No Surprise: Americans Want Troop Withdrawal Sooner than Later

AUGUST 25, 2005
By GREGORY J. RUMMO

...To not oppose the president’s course of action in Iraq or to disagree with the Cindy Sheehan – Michael Moore crowd does not mean one must love war.

It was in Salt Lake City a week and a half ago that President Bush addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars in a speech characterized by the media as one which “confronted growing concern about the war in Iraq.”

And maybe the president was answering his critics. Among the president’s remarks was this: “[A] policy of retreat and isolation will not bring us to safety.”

So what about all that “growing concern” over the war in Iraq? Among whom is the concern growing—the American people at large—or is it just a media fanned conflagration, the result of the steady and selective reporting of car bombs going off and killing both Americans and Iraqis?

Recent polls would seem to indicate that support for the war in Iraq is waning. But it does not necessarily follow that a majority of Americans believe the war was started under false pretenses, that “Bush lied” or that the US’s involvement in Iraq was a mistake. The president’s re-election last year was in large part a referendum on the war against terrorism. Or, to put it simply; the Cindy Sheehans of the world lost in November.

It’s silly to rehash all of the old arguments against the war—there were no WMDs, or that the president waged an illegitimate war without approval of the Congress or the UN. 

Our intelligence and many prominent Democrats; John Kerry, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Al Gore and Joe Biden to name several, are on record stating Saddam Hussein had WMDs. They were apparently fooled too—before George Bush was elected I remind you. And despite hopeful Democrat strategists relying on American’s poor memories, President Bush had approval to go to war from both Congress and the UN.

But to not oppose the president’s course of action in Iraq or to disagree with the Cindy Sheehan – Michael Moore crowd does not mean one must love war.

There is nothing to love about the deaths of 1,864 GIs. And lest we forget that this war is currently being fought on two fronts, the 223 KIAs in Afghanistan, where things have recently heated up. 

So it shouldn’t come as any great revelation that a majority of Americans favor getting out of Iraq sooner than later. Who among us wants America to stay there indefinitely?

Consider how you would answer the following poll question: Would you like to see American GIs come home from Iraq soon? I think the answer is obvious.

War is not popular. The thought of Americans dying on foreign soil, even in the defense of national security is heartbreaking. You better believe a majority of Americans would like to see it come to an end as soon as possible. 

In my travels during the month of August, I went through airports in three major cities; Newark, Kansas City and Atlanta. There were military personnel seemingly at every gate. I stopped and talked to several of them. Some were going some coming home. There were tearful goodbyes and joyful hellos.

One of my closest friends left for Afghanistan on August 8. He is an Army Chaplain stationed with the 53^rd infantry division, currently in Kabul. He left a wife and three children home in North Carolina while he serves a one-year tour of duty.

Capt. Winemiller is excited to be doing what he does best, offering words of encouragement and sharing the Gospel, to our men and women in uniform on the front lines in the war against terrorism. I am proud of him and I know his wife and children are also.

And while I know what he and the hundreds of thousands of other GIs are doing is critical for the security of the Homeland and in larger measure, the stability of the world, I am looking forward to the day when he and all of the other men and women can come home and stay home.

And I think we all can agree; the sooner, the better. n