Posted by
Defend America on Thursday, January 01, 2009 12:20:25 AM
As the new year begins many things will be changing and some will not. We are closer to victory in Iraq and some are already declaring victory. The story of the surge and the leadership of General Petraeus and General Odierno and Ambassador Crocker and our men and women's brilliant service has proved successful in Iraq. Violence is down and more and more cities are being turned over to the Iraqi people's control. Even though the media will not report it, we have made great improvements in a place where Senator Reid called the war lost. Thanks to President Bush for going forward with the surge, General Petraeus, General Odierno, Ambassador Crocker, and of course our men and women fighting over there. We deposed one of the worst dictators in history and now the Iraqi people can live in freedom.
The fight in Afghanistan continues and we will have to wait and see what President-Elect Barack Obama has in store for the war there. After all, he said it is where we were supposed to be along and vows to continue the fight so I hope he has some ideas in mind.
Iran still remains a huge threat as their leader (even though less popular now) vows the destruction of Israel. They are on their way to building an atomic weapon and if nobody stops them they will act on it. There must be preconditions first if the United States wants to talk to Iran. President Bush said it best when he said, "You are either with us or against us in the fight against terror" and Iran is clearly not with us with their support of Hezbollah in Iraq and other terrorist organizations who vow the destruction of the United States and our allies.
Entering in a new year still does not change the fact that they are people out there who want to kill us and our allies. It is not a fight that we can give up or take lightly. Lives depend on fighting against these radical Islamic extremists and fighting in a way that protects the American people and gets the job done. Whatever the methods are they must be done to get these terrorists to stop killing people. What cannot be done is prosecuting them through the United States justice system. I refer you to Andrew C. McCarthy's articles if you need any more reason why that only hurts the American people.
Russia and China are surging autocratic countries and as they continue to ship weapons to Iran and other terrorist organizations the United States and our democratic allies need to sit down and consider what to do about Russia and China. It is a very difficult situation because many countries in Europe will not want to deal with Russia due to the fact that is where they get their oil and the United States is in troubling circumstances because we need China.
We must monitor the ongoing tension between India and Pakistan because if a war breaks out there, the whole world will become involved.
Our oil situation is still troubling and will continue to be as long as we depend on countries who despise us and wish to see our destruction. We must do something to prevent OPEC from receiving any more money from the United States. We must drill here and drill now.
The economic crisis sure is troubling and we will have to wait and see if Barack Obama enacts policies that only hurt the economy and prolong this downturn in the economy. Hopefully, he looks back and learns that more restrictions and higher taxes prevent growth and only hurts the economy even more. Presidents in the past have done this and Obama should look at what happened then for guidance. I'm hoping he does.
As President Bush leaves office, many things will be said about him, from me a little of positive and little of negative, but from the media do not expect much positive news. I will have more to say about President Bush's departure, well when he departs.
The United States elected the furthest left candidate in Barack Obama to become president. We do not know how he will govern and lead this country, but all we can do is hope and act when necessary. Conservatives should agree with him and give him praise if he is doing things that protect this country and stand up in dissent when we feel that he is doing just the opposite. We must protect our freedom of speech and prevent the Unfairness Doctrine to be implemented, Employee Free Choice Act (which is anything but free), and Freedom of Choice Act to be signed into law. These are some of the things that a Democratic White House and Democratic Congress might try to pass and conservatives must stand up against these and any other policies that we do not agree with. I did not vote for President-Elect Obama, but he is my president as he is to every single American citizen. We, cannot do what the left has done over the last eight years and that is discount the president as being our own only because we did not vote for him. Barack Obama, I hope that you do as good a job protecting this country and its citizens that President Bush has done over the last seven years. I'm with you Barack Obama, but I am now and always will be skeptical.
Yes, we are in difficult times, but as always the United States of America will persevere and we will come out stronger even though many around the world does not want us to. I'm proud to live in a country that provides life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to all of its citizens. Here's hoping to a good year this year.
Some recommendation for books to read for the new year:
Willful Blindness- Andrew C. McCarthy's, former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York who helped lead the prosecution of the Blind Sheikh, the brilliant book documents the prosecution of the Blind Sheikh and why prosecuting terrorists through the American criminal justice system does not work
The Return of History and the End of Dreams- Robert Kagan knows foreign policy and in this book he documents why the fight against democratic and autocratic countries will provide for constant struggle in the 21st century, you can read this book online (originally published in policy review or if you want to have the book you can find it cheap on amazon)
Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, Fromm Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning- Jonah Goldberg writes about how liberals doctrine and idelogy align more with facism than do conservative ideology, this is a political scientist dream book, I am still not finished with the book because there are so many facts to take in
The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression- Amity Shlaes writes that the policies of the 1930's and the New Deal actually prolonged the depression even though many skeptics argue otherwise, great to read know especially because Barack Obama and his Democrat friends in Congress want to sign into laws that are very similar to New Deal policies
Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations- John R. Bolton details in his book why the UN is not useful and is only hurting America