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Senator Jim DeMint: "We Cannot Afford to Fail" |
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Written by N.Z.
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Tuesday, 13 February 2007 |
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 Ed. Note: For our second guest contribution, we are pleased to welcome Senator Jim DeMint --- N.Z.
Last week I took the floor of the Senate to speak in opposition to my Democratic colleagues' efforts to pass a non-binding Sense of the Senate resolution that would have undermined the mission that we are currently sending our troops to carry out.
In short, the Levin resolution criticizes the President's plan for victory in Iraq without offering any alternative. Now, Democrats in the House of Representatives have crafted a similar resolution and are set to have a vote this week without offering their Republican counterparts the opportunity to debate and offer amendments.
As I said in my speech last week, this is not how leaders should behave. Real leaders make tough choices - choices that lead to action.
One of our greatest Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt reminds us that "it is not the critic who counts." Rather, said Roosevelt, "the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again."
Sadly, this is not the course that many of my Senate colleagues have chosen to take.
But to be fair, there are some on the opposite side of the aisle who have had the courage to criticize their leadership's harmful actions and to offer - as misguided and wrong as it may be - resolutions that would actually do something: cut funding for the troops and establish dates for withdrawal.
On Face the Nation this weekend my colleague Senator Dodd acknowledged Democrats "made a mistake by not having a real vote where there was real teeth in it, with real accountability, on the war in Iraq." Dodd went on to criticize his leadership for getting us "into a mess here by competing Sense of the Senate resolutions which have no legal bearing at all whatsoever."
On that, I agree with Senator Dodd.
Let's be real leaders here and propose real solutions.
I believe President Bush has done this; he has surveyed the situation and made the proper determination that the status quo is not working. His surge plan is a real proposal designed to reinforce our troops on the ground and to provide security for the Iraqi's - Security that is necessary for a political solution in Baghdad to be reached.
I am happy to support the President in this endeavor because I believe this may be one of our last best hopes for victory in Iraq. Failure in Iraq is not an option; there is too much riding on the outcome. The security of our homeland and the future of Western Civilization are tied directly to victory in the war on terror and Iraq is the central battleground in this global conflict.
In this effort, we cannot afford to fail.
Thank you for your continued support on this central issue of our time, it has not gone unnoticed here in the United States Congress.
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I really agree that we need to do something about Afganstan. We really do not need to bail. My husband lost his job because not more missles are not allowed to be built and I also have a son in the US Army, that I hope were no in vain fighting for.
Thank you,
Trudy