Congress Aids, Abets and Emboldens Suicide Bombers in Iraq

Lee Ellis

As I write this, another homicide truck bomber has struck a market in Baghdad, killing as many as 121 people among the crowd buying food for evening meals, one of the most devastating attacks in the capital since the war started. The attacker was driving a truck carrying foodstuffs including oil and flour when he detonated a ton of explosives, destroying stores and stalls in the busy outdoor Sadriyah market, police said.

Just a few days ago, two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowded outdoor market in another city south of Baghdad, killing 61 people and wounding over 100, police said, the latest in a series of terrorist attacks during the Islamic holy month of Muharram. Both Sunnis and Shiites have been killed in other attacks.

Civil war? No, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Iranian leaders need to drive Americans out of Iraq so as to keep the new Iraq government from succeeding in forming a new democracy and giving the people of Iraq a taste of that contagious commodity known as freedom.

With our American troops being so strong and such capable fighters, why are these terrorists still continuing with a terrible loss of life as they lose these battles with our troops? Because Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah and the al Qaeda groups know that America is losing its resolve thanks to Congressional members such as Senator John Warner of Virginia who is leading the Congress to oppose President Bush’s strategy to win this war against these insurgents. By dividing the nation, with half wanting to surrender and bring home the troops, by so many Democrats and Republicans putting their own desires for re-election over and above the need for this country to win , we are about to risk many more 9/11s as a result. Shouldn’t this be called, "aiding and abetting our nation’s enemies"?

Rep. John Conyers and Senator Russell Feingold are continuing to embolden terrorists by proposing legislation to cut funding for the war in Iraq. The terrorists could not be more overjoyed at this prospect of the downfall of American resolve. They predicted that their propaganda in conjunction with terrorist acts would cause Americans to cower in fear. It appears that they were correct as these Congressional members empower terrorists to send in more and more suicide bombers to kill Iraqi innocents! How many American soldiers and Iraqi citizens will be maimed or murdered by this seditious mouthing-off by Congressional members running for future offices? Shades of Shakespeare’s "Macbeth." Will we hear, in future years, these same Senators mumbling "Out Damned Spot, Out!"

The media still calls this "The Iraq War." Yet, when one looks more closely, we won that war early on. That mission was accomplished when Saddam’s statue was torn down, he was captured and Iraqis danced in the streets and hugged America troops. Later, over 12 million voted for a new government of freedom. We are no longer fighting the Iraqi nation or its government; we are at war with the terrorist hordes that are pouring in as mercenaries or smuggling IED weapons across the Syrian borders, financed by the Iranian government, as well as both al Qaeda and Hezbollah. It truly is no longer our war with Iraq.

Senator Joe Biden and others have gone one step further, joining NBC and other TV networks calling this a civil war. This does not apply since there is only one united government. Iraqi police and troops are fighting malicious mercenaries, not true fellow citizens. Saddam used to pay the families of suicide bombers $25,000 cash! I wonder what the going rate is today from Ahmadinejad?

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates called the term "civil war" a "bumper-sticker answer" that oversimplified the reality of overlapping conflicts. "I believe that there are essentially four wars going on in Iraq," he said at a Pentagon briefing, citing Shia-on-Shia strife, principally in the South; sectarian violence, largely in Baghdad; the Sunni insurgency, and attacks by Al Qaeda.

In that same vein, America has had many such "wars" here in the US--- our "wars" on Russian Mafia gangs, on sleeper cells, on counterfeiters, on pedophilia murderers of young boys, etc., etc. We did not think of them as "wars," just police action against evil-doers, or scofflaws who preyed on our society killing or harming our civilians. This same thing is taking place in Iraq.

A reminder that while we lost 405,000 of our troops in WWII, we have lost only 3,000 of our soldiers in Iraq in about the same period of time. This includes accidents as well as armed warfare. Murders in many American cities in just one year have been astronomically higher than the yearly Iraq losses. The FBI reports for 2005 tell us that 17,000 Americans were murdered here in the U.S in just one year. Where is the outrage about these American murders? Why does the TV media headline each American death in Iraq but never mentions the murder statistics of our own country? Too many Americans only know about the losses of Americans in Iraq, not those killed inside the USA!

The Communist Fronts here in America had protest marches last month with professional signs asking for peace rather than war, asking for American troops to come home from the Middle East. Surely they know that such an action will cause more worldwide slaughter than ever. How can there be peace in the world when a million Islamic terrorists want to kill all infidels and are determined to bring their murdering activities here to the USA?

"Hanoi Jane" Fonda won’t tell you. Apparently neither will "Jihad John" Warner!

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Lee Ellis is a retired journalist and narrator, formerly with both CBS and Gannett (USA Weekend). He was also a combat veteran of WWII, having fought in the South Pacific invasions. He had the pleasure of interviewing Ronald Reagan as an actor and then later working to help him become Governor of California. At the age of 80, he is keeping busy writing and doing free lance narrations for radio and television. He is an active member of Rotary and the VFW.

indiolee@dc.rr.com