President Bush faces a problem similar to one faced by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Politicians who cared more about political gain than they did their country were making treasonous statements which demoralized the nation’s soldiers and their commanders.
President Bush faces a problem similar to one faced by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Politicians who cared more about political gain than they did their country were making treasonous statements which demoralized the nation’s soldiers and their commanders.
I have received hundred of emails recently in which Lincoln is quoted as saying, “Congressmen who willfully take action during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs, and should be arrested, exiled or hanged.”
The quote actually came from a scholar named J. Michael Waller, who says that a copy editor mistakenly placed quotation marks around the words, making it seem as if Lincoln had uttered them. Though Lincoln did not speak these words, anyone who has read Lincoln extensively and knows the history of the time in question would have no problem believing that he might have expressed these sentiments.
In Lincoln’s day, hanging traitors would have been normal. Today, we can only shame them for their treacherous actions. Fortunately for our troops, and for the national defense, Liberal Congressman John Murtha and his Democrat cronies were publicly shamed for trying to cut off funds to our troops while they are engaged in the war on terror.
Some might say calling such action treasonous is an overstatement. But the Constitution of the United States, Article III, defines treason against the United States to consist of levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid or comfort. If Murtha and his Democrat co-conspirators had succeeded, their actions would definitely have given “aid and comfort” to the enemies of the United States.
What was Murtha’s attempted crime? Having failed to stop the war on terror in Iraq, he, along with Nancy Pelosi, all but two brave Democrats, and a few RINO’s (Republicans In Name Only) passed a worthless resolution stating that they didn’t like the war. (See LINK below to my recent article, “Democrats Agree With Terrorists – Again.”)
Since the resolution had absolutely no effect on the President’s power to protect our nation by waging war on terrorists, Murtha and his fellow traitors tried a new strategy.
He conspired to stop the Iraq War by placing strings on funding for our troops. His bill would have required the Pentagon to certify that troops being sent to Iraq are “fully combat ready”; troops would have to be home at least one year between combat deployments; combat deployments cannot be longer than a year; and extending tours of duty would have been against the law.
Our Commander-in-Chief and his field commanders would never send troops into battle who were not “combat ready”. So why did Murtha want this language in his bill? He wanted Congress, not the qualified military field commanders, to determine what “combat ready” meant. This would give him the ability to use arbitrary qualifications that allow him to block reinforcements from reaching the battle to relieve battle-weary warriors.
His other three requirements also usurped the authority of the commanders who are responsible for the safety of the troops in the field. Never before has Congress been allowed to micro-manage troop movements in the way that the Democrats proposed. Thankfully, their attempt to run the war from their plush leather chairs in Congress was crushed.
Only the far-left wacko fringe of the Democrat party stuck with Murtha. When the rest of the Dems (almost all of whom had supported Murtha) saw which way the wind was blowing, they ran for cover. As Brit Hume said on FOX News, Democrats are finding that just because they have a majority in Congress doesn’t mean they get to run the place.
Even Democrats have to run for re-election. When they discovered what anyone with a lick of sense already knew – that Americans support their troops, even if their politicians don’t – most Democrats distanced themselves from Murtha as quickly as possible. His plan crashed and burned, and he and his party were shamed
Regardless of what the liberal news media says, the Democrats don’t really think we’re losing the war, or that it is unwinnable. They simply don’t want to win it. If we win, it makes Bush look good. They hate him so much that they are willing to sacrifice the safety and welfare of the nation to satisfy they unreasoning need to humiliate the President.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, speaking of the Democrats’ treasonous plan: “While American troops are fighting radical Islamic terrorists thousands of miles away, it is unthinkable that the United States Congress would move to discredit their mission, cut off their reinforcements and deny them the resources they need to succeed and return home safely.”
Thankfully, for the sake of our nation and for our troops, the Democrats were humiliated when their proposals were voted on in Congress. Perhaps their shame will make them think twice before they try to undercut our troops again.
Dr. Tom Barrett has been an ordained minister for 30 years. He has written for local and national publications for most of his life, and has authored several non-fiction books. He has been interviewed on many TV and radio programs, and speaks at seminars nationwide. Tom is the editor and publisher of Conservative Truth, an email newsletter read by over fifty thousand weekly which focuses on moral and political issues from a Biblical viewpoint.
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