Melanie Morgan

Army Gen. David Petraeus’s anticipated report on the “surge” of American troops in Iraq has focused anti-war forces and their counterparts in their struggle over America’s future.

All sides plan to converge on Washington D.C. on Sept. 15 by the thousands to show their colors (red white and blue or green, red and yellow, I guess).. The left and spineless center will carry the white flag. The right and others with developed frontal lobes and the hope for survival will proudly hoist Old Glory.

The left has already alerted the world to its response before the ink dries on the report: The U.S. has lost. Sen. Harry Reid announced this in no uncertain terms.

The left’s worst kept secret -- their plan to win in 2008 -- is to lose in Iraq.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., told WashingtonPost.Com on Monday that a “strongly positive report on progress on Iraq by Army Gen. David Petraeus” would be a “a real big problem for us.”

By that he means Democrats, not the U.S.

On the other side are the forward thinkers, the true progressives. They believe in America’s strength, its goodness. They believe the United States is pulling itself and freedom out of the hole, as the latest reports from Iraq indicate. Even the left-leaning Michael O'Hanlon of The Brookings Institution and Ken Pollack of Brookings' Saban Center reported this week that American troops and their leaders are turning things around in Iraq.

As America wins, the Democrats and their apologists lose.

Congressional poll ratings remain at historic lows, and for good reason. Members of Congress are ignoring what is truly a historical event: A sustained patriotic pushback against the anti-war machine, which has existed since America’s first days.

The war against us by radical Muslim jihadists started way before they hijacked planes and flew them into the Twin Towers and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. But that horrific day cemented the fight-or-flight response in Americans. Most of us prepared for fight, but warmed-over hippies and other appeasers warned against defense. “It will only make the terrorists more angry.”

But as the lefties squealed their infantile noises of defeat, most Americans were dusting off their flags, strapping them to their cars, and preparing for the long haul. Over the years as the media and left (but then I repeat myself) pounded President Bush and called our hero Marines “murderers,” some of the color faded in our flags.

But the push remained. Americans inherently are winners. We turned back the Brits in the Revolutionary War, despite the anti-war Tories, which included about one-third of the colonists. Anti-war Copperheads revved up some of the largest protests in American history during the Civil War.

Every Federalist Congressman opposed the War or 1812. Even anti-war activists filled Madison Square Garden in protest of World War I. Due to the bombing of Pear Harbor, anti-war protesters were meek during World War II, where all of America was busy kicking German and Japanese arses.

We are all aware of the Vietnam War crazies, who actually pushed America to retreat just as the Harry Reids and Cindy Sheehans want today in Iraq. The first Gulf War was too effective and swift for the anti-war movement to steady its wobbly legs. But we saw at the spotty protests what would become the sustained pro-troops, pro-America movement of today.

What we didn’t see in large numbers during most of America’s wars were the protesters AGAINST the anti-war protesters. This is an Iraq War phenomenon. Where there is an antiwar protest, there is a pro-troop, pro-mission counter-protester.

As the anti-war left drags out its old hippies, such as Joan Baez and Jane Fonda, blue-collar workers, regular Joes, veterans, mothers, priests, and other red-blooded Americans push back. The groups protesting the anti-war left are not necessarily one-minded when it comes to politics. They have one thing that is uniquely American: a need to fight for freedom and protect our nation.

Like the hard-hat riots in the Vietnam War, in which blue-collar workers fought the longhairs protesting the war, the strength of today’s pushback comes from the true grassroots. The Internet, talk radio and lightning-speed communications facilitate the gatherings of both sides.

Plans to converge on Washington D.C. just prior to the release of Petraeus’s report swarm the ether. The anti-war folks and their “losing” compatriots plan a big die-in. The pro-America-wins side includes thousands of people caravanning across the fruited plains. Leading the caravan is Move America Forward, the largest pro-troops nonprofit in the United States. Other groups and individuals are already pushing back including Gathering of Eagles, Vets for Freedom, who have a 10-Weeks to Testimony drill, Families United who will be holding town-hall meetings to push back in local town squares and other grassroots organizations.

We already know the left’s tired response to the coming Petraeus report: the left insists that American troops have lost. Perhaps they should stay home in September with their white flags, watch old videos of Vietnam War protests and practice their die-ins on their shag rugs.

History may yet record that crowds that came from the small towns to America’s Capitol with one patriotic voice that finally overcame two centuries of hysterical anti-war rantings.