Inside the Beltway

Congress or courage?

NavyLt. Jason Nichols is an information specialist stationed in Baghdad. He’s also founder of the Web site AppealForCourage.org, where he has posted his personal thoughts about the recent proposals by Democrats — now, it appears, with the backing of certain Republicans — to abandon the all-but “lost” war in Iraq and bring U.S. troops home.

Therein lies the problem, he says.

“The American public is not tired of the war; they are tired of believing that they are losing,” Lt. Nichols opines. “They are tired of the daily drumbeat of pessimism and defeat promoted daily by our media and by some in our Congress.

“They don’t understand that building a democracy is a slow process that takes years, that victory in Iraq will be more like the fall of communism than like VE Day in 1945. Like it or not, it is incumbent upon us in the military to correct this misrepresentation of our efforts. We have a duty to convince the American public why we must stay and finish the mission.”

“There is no doubt that we can create a stable democracy in Iraq — if we have courage enough to do so.”

Fading ribbons

Number of magnetic “Support Our Troops” ribbons sold by the leading manufacturer in 2004: 4,000,000. Number sold last year: 48,000

—Harper’s Index, May 2007

Minus the mostest

“Does anybody realize there’s a war going on out there in the desert sands of Iraq and the rough mountains of Afghanistan? Apparently not, or Congress would be taking care of our troops,” reacts Rep. Ted Poe, Texas Republican.

The congressman quotes Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a respected cavalry leader who said about winning: “Get there firstest with the mostest.”

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