What our military accomplished in Iraq is almost without precedent.  The U.S. military advanced hundreds of miles, caused relatively few casualties, and achieved the over- throw of a tyrannical political regime in less than 4 weeks.  In anyone's objective eyes, the military victory was stunning. 

Then there is the political Left in the U.S.A., including Liberal ideologues and pundits and most Democratic Party politicians.  The well being of the United States of America and its people can no longer be assumed to be the political Left's top priority.

While Americans were fighting and dying on the battlefield in Iraq, the Liberal Leftist press and Democratic Party politicians were deriding the military and the planners of the war.  They didn't wait for or heed the facts on the ground.  They wanted a military fail- ure.  They wanted to be the ones to say they had been right all along.  America's well be- ing, the military, and the warriors' morale be damned.

America's military moved so fast that even the Russians were frightened.  According to Vladimir Dvorkin, head of the Russian Defense Ministry's official think tank on strate- gic nuclear policy, "The gap between our capabilities and those of the Americans has been revealed, and it is vast. We are very lucky that Russia has no major enemies at the moment, but the future is impossible to predict, and we must be ready."

The Russians, arguably America's most potent adversary, are able to see the enormity of America's accomplishments in Iraq, but America's political Left, America's Democrat- ic Party politicians and Liberal ideologues, while calling themselves "patriots," can only find fault.

Spokesmen for the political Left have forgotten their dire predictions of "quagmire," "setbacks," "stiff resistance," and my favorite, "victory yes, but at what cost?"  Now, the Leftists want us to forget their vile degrading of America's military, saying: "No one questioned the fact that we would win ...but ...."  In other words, the Leftists see no need for an accounting, as regards the self-serving and unpatriotic propaganda they dissemi- nated immediately before and during the war in Iraq.  What they do see is a need to step to the side and start a new attack--a new attack on the Republican Party, the Republican majorities in the two houses of Congress, the Republican Presidency of George W. Bush, and the Bush administration's foreign policy, including its focus on military prepared- ness, maintaining U.S. national security, and pursuing and defending America's vital na- tional interests.

Currently, America's political Left is really outraged, and it is not just because they were wrong and America won decisively in Iraq.  Oh no!  The Leftists are outraged because the Iraqis looted some buildings while American soldiers were fighting a war.

And it is not just the Leftists who are upset over the Iraqis' looting and destruction of Iraqi antiquities.  Bill O'Reilly of FoxNews also thinks we "screwed up."  Though, Bill does not agree with his guest's assertion that America has risen to the level of "van- dals." Bill just thinks America was "apathetic."

For the Left, for America-haters and for Bill O'Reilly and his guest, American warriors should have taken time out from the battlefield and sacrificed a few young Americans to ensure some artifacts at the Baghdad museum were saved from Iraqi looters.

The folks that hate America, or the few folks in journalism who believe they have to find something to complain about or they might be viewed as "shills" for the U.S. govern- ment, need to simply look at reality and discern that the truth is a constant and not relative, as the Left and the doubters would have everyone believe.

A simple truth is that most Americans value our young people, even the ones in the U.S. military, higher than some Iraqi antiquities.  It really doesn't matter that some college professors and journalists claim the looted booty was "priceless."

Wouldn't it be interesting to see these college professors and likeminded individuals ex- plain to the parents or spouses of Americans who were assigned to guard Iraqi museums that their loved ones were killed not defending America, but were killed defending the objects in a museum so the folks at the New York Times or at some university would have one less thing to complain about.

The political Left wants us to believe that an American military victory is measured by a bar that keeps moving up.  It isn't, and hard as they try, the Leftists will never be able to take away the significant accomplishments achieved by the military and the Bush admin- istration.

America set out to remove the political regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and secure the oil wells and production capabilities of Iraq to ensure that a viable, independent, and democratic Iraq would emerge after American troops left their cities.

The political Left's objectives for the war in Iraq and for America itself are somewhat different.  The American Left--the Democratic Party political opportunists and the Lib- eral pundits and ideologues--see their future prosperity and viability hinged to America's defeats and the displaying of America's shortcomings.  It really is something of an Or- wellian worldview.  For the Left, America is a better place, a better member of the world body, if America is thought less of. 

For most of her citizens, America is a better place and a better part of the world, and the world itself is a better place because of America.

Patriotism is not enhanced with the introduction of a kind of "tough love," by the Liber- als.  America, when loved conditionally, is necessarily, by definition, diminished in stature.  For the Liberals, the use of conditional patriotism and allegiance to America is merely a not-so-clever display of contempt for the symbol and reality of what America was, and what made it the world leader it is.  Rather, it is a demonstration of the Left's ultra-internationalist view, as opposed to an American patriot's view.  There is nothing hokey about loving your country.  However, there is something very dangerous about espousing the view that patriotism, love of country, is something to be ridiculed, condi- tioned, or qualified in a world filled with Saddam Husseins and Kim Jung-ils.

Most of America's objectives were achieved in Iraq and the remaining objectives of the war are being achieved as time goes forward.  The objectives of the political Left--the Democratic politicians and the Liberal ideologues and pundits--can never be allowed to be achieved if America is to remain America.

Paul Walfield is a freelance writer and member of the State Bar of California, with an undergraduate degree in Psychology and post-graduate study in behavioral and analytical psychology. He resided for a number of years in the small town of Houlton, Maine, and is now a California attorney. His articles appear in numerous periodicals and on numerous websites. He has been the featured guest on KTSA News Talk Radio.  CONTACT INFORMATION:  Email:   paul.walfield@cox.net

This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics, civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.

POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS

POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE

Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.

Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs, International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests, Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy

INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

---

THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA

An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis

Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor

Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic, Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues

Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity