USEFUL IDIOTS

Always have been always will be. Useful idiots, an oxymoron? Village idiots more likely. Wusses. Losers. Whiners! Wars should not be fought/debated in the public media, in the hallowed halls of Congress or even in huge antiwar rallies. It is unfortunate that the liberal left makes far more noise than the conservative right. But then they have had 200 years of practice. I long for the good old jingoistic days of yore. This country was built on the blood sweat and tears of good hard working Americans. Patriots all. Unsung heroes and heroines. Far too many of whom were buried in unmarked graves on the westward drive to build a nation. Some didn't even rate a burial, they died alone and rotted away right where they fell. No one there to mark their passing. They under stood what it meant to fight for something they believed in. To have something to hold on to; to worship, or not, as they chose. Yes, terrible things happened in those early years and there is no one really to blame. It was the westward tide. They battled and pushed back the native peoples, who got there by pushing out early natives

I get so sick and tired of liberal pukes crapping on what was built by people who knew and understood the true meaning of freedom.



Aiding The Enemy

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Monday, March 17, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Media: Is there anything to the theory that an enemy gains strength when its opponent demonstrates a lack of will to fight? Yes, say two Harvard scholars, and it has happened in Iraq.

Read More: Media & Culture | Iraq

Radha Iyengar, a health policy economist, and Jonathan Monten, an international security program research fellow, found that "in periods after a spike in war-critical statements, insurgent attacks increases by 5% to 10%."

The results might surprise some. But there's no reason they should. North Vietnamese generals knew they had a chance for a favorable outcome in their war if the American public turned hard enough against it. They saw the anti-war protesters as their allies. A better description for such people, though, might be "useful idiots."

Opposition at home during wartime is likely to produce two effects. It can cause morale problems for the troops fighting overseas and embolden the enemy. Reasonable assumptions, we'd say, but the latter had never been empirically proved — until now.

"We find that in periods immediately after a spike in anti-resolve statements, the level of insurgent attacks increases," Iyengar and Monten write in "Is There an 'Emboldenment' Effect? Evidence From the Insurgency in Iraq."

Terrorists might not have all their marbles, but they are nevertheless rational actors. Why wouldn't they take obsessive media opposition to the war and doubt expressed during public debate as cues to escalate? What they see tells them that if they inflict enough damage, America will cut and run because the public isn't willing to suffer the hardship.

The researchers characterize the increases in violence as small. "To the extent that U.S. political speech does affect insurgent incentives, it changes things only by about 10% to 20%," they reckon.

That's enough to result in unnecessary deaths for Iraqis and coalition troops, even if the increase in insurgent attacks is at the low end of the estimate.

What the researchers did not look at is how troop morale is affected by protests, media bias against the military's mission and overt signs that the public has taken a dim view of the war.

Remember the message "America is not at war. The Marine Corps is at war; America is at the mall" found written on a whiteboard at a base in Iraq? How can the troops give it their best when they know a large part of the country isn't giving them another thought?

How must America's best feel when the Code Pink crowd tries to shut down a Marine recruiting office in Berkeley, Calif.; when Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., tells students at Pasadena City College to study hard lest they "get stuck in Iraq"; or when Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., irresponsibly accuses our troops of committing "cold-blooded murder and war crimes."

What happens to our troops' spirit when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., indicts our forces by insisting the surge didn't work; when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., proclaims the war is "lost" and publicly questions the effectiveness of the surge; or when daft protesters in San Francisco carry banners that read "We Support Our Troops When They Shoot Their Officers"?

If the troops weren't too eager to defend to their deaths the lives of their detractors, it would be understandable. But it's their job and they perform it with honor and without resentment.

Of course, there's that First Amendment right that lets Americans protest the war and say foolish things. But war opponents should know their comments are likely to lead to the deaths of those who are securing their right to criticize.

At least media interest in the war, due to the success of the surge, is fading. When the press isn't inclined to convince America the war is a failure, admire anti-war marches, give voice to crackpots and let elected officials get away with asinine statements, Iraq is a safer place.

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