The End of 2005 - Where Have We Been?

What a year! The contrast is so incredible, it's hard to imagine what has happened across the 365 days gone by. I do recall one common thread: The MSM, both the US based firms and those abroad, working diligently to remove President Bush from office, or, short of that, cripple his team that directly supports him. My perception is none of it has been about righting wrongs, but it has almost exclusively been about regaining power for the liberally minded portion of our country, which therefore has benefit to the rest of the world in terms of weakening our military, binding the hands of US commerce via regulations of epic proportion, and handing the advantages to other countries by transfer of high technology, and the impetus to move jobs out of the country, as things such as taxes and the minimum wages are increased. Counting back a little further than a year, in order to support my statement above, recall the entire matter of the faked National Guard Memo by CBS News. Over the year, there have been attacks on Bill Frist, Tom Delay, Carl Rove, Dick Cheney. Most have been flashes in the pan, and all of a sudden, they were gone as quickly as they came about. The disappearence of these stories, alleging incredibly bad behavior, implied horribly criminal in nature, were preceded by some hint that the attackers themselves had also performed similar acts (eg: Not filing correctly detailed trip reports when lobbiests paid the bills). A quick scan of my old posts reminded me os the entire Sgerna Giuliana episode in the international news. Her case, just like just about all the others involving the "kidnapping" of sympathetic people, seemed to end, after mulitple "extensions" of the deadlines for executions, with grace being given by the terrorists, and these release was an opportunity for the like minded people to proclaim how wonderful their captors were. For those captured and not sympathetic, such as the case of Nick Berg, there were no extensions, and there was no grace shown, yet, somehow, the brutality (the opposite of the wonderful humanity shown in the other cases) of the terrorists was somehow down played. Being the cynic that I am, I just have to believe the "kidnappings" are merely staged events, al part of the "information war" being fought in concert with actual military war. The funny part is, a 16 year old, doing a post 9/11 version of real life "Ferris Buhler's Day Off", found out there is a real struggle between good and evil. I'd say this young man has more on the ball than most of the Euopean populace and lawmakers, as well as our Democratic Party, Michael Moore, Jane Fonda, Cindy Sheehan, Howard Dean, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and maybe even Hillary Clinton. Good on you, Farris Hassan! The blogs from the "boots on the ground" types at the beginning of the year were primarily focused on the many IED attacks, or open, mostly unrestrained combat that was occuring. By this time, many blogs discuss the mundane aspects of being in the sandbox, or the relations with the local Iraqi and Afghan populations, in a very positive way. There are countless stories, but there, but here is the one about Baby Noor in progress right now. All it took was one national Guard soldier seeing, despite his daily schedule of patrols, that he could make a difference. School suppiles, toys, shoes, coats, clothing, books, etc, etc, etc, have flowed from the many cities and town of this nation, and I suspect, the world, to help a nation rebuild. I see this as a reflection of the Judeo-Christian ethics that this country was founded upon. Three sets of elections have been held, with the last set this month seeing almost no violence at all, and the Sunnis coming out in droves to join in. For any naysayers on the power of letting all voices be heard in a democratic manner, please start eating your portion of crow. You're wrong and you have been. It is working. I think back, and will admit my research hasn't been as thorough as it should be, but I'd say we (as a nation) have learned it's better to hold our breath and let the local population choose their leadership and style. Will it match ours? Of course not. Geez, look at us, we're still fighting over politics, but now it's in print and on the raido and TV, not in the copper jacketed bullets that kill quite literally. I think back to Iran, Libya, and South Vietnam as examples of when we made a point of picking who would treat American business interests the best. We ended up with Ho Chi Minh, Khaddaffi, and the Khomemi, and then decades of hostility and, I fear, a legacy of hatred from Iran that will shape the near term world issues far too soon, and far too dramatically. Maybe we're getting it right this time in Iraq and Afghanistan and really letting democracy get a firm beachhead from which to expand. I also see that the Democrats still didn't come up with any ideas for the nation on how to fight the war on terror. I don't see the "PULL OUT NOW!" plan as one of any military, or geopolitical value. It's great to Monday morning quarterback, it's hard to make the plan in the "fog of war." There's a few of my thoughts on the year. I'm looking forward to more peace in the Middle East, fewer deaths every where, and the Democrats taking credit for "bringing the troops home." My perspective: Who cares that nothing the Democrats did make that happen, just know it's happening. History will record who did what, and it will surely show a generation of young men and women, all VOLUNTEERS, with good hearts, sometimes full of mischief and bad attitudes, answered the call and did that which we are called to do: to treat your neighbor as yourself. They did it by giving their lives, their limbs, their bright futures, but they did it because they saw outside a selfish view of life. I pray their experieinces will speak to they younger ones behind them, who will see their service as honorable and necessary to a more peaceful world.