DEAD SOLDIERS

BY RALPH PETERS

September 23, 2004 -- IMAGINE if, in the presidential election of 1944, the
candidate opposing FDR had insisted that we were losing the Second World War and
that, if elected, he would begin to withdraw American troops from Europe and the
Pacific.

We would have called it treason. And we would have been right.

In WWII, broadcasts from Tokyo Rose in Japan and from Axis Sally in Germany
warned our troops that their lives were being squandered in vain, that they were
dying for big business and "the Jew" Roosevelt.

Today, we have a presidential candidate, the conscienceless Sen. John Kerry,
doing the work of the enemy propagandists of yesteryear.

Is there nothing Kerry won't say to win the election? Is there no position he
won't change? Doesn't he care anything for the sacrifices of our troops in Iraq?

And if he does care about our soldiers and Marines, why is he broadcasting
remarks that insist - against all hard evidence - that the terrorists are
winning?

Has he seen the situation with his own eyes? I'll gladly tell him how to get
there. I'll even be his guide. And he can smell what remains of Saddam's mass
graves - with new ones still being discovered. He can taste the joy of freedom
among the Kurds. He can see the bustling commerce throughout the country -
despite the violence that alone makes headlines.

Above all, he could see the magnificent performance of our troops, their
dedication and professionalism. And their humanity, their goodness.

But Kerry doesn't want to see those things. He's reverting to form. Just as he
lied about our troops three decades ago, encouraging our enemies of the day and
worsening the suffering of our POWs in North Vietnam, today he's pandering to a
new enemy.

Imagine the encouragement the terrorists, insurgents and global extremists draw
from Kerry's declarations of defeat, from his insistence that our efforts in
Iraq and in the War on Terror have failed.

As he always does, Kerry slips in qualifiers. Of course, Iraq's important. And
he'll fight terror, too. It's just that the Bush administration doesn't know how
to do anything. A Kerry presidency would let us withdraw our troops, collect
more allies, succeed where others have "failed" and win the hearts and minds of
the whole, wide world.

Earlier this week, Kerry made a much-ballyhooed speech offering four
generalizations about how he would fix Iraq. But there was no detail, not a
single nut or a lonely bolt. And the current administration is already doing
most of what Kerry suggested.

As for involving the French and Germans, the truth is that they'd do more harm
than good. These are the corrupt cynics who made billions from the U.N.
Oil-for-Food program while the Iraqi people suffered. The French kiss up to
every dictator willing to wink in their direction. The German military barely
exists - it's just an employment agency for uniformed bureaucrats - and the
French military's sole competence lies in slaughtering unarmed black Africans.

As for the United Nations, any day now we'll see a huge banner hanging from its
Manhattan headquarters: Dictators For Kerry.

Even if I detested everything about President Bush, I'd vote for him just to rub
it in the faces of the Germans, the French and all of the tyrants rooting for
the Iraqi people to slip back into despotism. We Americans choose our own
presidents, and we don't take orders from Europeans or from any of Kerry's other
Swiss boarding-school pals.

I think it's great that Kerry speaks fluent French. I wish he'd go to France
where he could speak it all the time.

In an election year, our engagement in Iraq is a legitimate topic for sober
debate. But Kerry isn't serious. All he does is to declare defeat. He certainly
doesn't want to be al Qaeda's candidate, but he's made himself into their man
through his irresponsibility.

If Kerry were insisting, without caveats, that we're going to stay the course
and win, while backing up his criticisms with convincing details of how he would
improve our efforts, that would be fine. But his mad claims of disaster and his
inability to maintain a firm position unquestionably give aid and comfort to the
enemy.

The terrorists and their allies already intended to increase the level of
violence in Iraq before November. But Kerry's pandering has encouraged them to
pull out all the stops. I wish it were otherwise, that our election process had
more integrity, but the truth is that every roadside blast and car bomb in Iraq
is meant to support John Kerry.

Meanwhile, Kerry has assembled the most despicable cast of has-beens and failed
officials in campaign history. He's represented by the likes of Jamie Rubin - a
Clintonite who so loved America that he moved to London, returning to our shores
only to tell real Americans how we need to vote.

Putting Rubin on the talk-show circuit demonstrates how badly the Democratic
elite is out of touch with the country it claims to represent. With his
permanent sneer and his condescending snicker, Rubin represents nearly all that
working Americans - and our troops - despise about today's Dems.

In 1944, the Democrats had FDR. In 2004, they've got the stretch-limo version of
Mike Dukakis.

There was a wartime election in 1864, too. The Democratic Party's candidate,
former Gen. George McClellan, ran on a platform that declared President Abraham
Lincoln's policy a failure. The price of McClellan's rhetoric was a prolonged
war and tens of thousands of dead Americans.

In 1864, the citizens of the North were steadfast. They rejected the Democratic
Party's warnings of defeat and saved the Union. In 2004, the American people,
North and South, East and West, need to reject the cynical lies of John F. Kerry
and vote to support our troops and save Iraq.

Ralph Peters is a retired Army officer and the author of "Beyond Baghdad:
Postmodern War and Peace."

DEAD SOLDIERS

BY RALPH PETERS

September 23, 2004 -- IMAGINE if, in the presidential election of
1944, the candidate opposing FDR had insisted that we were losing the
Second World War and that, if elected, he would begin to withdraw
American troops from Europe and the Pacific.

We would have called it treason. And we would have been right.

DEAD SOLDIERS

BY RALPH PETERS

September 23, 2004 -- IMAGINE if, in the presidential election of 1944,
the candidate opposing FDR had insisted that we were losing the Second
World War and that, if elected, he would begin to withdraw American troops
from Europe and the Pacific.

DEAD SOLDIERS

BY RALPH PETERS

September 23, 2004 -- IMAGINE if, in the presidential election of 1944, the
candidate opposing FDR had insisted that we were losing the Second World War and
that, if elected, he would begin to withdraw American troops from Europe and the
Pacific.

We would have called it treason. And we would have been right.

Ralph Peters is a retired Army officer and the author of "Beyond Baghdad:
Postmodern War and Peace."

DEAD SOLDIERS

BY RALPH PETERS

September 23, 2004 -- IMAGINE if, in the presidential election of 1944,
the candidate opposing FDR had insisted that we were losing the Second
World War and that, if elected, he would begin to withdraw American troops
from Europe and the Pacific.

We would have called it treason. And we would have been right.

In WWII, broadcasts from Tokyo Rose in Japan and from Axis Sally in
Germany warned our troops that their lives were being squandered in vain,
that they were dying for big business and "the Jew" Roosevelt.

Today, we have a presidential candidate, the conscienceless Sen. John
Kerry, doing the work of the enemy propagandists of yesteryear.

Is there nothing Kerry won't say to win the election? Is there no position
he won't change? Doesn't he care anything for the sacrifices of our troops
in Iraq?

And if he does care about our soldiers and Marines, why is he broadcasting
remarks that insist - against all hard evidence - that the terrorists are
winning?

Has he seen the situation with his own eyes? I'll gladly tell him how to
get there. I'll even be his guide. And he can smell what remains of
Saddam's mass graves - with new ones still being discovered. He can taste
the joy of freedom among the Kurds. He can see the bustling commerce
throughout the country - despite the violence that alone makes headlines.

Above all, he could see the magnificent performance of our troops, their
dedication and professionalism. And their humanity, their goodness.

But Kerry doesn't want to see those things. He's reverting to form. Just
as he lied about our troops three decades ago, encouraging our enemies of
the day and worsening the suffering of our POWs in North Vietnam, today
he's pandering to a new enemy.

Imagine the encouragement the terrorists, insurgents and global extremists
draw from Kerry's declarations of defeat, from his insistence that our
efforts in Iraq and in the War on Terror have failed.

As he always does, Kerry slips in qualifiers. Of course, Iraq's important.
And he'll fight terror, too. It's just that the Bush administration
doesn't know how to do anything. A Kerry presidency would let us withdraw
our troops, collect more allies, succeed where others have "failed" and
win the hearts and minds of the whole, wide world.

Earlier this week, Kerry made a much-ballyhooed speech offering four
generalizations about how he would fix Iraq. But there was no detail, not
a single nut or a lonely bolt. And the current administration is already
doing most of what Kerry suggested.

As for involving the French and Germans, the truth is that they'd do more
harm than good. These are the corrupt cynics who made billions from the
U.N. Oil-for-Food program while the Iraqi people suffered. The French kiss
up to every dictator willing to wink in their direction. The German
military barely exists - it's just an employment agency for uniformed
bureaucrats - and the French military's sole competence lies in
slaughtering unarmed black Africans.

As for the United Nations, any day now we'll see a huge banner hanging
from its Manhattan headquarters: Dictators For Kerry.

Even if I detested everything about President Bush, I'd vote for him just
to rub it in the faces of the Germans, the French and all of the tyrants
rooting for the Iraqi people to slip back into despotism. We Americans
choose our own presidents, and we don't take orders from Europeans or from
any of Kerry's other Swiss boarding-school pals.

I think it's great that Kerry speaks fluent French. I wish he'd go to
France where he could speak it all the time.

In an election year, our engagement in Iraq is a legitimate topic for
sober debate. But Kerry isn't serious. All he does is to declare defeat.
He certainly doesn't want to be al Qaeda's candidate, but he's made
himself into their man through his irresponsibility.

If Kerry were insisting, without caveats, that we're going to stay the
course and win, while backing up his criticisms with convincing details of
how he would improve our efforts, that would be fine. But his mad claims
of disaster and his inability to maintain a firm position unquestionably
give aid and comfort to the enemy.

The terrorists and their allies already intended to increase the level of
violence in Iraq before November. But Kerry's pandering has encouraged
them to pull out all the stops. I wish it were otherwise, that our
election process had more integrity, but the truth is that every roadside
blast and car bomb in Iraq is meant to support John Kerry.

Meanwhile, Kerry has assembled the most despicable cast of has-beens and
failed officials in campaign history. He's represented by the likes of
Jamie Rubin - a Clintonite who so loved America that he moved to London,
returning to our shores only to tell real Americans how we need to vote.

Putting Rubin on the talk-show circuit demonstrates how badly the
Democratic elite is out of touch with the country it claims to represent.
With his permanent sneer and his condescending snicker, Rubin represents
nearly all that working Americans - and our troops - despise about today's
Dems.

In 1944, the Democrats had FDR. In 2004, they've got the stretch-limo
version of Mike Dukakis.

There was a wartime election in 1864, too. The Democratic Party's
candidate, former Gen. George McClellan, ran on a platform that declared
President Abraham Lincoln's policy a failure. The price of McClellan's
rhetoric was a prolonged war and tens of thousands of dead Americans.

In 1864, the citizens of the North were steadfast. They rejected the
Democratic Party's warnings of defeat and saved the Union. In 2004, the
American people, North and South, East and West, need to reject the
cynical lies of John F. Kerry and vote to support our troops and save
Iraq.

Ralph Peters is a retired Army officer and the author of "Beyond Baghdad:
Postmodern War and Peace."