My Way News - U.S. Commander: Violence Down in Baghdad

My Way News - U.S. Commander: Violence Down in Baghdad: "BAGHDAD (AP) - The No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq said Thursday that a seven-month-old security operation has cut violence in Baghdad by half, but he acknowledged that civilians were still dying at too high a rate." Citizens of Iraq will have to feel a certain level of security before freedom of speech can occur. This is the essence of a "free" society, that is the ability to say whatever you want to without repercussions. Now that is idealistic or perfect scenario that cannot be achieved but can be approached. Our forces must maintain this level of security for a undetermined length of time in order for Iraqis to fully engage in an American-style of democracy. The Iraqis will also need to perceive this level of security even after we leave. Our military has been charged with this task also. This success is hard to qualify or quantify. You can set all the benchmarks you want, but none them will guarantee success. You have to do this empirically because there are an infinite number of unknown factors to consider. You essentially give your best guess, based on historical data, and then test the waters in as safe of way as possible. We are likely far from this, but it is achievable if given enough time. Where have we failed here then? Well, as much as I detest saying it because it gives ammo to the liberal hordes, it's up to the president (and to a lesser extent, congress) to rally the home front. Bush has unfortunately failed to do this to the level it needs to be done. To his defense, he has been surprisingly flanked by his fellow Americans to his detriment. We that support this cause have the foresight to understand what the consequences will be if we fail, but have not been able to persuade those against the war. There is a logical and analytical solution to this. The first step is to convince all Americans that we really have the same goal, enough security to keep us free.