Other Columns by Thomas D. Segel
Thomas D. Segel Bio

Printer-Friendly Version

"As a retired soldier, I am astounded that our leaders are acting like a group of children defending their turf on a playground. We are up to our eyeballs in a war that may take years to bring to a successful conclusion and many on the Democrat side are giving aid and comfort to the enemy. They are the 'cut and run' party and their words and actions tells the enemy that all they have to do is hang on, increase the violence and kill more innocent civilians so the U.S. will lose its appetite for war." This is the personal observation of Colonel William Perry, a retired Army officer who now resides in Cocoa Beach, Florida

Perry's thoughts on the conduct of our elected officials came following a late night verbal battle in the House of Representatives on a resolution to immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq.

An Associated Press article dated Saturday, November 19, 2005, quotes Representative John P. Murtha (D-PA) as saying "Our troops have become the enemy. We need a change of direction in Iraq." The article went on to report that his "call a day earlier for pulling out troops sparked a nasty, personal debate over the war."

Washington Post writer Charles Babington wrote on Saturday, "Democrats physically restrained one colleague, who appeared as if he might lose control of himself as he rushed across the aisle to confront Republicans with a jabbing finger. They accused Republicans of playing political games with the war."

Commander Adam G. Alexander, USN (ret), or Whitefish, MT sees more villainy than child play in the political arena. He explains that he had a combat role in two wars, which were lost, naming Korea and Vietnam. He says they were lost, "...not by the military, but by the politicians. The politicians allowed themselves to be controlled by the actions of protesters. It is well understood that the large number of them were using the war for their own good, pushed by a very few people and the Communists. What we have now are the same type of people who are using this war only (in an) attempt to take over Congress and the White House."

Jay Lagree is a retired Air Force colonel from Meridian, TX. His impression of the current dialog in Washington is that both Congress and the mainstream media are guilty of serious misconduct. "When our liberal main stream media and their counterparts in congress impede the war in Iraq, it gives the terrorists more time and more weapons to defeat the Iraqi people. Similarly, the Iraqis know that without the United States military they have no chance of defeating the terrorists in the immediate future. When we tell the Iraqi people that we are going to quit the battle and go home like we did in Vietnam, we are killing their hopes of freedom."

Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Revie, a retired Army officer living in Las Cruces, NM thinks the remarks of some congressional members are traitorous. He further explains, "Demanding a timetable based on calendar events to extract ourselves from Iraq is tantamount to giving aid and comfort to the enemy. That is the same as handing them our operations plan." He concludes his comments saying "I firmly believe that if we exit based on a time table, that we will get our butts kicked in the process and that withdrawing to 'Fortress America' will only bring the conflict to our borders."

>> Continued -- Page 1 2 3