The Crisis

As the war in Iraq drags on, I'm beginning to come to the opinion that America may be incapable of winning a protracted war. Don't get me wrong, I think militarily we are up to the challenge. We have the forces, we have the knowhow, and we have the experience. We are killing more of the enemy than they are of us. Our soldiers are winning the battles with insurgents. So what is it that could possibly prevent us from attaining victory in Iraq? The answer is ourselves...

In the digital age, Americans are more connected to the World and to each other than at any period in the history of civilization. With network news sponsored affiliates, satellite uplinks, and global cell capability, the media outlets can bring you breaking news "at the speed of live" from anywhere in the world. So everyday when Americans turn on their TVs and hear about the latest roadside bomb or the latest insurgent attack, it is only a matter of time before it starts to weigh on our national conscience. With every profile of a dead soldier we see on the news, every interview with a grieving family, our sense of urgency for an end in sight begins to stir.

After three years of fighting, with the death toll in Iraq approaching 3,000 US soldiers, our national sense of urgency for an end to the war has gone from a stir to a scream. Politicians are stepping all over each other for the chance to Monday morning quarterback the war. Politicians who voted for the war now oppose it and claim to have been duped into supporting it in the first place. We find ourselves in a tough battle with a determined enemy and a rising death toll among our soldiers. America is bitterly divided as to what we do next. The following words were written during another time in American history where the outcome of another war weighed heavily on the hearts and minds of the American people:

December 23, 1776
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.

Although 240 years later, this message resonates today as it did back then. The message is perseverence. That it is better to have our shoulder against the wheel than our backs against the wall. Freedom does not come easily, nor does it come cheaply as Thomas Paine pointed out. While every American is eager for an end to this war, we must always remember that the quickest way to end a war is to lose it. And losing is not an option in the War on Terror.

To leave the job unfinished in Iraq is to doom our children to fight the same war for the same ground 10 years from now. If we had finished the job during the first Gulf War and ended Saddam's rule then, we would not be in Iraq today. Instead, Americans got their quick war. As our troops came back and we celebrated our overwhelming victory, Saddam was busy killing thousands of Iraqis that answered George Bush's call to overthrow the dictator, thinking that American forces were on their way. We've learned from our mistakes this time around. Although the death toll of US soldiers approaches 3,000 over the last three years, keep in mind that it was over 3,000 people killed in just one day on September 11th. Leaving Iraq now would be putting our backs against the wall. The War on Terror is still being waged, and it's being waged in Iraq...