by Tom Sears
The only thing we have to overcome is ignorance and stubbornness. Just because President Bush mentioned the topic in a speech, the Bush-haters are automatically against the idea. It’s past time to start ignoring those people and start on a path that makes America stronger and safer and independent from foreign interference.
Al-Zarqawi Death is Good News
I went to bed last Wednesday night realizing I had a column to write the next day. I had all the research prepared for that nonsensical Senate bill that just passed allowing amnesty for illegal aliens among other provisions.
The day couldn’t have started out any better when my alarm went off at 8:00 (my friends know that is pretty early for me). The very first news I heard was the successful bombing attack that killed that rabid, evil animal Al-Zarqawi, his top “spiritual leader” and one of his top henchmen.
Could the day have started off any better than that? No Saddam Hussein circus of a trial with the strutting and defiant behaving dictator making the court justices look intimidated.
With Al-Zarqawi the capture, judgement, verdict and carrying out of the sentence took place with two 500 pound bombs.
There was more good news when it was announced that a “treasure trove” of information was left behind. If I were a terrorist, I would be worrying whether my name or other information about me was included in those papers.
I ran upstairs and turned on the TV to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Sure enough, the good news was true, and I resented the fact that I had to leave to go to a meeting and run some errands.
Afterwards, I hurried home and tuned in again to Fox News. You know the station. It’s the one that all the liberals pooh-pooh. It’s also the one that passed CNN, as if it was standing still, in viewership numbers. Oh yes, I also tried ABC, NBC and CBS, but I guess they thought their soaps were more important.
After a few hours of TV and being on the computer, I realized I was being selfish for being so pleased with all the good news. I knew I should get the negative gloom-and-doom spin so I turned to CNN once again.
Sure enough, it didn’t let me down. It was having a difficult time accepting the fact that a good thing happened. One CNN reporter said, we were going overboard in celebrating his demise. “In truth, he was a very small part of the insurgency.”
A freelance reporter, Nir Rosen, actually said this was a setback. “Death was an advertisement for his success in becoming a martyr. This will only intensify the ‘civil’ war.”
Jack Cafferty, a guest reporter on Wolf Blitzer’s comedy hour, read 6 e-mails, all negative, all demeaning the victory. Blitzer even quoted a terrorist website that praised his death. I am praising it also. Right now, Al-Zarqawi is a resident of hell wondering where the 73 virgins are.
Lastly, Wolf had to keep coming back to the Haditha incident to make sure it wasn’t overlooked. How about the William Jefferson incident, Wolf? Let’s not forget about that bit of news also.
Not to be undone, leftist politicians were desperately seeking out cameras to put their negative spin on the news. Sure enough, there were Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, and the perfectly coiffured John Kerry; all trying to put a damper on the day by telling the administration to bring the troops home now.
I’m surprised Pelosi didn’t suggest that there was a conspiracy involved. I’m sure she thinks the Bush administration had captured Al-Zarqawi months ago and was just waiting for the best time to bring him out. Sorry Nancy, normal people would laugh you right out of the room if they haven’t already.
It must have been a particularly sad day for John Murtha. He was the Dem’s military “expert” who was sure we were losing the war badly. Sorry John, we are winning, slowly and surely.
With all the scurrying about going on, with liberals looking for cameras, I was sure Al Gore would show up blaming the killing for worsening the global warming situation. Either that or to claim that he was the inventor of 500 pound bombs (W.S.). Sorry Al, no one listens to you anymore. They’ve probably forgotten you even exist.
So, all in all it was a very good day. We should be very proud of our brave men and women and the job they are doing. We should be impressed with our intelligence- gathering ability and our advanced technology that allowed the bombs to be released miles away and hitting the target with pinpoint accuracy.
We should be pleased that President Bush listens to the military professionals and ignores the questionable polls taken by a suspect media. Every red-blooded, normal, patriotic, common sense American knows this was a good day. Everyone else doesn’t matter (W.S.).
President Bush’s Plan is Working
I’ll be in Romania by the time you read this, and I hope I can get some overseas perspective about our current political debate. I think you will find the Romanians to be much more supportive of President Bush’s plan for Iraq. Yes, he has a plan and has been consistent with its implementation from the beginning of the war.
Only the anti-Bush, anti-America, anti-military crowd could be disappointed with the last few weeks’ good news coming out of Iraq. But there were plenty of these types to be found in our Congress and the “out-of-the mainstream media.”
Since I reported on the good news Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (I wonder? Are you still a martyr if you are simply playing cards with your buddies when the bombs hit?), there is even more to report. The treasure trove of information captured yielded immediate results. How about 452 raids, 104 terrorists killed and 758 captured? Also, there were 28 significant arms stockpiles found and documentation that shows even al- Zarqawi himself stating that they are losing.
More bad news for the antis. Of the 452 raids carried out, 255 were joint operations, and 143 were carried out by Iraqi forces unassisted by us. One of the raids by Iraqi forces in Karbala resulted in the capture of a Sheik Aqeel, “a key terror network commander wanted for assassinating Iraqi citizens and orchestrating attacks against coalition forces.” He was one of the top five most-wanted terrorists in Iraq.
This bit of news was hardly even covered. Sorry leftists, we are winning. Patriotic Americans see this as a great step forward. I can’t wait to see the spin the naysayers put on this.
Already they’ve started. They keep trying to refocus all their negativity on Guantanamo, Haditha and Abu Ghraib, all accusations or overdramatized situations. Our soldiers get blamed for prisoners going on a hunger strike and also for force-feeding them afterwards.
Give me a break! If they want to go on a hunger strike, let them. Put food and water in their cells in the morning and afternoon and remove the dishes at night. Then let nature and their own free will take over. End of problem either way.
The Dems are even trying to exploit the horrible, shameful deaths of two young, heroic soldiers when they were captured, tortured and killed recently. The Democrats are insinuating that the abduction wouldn’t have happened if we had not made our opponents mad by killing al-Zarqawi. By the way, where are the human rights groups when this unbelievable horror happens to our soldiers?
Then there is John Murtha, the Democrat congressman from Pennsylvania. Be honest. Had you ever heard of this man before he felt he had to stand up to get some of the media attention? He has done nothing of significance his entire time in Congress. Even his website staff has a hard time building a case for him.
He actually wants to re-deploy our troops to Okinawa! Does he even know where it is geographically? Congressman Murtha, which country is north of us (that’s up): Mexico, Canada or neither? Thank heavens he has a serious challenger for this November, and if we are lucky, he will go the way of Gephardt and Daschle.
Finally, the Republicans found a backbone and made the Democrats take a stand, an oddity for people who are supposed to represent their constituency. When Mr. Teresa Heinz-Kerry and Sen. Russ Feingold were ranting and raving about the need for a specific date for a total troop pullout, Sen. Mitch McConnell called their bluff and actually made their proposal a resolution to be voted upon by both houses.
Right away, they started co
mplaining about how unfair that tactic was. It’s one to be brave when the president’s approval rating is sinking, but they chickened out on their beliefs when the issue was to be voted on. Once again, they stuck their finger in the air to see which way the political winds were blowing and voted accordingly. The Senate vote was 93 to 6, rejecting the most restricting proposal and the Dems were left with mud on their faces (again).
Mr. Kerry, this is not a sporting event in which one side wins when the time is up. This Iraq game is won when the other side gives up or is eliminated. Most common- sense people understand this.
President Bush has had a consistent, unwavering plan from the very beginning: Take the fight to our enemies, give the Iraqi people the opportunity to vote for their choice of government, build up the Iraqi police force and army so it can police and defend itself, and only then start drawing down troop levels. Why are you still incapable of understanding this?
Romania is a Growing Democracy
What has been your opinion of Romania during communist times and from 1989? In all likelihood it was a wrong one.
This is my second trip to Romania, and I have found it to be a country with great natural beauty and found its citizens to be as warm, friendly and outgoing as you could imagine.
Hartwick College has provided me with the opportunity to research the evolution of the country’s tax system since its beginning in 1989. My study has been expanded to include other areas, including the political and economic systems they have in place. It has been an eye-opening experience.
Every person who I have interviewed or talked with informally- sometimes with an interpreter- has a very positive attitude towards the United States. I have yet to find a single person who does not, and I have interacted with many individuals and professions. These include doctors, bankers, economists, political scientists, accountants, attorneys, professors, politicians from the major political parties, members of the Financial Guard (their equivalent of our Internal Revenue Service but not nearly as strong), reporters, and the head of the U.S. Consulate in Cluj-Napoca, as well as entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses.
Very importantly, Romania has been our partner in the war on terror right from the beginning. It, along with other former Soviet-bloc countries, understands the need to rid the world of people such as Saddam Hussein and terrorist groups such as the Taliban.
Obviously, the people here have lived under very similar harsh regimes. Sorry Marxists, your ideal utopia is what they overthrew when given the opportunity. They are a country of 20 million and have almost 1,000 soldiers in Iraq and 1,000 in Afghanistan.
Fortunately, I have an English translation of the Bucharest Daily News to keep me informed. Just last Friday, the Liberal Party, one of the five major parties, proposed a resolution to “retreat” (their word, not mine) Romanian troops from Iraq. It was soundly defeated, and even two ministers in their own party voted against the proposal.
Liberal Party Defense Minister Teodor Atanasiu asked these two ministers to resign from the Liberal Party “as an act of honor.” Sounds a little arrogant to me but we have the same situation at home when our Democrats vilify Joe Lieberman and Zell Miller for voting their consciences rather than toe the party line.
In response to this resignation request, Democratic Party Vice President Mihai Stanisoara said, “Liberals do not understand that ministers are representatives of the state, not of the party that appointed them. Everything they (Liberals) do is a cheap image game.”
There was quite a lot of acrimony in the further debate, and I recognized some close-to-home comments from the speeches. I’ll mention only two here.
President Traian Basescu said “When its allies are facing difficulties, Romania
can’t take its toys and leave. Romania needs to prove it has a reliable foreign policy.”
The best quote came from a Mr. Mircea Geoana, another Parliament member. He said, “The saddest thing is that this proves politicans in the alliance (the ruling alliance is made up of two parties, the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party) have no remorse in using national interest, and foreign policy topics, for a petty purpose with pre-electoral tendencies.”
Isn’t it easy to list the politicians and individuals in our country to which that statement applies?
I could wonder whether newly forming democracies are falling for the less admirable practices in politics and of politicians found in the Western world. I prefer to understand that this is part of the democratic process, the part that makes constituents of the democratic process stand up and voice their opinions and remind the politicians that we do more than watch the process.
Before I close this column, I have to mention some very special people I have met. All have been indispensable to making my trips and goals successful, doing everything from finding accommodations and translators to setting up interviews.
First there is Miss Ruxandra Baciu, whom I met while she was interning at the Romanian Embassy in Washington last year. Then there are Cristian and Beatrice Aldea, a brother and sister who are attending university in Cluj. They too did so many things for me, both last fall and this trip, so that I could achieve the objectives of my study. They, as is Ruxandra, are very mature, intelligent, pleasant young people.
Most of all I have to mention Mr. Radu Cristea. He is a very successful entrepreneur who I met during an interview last fall. I could not expect to meet a more hardworking, trustworthy, sincere person than Radu. In the very little time we have known each other we have truly become the best of friends.
Democracy Shows Itself at Odd Times
A lot of good experiences have happened to me while in Romania, but two in particular have stood out.
I was taking the bus to my interviews and appointments, just as I do every day.
I bought the ticket, perforated it in the machine on the bus, and took a seat.
One stop later an official looking person boarded and waited until the bus started rolling again. He then clipped on some sort of badge and proceeded to ask everyone for their ticket. I handed him mine and waited for him to give it back. Instead, he kept looking at it while shaking his head.
He knew very little English, about as much as I know Romanian, but the words he did know were ominous. He said, “Please, come with me,” motioning me to get off the bus.
I tried to ask why, but he kept repeating himself. He wouldn’t explain what I had done wrong. He indicated several times that I hadn’t punched the ticket, which I knew wasn’t true. I was the only American on the bus, and he probably saw me as an easy target. The fine for the 30-cent un-punched ticket, by the way, is 300 Lei or over $100.
He kept getting madder and madder, so I started to get off the bus, but an elderly couple grabbed my shoulder and motioned me to stay in my seat, shaking their heads, indicating not to go with the officer. They had apparently seen me punch the ticket correctly.
As the officer came to grab me and pull me off the bus, others joined in to prevent him from doing so. I estimate that, eventually, about 20 or 30 passengers were on my side, yelling that they too had seen me punch the ticket.
A German on the bus told me in choppy English what was going on. The officer kept pulling me toward the door as the passengers pulled me the other way, each side yelling louder and louder. Eventually, the officer gave up, said something that was probably pretty nasty, threw the ticket back at me and stormed off the bus.
I turned around and told them, “Thank you very much” in my choppy Romanian, and all smiled and nodded their heads at my feeble attempts to express my gratitude.
What impressed me so much about this situation is that in all other situations, older people are usually intimidated by any government authority figure and look to avoid any trouble. All the people who came to my defense were in their 50s, 60s and 70s.
My other memorable experience happened when I went to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, to visit Elena Myronova, a former student, and her family. I think between Elena and her father I was
shown everything I could possibly visit in three days. They, especially Elena, really sacrificed their time, giving me between ten and twelve hours a day.
I had gone there wanting to go to the exclusion zone in Chernobyl, extreme tourism at its best. I found out that I had to submit paperwork first so that they could do a background check.
Why in the heck is it necessary to do a check before letting anyone go to the affected area? What worse danger could I cause? It will take around 20,000 years for the plutonium isotopes to decompose. Was my presence going to add another few thousand?
Anyway, being the 10th anniversary of the accident, the tours were filled, and it would have cost between $150 and $350 if I did have the paperwork filed. A tourist agent told Elena that much of the fee was actually bribes, and the higher the “fee” I was willing to pay, the faster the paperwork could be processed.
However, I was able to attend the Chernobyl museum, a very sobering tour. Pictures of the heroic soldiers who went in first, sacrificing their lives so that others might live, and children, many who will surely die an early death, tell this frightening story.
The real tragedy was the cover-up. The Soviet government initially denied anything was wrong, and then admitted to “minimal” damage that was being taken care of.
The government also encouraged parents and their children to participate in the annual Kiev parade May 1st, a mere 5 days after the accident with Kiev only 48 miles away! I only wish the Michael Moores, Sean Penns and their Communist, Socialist, Marxist friends could visit the museum and see the huge cracks in their Utopian paradise. Maybe they should actually listen to the people who lived through these times and are only now free to speak of its horrors. But then, I guess they wouldn’t get all the press they now receive by bashing America.
