Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Roz Kohls Column – 02/11/08



Democrats are hoping the Vietnam Syndrome will help them win elections. The Vietnam Syndrome is when candidates claim the US is losing a war, when it’s not. The idea worked for President Richard Nixon in 1968. The Democrats are hoping it will work for them this year.

There is a lot of positive military news in Iraq to deny, though.

Remote controlled explosives strapped to the bodies of two mentally disabled women were detonated Feb. 1 in a Baghdad bazaar, killing at least 70 people. The women had Down syndrome, so they probably didn’t know they were going to be killed along with the rest of the people nearby. The theory is that Al-Qaida used women because women are less likely to be searched.

This sounds like a setback, but it isn’t. Not only does this evil incident show how morally bankrupt Al-Qaida is, it also shows we are winning in Iraq.

First, why weren’t there any men available to give their lives to Al-Qaida and its cause? No men were available because most are already dead, driven out of Iraq, or have changed their minds about whether they want to be terrorists.

Second, why weren’t there any Iraqi insurgents of average or above-average intelligence available to give their lives to Al-Qaida and its cause? Same thing. No insurgents with average intelligence were available, because most are already dead, driven out of Iraq, or have changed their minds about whether they want to be terrorists.

Violence is down in Iraq, American troop levels are decreasing, and tribal leaders are casting their lots with America.

Newsweek reported Nov. 26 that improvised explosive devices (IED) attacks were down 50 percent since September 2004.

Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker was quoted in the Dec. 31 Washington Post as saying, “There is a review that the surge has worked, that Iraqi forces are more numerous and more capable.”

US Rep. John Murtha, (D-Pa.) who previously was highly critical of the US strategy in Iraq, changed his mind after a visit there this fall. He said Dec. 12, “I think the surge is working.”

Murtha found shops and markets open, and no major car bomb attacks. Hundreds of Iraqis in 20 buses, who had been in Syria, returned home.

That’s a lot of good news.

And that’s why Al-Qaida and its supporters are so desperate as to send mentally disabled women to do their dirty work.

“You can win an election on bad news, if it’s obvious, but not if you have to sell the voters on it first,” Fred Schwarz said in National Review Feb. 4.

“Given the choice between a candidate who says we’re doomed, and one who says we’re winning, most voters will prefer to believe the latter,” Schwarz said, “particularly when the facts bear him out.”

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