Withdrawal Is Not an Option

[darrels joy]

Withdrawal Is Not an Option
by Rep. Sam Johnson
Posted Nov 23, 2005

I spent 29 years in the Air Force--served in Korea and Vietnam--and spent seven years as a POW in Vietnam--more than half of that time in solitary confinement.

I know what it?s like to be far from home--serving your country, risking your life, and hearing that America doesn?t care about you. Your Congress doesn?t care about you. Your Congress just cut all funding for your war. They?re packing up and going home--and leaving you here.

When I was a POW, I was scared to death when our Congress talked about pulling the plug that I would be left there forever.

I know what it does to morale--I know what it does to the mission--and so help me God, I will never, ever let our nation make those mistakes again. Never.

Our men and women in uniform need our full support. They need to know that when they?re in Iraq driving from Camp Blue Diamond to Camp Victory that the Congress is behind them--to give them the best armored trucks they can drive, the best weapons they can fire, and the best ammunition they can use.

They need to have full faith that a few naysayers in Washington won?t cut and run--and leave them high and dry. They need to know these things because that?s mandatory for mission success and troop morale.

America--and the Congress--must stand behind our men and women in uniform because they stand up for us every minute of every day!

Any talk--even so much as a murmur--of leaving now just emboldens the enemy and weakens the resolve of our of troops in the field. That?s dangerous!

We?re making great progress in Iraq.

Remember in January how we saw pictures from Iraq of that first election. For weeks the media predicted gloom and doom. Remember that? What did we see? We watched people as they waited in lines for hours--defying death threats--just to cast their vote for democracy.

Remember the picture of the woman in a black head cover flashing her purple finger in the V after voting in the first Iraqi elections. It was a breakthrough for democracy--and it was just the beginning.

Remember the recent vote on the referendum--when people came out in droves to make their voice heard. You wouldn?t have known about it because there was so little mention of it here in the American press--but people got out there and they voted--they showed their support for a democracy, a new government, hope and a future.

These people are thirsting for something more--they?re risking their lives in the name of a new government, and we must stay the course if we want to foster a stable Iraq and create hope for millions in the Middle East.

And our work is paying off--not just at the ballot box. Remember when we were waking up that Sunday morning in shock as we caught Saddam Hussein cowering in a rat-hole. He?s gone. And you know what, at least 46 of Hussein?s 55 most wanted regime members are either dead or incarcerated.

Nationwide, thousands and thousands of police officers have been hired and nearly 200,000 Iraqi soldiers are trained and serving their country.

It?s going to take time--but our guys on the ground are working with other nations to make inroads to create leadership and inspire democracy in a country that has only known hate, fear, and death from a ruler.

However, sadly, some members of Congress want to embolden the enemy by saying we just cut and run. That?s just irresponsible and unconscionable.

I have to ask: What would Iraq be like if the United States pulled out--allowing dangerous people like the head of al Qaeda, Zarqawi, to run the country? What would that mean for the region? The world?

Al Qaeda rules with death, fear, terror and blood. Al Qaeda takes innocent people hostage--then beheads them--and then brags about it on the Internet.

Al Qaeda has no respect for human life. They prey on innocent people to do their dirty work - because they know we don?t target schools and hospitals and mosques--yet those are the exact places that they?re using for safe cover.

Al Qaeda will kidnap loved ones, especially very young children, of people trying to build democracy, like local leaders, to scare them out of helping out the new country. They?re taking kids hostage because parents want a new life and a better future for their children. Why is that such a crime?

What part of al Qaeda do you want operating here in America?

Al Qaeda is a world-wide organization and world-wide threat. I don?t want any part of this. Americans don?t want, need or deserve al Qaeda. Our troops are over in Iraq fighting not just for our freedom and protection--but freedom for the world.

We must fight the bad guys over there--not over here. We must support our troops to the hilt so they don?t go to bed at night--covered in talcum-powder thin white sand wondering, ?Does America really support me??

In case people have forgotten, this is the same thing that happened in Vietnam. Peaceniks and people in Congress--and America--started saying bad things about what was going on over there. Let me tell you what it did for troop morale. It?s a real downer. I just pray our troops and their families can block this noise out and know that I will fight like mad to make sure our troops have everything they need--for as long as they need--to win the global war on terrorism.

Withdrawal is not an option!
Mr. Johnson (R.) represents the 3rd District of Texas. He served in the U.S. Air Force for 29 years, flying combat missions in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He was a prisoner of war in Hanoi for nearly seven years.

[Jerry D]

Thank You Rep. Sam Johnson for your 29yrs of Service in the USAF and backing the troops "keep em flying"

Thank you Rep Sam Johnson

[SuperScout]

My kind of Texan!!
Thanks for bringing this good read to our attention, Joy!

[Arrow]

Thanks Joy and Rep Sam Johnson

In case people have forgotten, this is the same thing that happened in Vietnam. Peaceniks and people in Congress--and America--started saying bad things about what was going on over there -Rep Sam Johnson-

Q: Was the American antiwar movement important to Hanoi's victory?

A: It was essential to our strategy. Support of the war from our rear was completely secure while the American rear was vulnerable. Every day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9 a.m. to follow the growth of the American antiwar movement. Visits to Hanoi by people like Jane Fonda, and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and ministers gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses. We were elated when Jane Fonda, wearing a red Vietnamese dress, said at a press conference that she was ashamed of American actions in the war and that she would struggle along with us. -Bui Tin-former colonel in the North Vietnamese army. Bui Tin, who served on the general staff of North Vietnam's army, received the unconditional surrender of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975. Excerpt from an interview in the Wall Street Journal Thursday, August 3, 1995 conducted by Stephen Young, a Minnesota attorney and human-rights activist.

[BLUEHAWK]

Good post... thank you.

Here is what Legion National Commander, Thomas Brock, wrote in the last issue of our magazine:

"Today's media-hungry war protest movement is an anti-freedom movement. The call to prematurely withdraw US troops from the war on terrorism will quite likely - as public opposition to the Vietnam War showed us - have the unintended consequence of prolonging the fight. Ho Chi Minh described the antiwar movement in the 1960s as a second front in his march to relieve South Vietnam of its freedoms."