Melanie Morgan

Every time I come in contact with our troops, whether it is here in the United States or in dangerous places like Beirut or Baghdad, I am choked up with emotion for the tremendous sense of gratitude I feel for these fantastic people. They voluntarily joined the military to defend America. Many of them did so after 9-11 when they felt their patriotic duty demanded they serve in the armed forces.

Then look at the collection of politicians we have in Washington.

I hate to bring it up because I know it will ruin your day to think about them.

But, it's exactly because our political leaders are failing us that we have to step up and be more active in support of our troops, which is one reason I gratefully serve as chairman of the nations largest pro-troop grass-roots organization, Move America Forward.

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This past Jan. 26, the politicians did one thing right when they confirmed Gen. David Patraeus as the commander of the Multi-National Force-Iraq, which is the position that oversees all U.S. forces in Iraq. The vote to confirm President Bush's choice was 81 to 0. That even makes me nervous that all of the liberals voted for him too. But obviously, everyone was on board that Gen. Patraeus knows what he is doing and that we have to put the war in the hands of the military, not the politicians.

The biggest job Gen. Patraeus has had is to implement the president's troop surge and see if the additional troops can bring enough stability to Baghdad so the Iraqi civil authorities can get their act together, allowing Americans to disengage with victory, not defeat. No one can question his qualifications for the job, as evidenced by the unanimous vote for his confirmation. A West Point graduate, he even has a Ph.D. in international relations from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Gen. Patraeus recently told reporters who accompanied him on a trip to the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad: "We are going back to present the truth, to provide a forthright, comprehensive assessment of the situation at the time." He is referring to the report to the president, Congress and the American people about how successful the 28,000 extra troops sent to Iraq as part of the summer offensive have been in stemming sectarian violence and wiping out as many terrorists as possible. The report from Gen. Patraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker is expected in September.

But, of course, our politicians can't wait for the facts to come in because the facts may conflict with their anti-military, "blame America first" mentality. In April, Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate leader (I can't tell you how much it makes me gag to even write it, let alone say it!) shocked the military men and women in combat who are proudly and methodically wiping out extremist elements and pacifying much of Iraq when they heard him proclaim that "this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday.'' It is hard to imagine how disheartened, discouraged and just damn mad our troops were when they heard the leader of the United States Senate claim that the war is lost and they are fighting for nothing!

Reid kept up his outrageous behavior by telling a group of liberal bloggers last month that outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, was "incompetent." He followed that up with further disparaging words about Gen. Patraeus – ignoring the fact his Senate had just five months before confirmed him by unanimous vote. So, how open-minded do you think Sen. Reid is going to be when Gen. Patraeus and Ambassador Crocker make their report?

As one of Reid's senior Democratic Senate colleagues said, "We want them [the Senate] to vote and vote again" on Iraq "until they are sick of it," and the hell with the report in September by Patraeus and Crocker.

Just when you think the liberals can't insult the military any further, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joins Reid in a preposterous letter to President Bush. Their letter proclaims that the surge is a failure, even though all of the troops have just barely been deployed, stating, "… the escalation has failed to produce the intended results." They are partially correct. One of the results we hoped for was for Reid and Pelosi to just SHUT UP. I admit it failed to do that.

I do have confidence in Gen. Patraeus, and I think the American people would rather hear from our general in charge in Iraq, not the blathering politicians like Reid and Pelosi. If we are going to win this war, the military has to call the shots. That was the lesson from Vietnam. Politicians can't shoot straight, and the wizard would have us ignore the military man behind the curtain.

Related special offer:

Sen. Tom Coburn's "Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders into Insiders"