Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Victory

President Bush told an audience of Idaho National Guard troops and their families that victory is what we seek in the war:

So long as I'm the president, we will stay, we will fight, and we will win the war on terror.


I'm glad to hear him speak out on this. Sure, political opponents are dishonest when they complain that they don't know what our plan is to win in Iraq, but as I've written time and again over the last two years, it is up to the President and his cabinet to get out their and act like it is war. Any country relies on the support of the people to wage war and for a democracy it is even more important.

It isn't enough to complain about the media failing to highlight progress and give context to the war and the deaths they so ably report. It would be nice if the press did this but they don't so stop whining and deal with it. So one speech is nice and a series of speeches is better, but the President needs to do this constantly in a push to maintain public support. He needs to hammer what our goals are to win--effective Iraqi security and governmental bodies in a democratic Iraq--and point out our advances and the advances the Iraqis make in fighting the enemy. The President needs to highlight the heroism of our troops and inspire people. War is not a natural state of affairs and so extra efforts are necessary to support our troops to victory.

Victory and the assurance that we are advancing relentlessly toward victory will ease the concerns of a lot of people who now waver in their support.

Heck, I'd like to see the President reclaim the "V" for victory sign from the hippies who stole it and turned it into a sign of retreat.

V