in the Democrat party’s anti-America stance is with all their calls for withdrawing the Troops (only from Iraq, mind you), nowhere do we hear or see them calling for our nation's Police Forces to withdraw from high crime areas of our own major cities. Of course, there is no political gain in making that call.

Using the Troops for a campaign stunt such as this goes well beyond wrong. Don’t forget, it was the Democrat party that demanded no mention of 9/11 be made during the 2004 campaign, complained endlessly about President Bush appearing in a flight suit after flying out to the USS Abraham Lincoln and the party who failed to garner a majority Veteran support while running a ‘self proclaimed phony war hero.’

Playing political football with the funding for our Troops while in harm’s way and now using honest support sites to gather material for his campaign shows just how low the Democrat party has slid today.

If they honestly were that concerned over the Troops and this war, they would pass a bill defunding the war immediately--in effect surrendering to terrorism--and force the Troops home. Of course, that places the failure square on their shoulders.

Don’t fall for a slick lawyer's ploy. Support for the Troops is secondary to his desire for campaign material and adding to his personal fortune at our expense.

Lew

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