Americans DO NOT cut and run

The following has come to me from a soldier with boots-on-the-ground. I am publishing his response to one of my posts in its entirety because he can speak to this issue far better than I. American citizens, let this man and his men and women down at your peril. We have greatness amongst us and this American man is one among many of our greatest, our dearest treasures: "The Democratic Party seems to be wondering why we are not winning the war. I can only speculate that “we” means US soldiers because they would never admit that they are part of any “we” that loses. With that in mind, I would like to know what they define as "winning the war" and show how to do it. We are in the initial phases of SASO (Stability and Security Operations). This is what is still currently being done in Bosnia and in Kosovo. It takes time and patience. If the democrats are so hot on their success in war, why can't they explain (according to their own interpretation of winning) why we aren't winning the war in the Balkans? According to former President Clinton, Bosnia wasn't supposed to last longer than a year yet here we are entering almost nine years later. Kosovo was supposed to last six months with NO GROUND TROOPS COMMITED. They are entering their fifth year with US troops on the ground. Somalia was another "victory". Some of you may say that those situations are all in the past, WRONG! They are just as active today as they were when it all started. They just don’t get all the advertisement. The pattern here is that politicians seeking future office seats want instant gratuity in these situations and it doesn't work that way. Have you ever noticed that no major political player (outside Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld) ever mentions the positive things that have been accomplished here? Not really because that would make their agenda loose steam. Yes, we’ve had our asses handed to us on several skirmishes, but it has been overshadowed by all of the successes we’ve achieved here. You really need to look at the big picture and gather ALL of the information, not just what is piped through biased media. It all boils down to politicians trying to get reelected in order to stay employed. These guys wouldn’t last ten minutes here because of their “I quit because it’s hard” attitude. As soldiers on the ground getting shot at on an everyday basis, I can tell you that no one wants to go home more than we do. The environment is brutal, the insurgents are merciless, and I don't want to see any more of my soldiers injured or killed. Bottom line, it sucks. But, unlike politicians, we stay the course because we see what happens here and what potential the country has in the future. You don’t just quit something like this because it bogs down and bad things happen. If you truly believe in doing what is right, you stick it out and provide something to these people that they’ve never had before, a future. If we follow the current mindset of these politicians, does that mean that we can quit helping the Hurricane Katrina victims because it gets hot in the south? Do we stop training to defend the country because it hurts to go another mile? Do we give up on identifying the remains of the victims in the World Trade Center because we aren’t “winning the war against DNA identification”? America was founded by people who wouldn’t quit. Have we have fallen away from those times and qualities? We are at a pivotal point in US and Middle East relations. The Middle East is comprised of more than just Iraq. The other surrounding countries around us will judge us and decide if they will deal with us in the future based on how we behave today in the Middle East."