Yet another pointless critique of GWOT
It gets a bit tiresome to continually be confronted with these pointless, often self-conflicting reports of how we're more at risk because we're actually doing something about terrorism.
This Reuters article on MSNBC says "an influential British think tank" has released a report that says that Great Britain "played pillion" (for us non-Brits that's akin to riding behind someone on the seat of a bike) to the U.S. lately in gathering intelligence and responding to Islamic terrorism, and it "has proved costly in terms of British and U.S. military lives, Iraqi lives, military expenditure and the damage caused to the counter-terrorism campaign".
Luckily, their Defense Secretary had this to say about the report: “One of the lessons of history is that if you run away from this it doesn’t actually get better,” Reid told the British Broadcasting Corp.
“Every child in the playground knows the idea that 'if you just avoid the bully, the bully will not come for you' is refuted by every piece of historical experience,” he added.
We had better keep that thought in mind as we go forward to meet the inevitable battle that lie ahead, both abroad and on our own soil. And this is part of the reason we fight:
From OpinionJournal.com, by Arthur Chrenkoff:
This is the perspective of 20-yr. old specialist Christopher Bean with the 101st Airborne, after a year in Baghdad: "In Iraq, we're not fighting for ourselves," said Bean, from his home base in Fort Campbell, Ky. "We're over there fighting so the Iraqis can have their own Fourth of July."
One of the things that struck Bean most about his time in Iraq was the people themselves. Most of the Iraqis he met were proud to have the Americans there, he said, and watching them go through their daily lives made him appreciate the historic significance of our Independence Day.
Being there really opens your eyes to what our forefathers went through to get the freedom we have today," he said.
Nation building is never quick and never easy; hard work and heartache are today, and the results often years if not decades ahead. But the Iraqi people, with the assistance of the coalition, have commenced their journey, and despite all the hardships, every day is another step forward.
Brad
This Reuters article on MSNBC says "an influential British think tank" has released a report that says that Great Britain "played pillion" (for us non-Brits that's akin to riding behind someone on the seat of a bike) to the U.S. lately in gathering intelligence and responding to Islamic terrorism, and it "has proved costly in terms of British and U.S. military lives, Iraqi lives, military expenditure and the damage caused to the counter-terrorism campaign".
Luckily, their Defense Secretary had this to say about the report: “One of the lessons of history is that if you run away from this it doesn’t actually get better,” Reid told the British Broadcasting Corp.
“Every child in the playground knows the idea that 'if you just avoid the bully, the bully will not come for you' is refuted by every piece of historical experience,” he added.
We had better keep that thought in mind as we go forward to meet the inevitable battle that lie ahead, both abroad and on our own soil. And this is part of the reason we fight:
From OpinionJournal.com, by Arthur Chrenkoff:
This is the perspective of 20-yr. old specialist Christopher Bean with the 101st Airborne, after a year in Baghdad: "In Iraq, we're not fighting for ourselves," said Bean, from his home base in Fort Campbell, Ky. "We're over there fighting so the Iraqis can have their own Fourth of July."
One of the things that struck Bean most about his time in Iraq was the people themselves. Most of the Iraqis he met were proud to have the Americans there, he said, and watching them go through their daily lives made him appreciate the historic significance of our Independence Day.
Being there really opens your eyes to what our forefathers went through to get the freedom we have today," he said.
Nation building is never quick and never easy; hard work and heartache are today, and the results often years if not decades ahead. But the Iraqi people, with the assistance of the coalition, have commenced their journey, and despite all the hardships, every day is another step forward.
Brad
posted by Brad @ 7:10 PM
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