'This is why we fight'

"Bumps in the road are now officially seen as more hazardous than insurgents and terrorists in Ramadi."

If you haven't already seen Michael Totten's report on what's going on in the once war-torn Iraqi province of Anbar, read it. This tiny snippet (it's a long article) says it all:

“This place has made an amazing turnaround,” he [Marine Lieutenant Jonathan Welch] said. “Everyone knew about Ramadi. It was another Fallujah, but it was worse than Fallujah. I did not want to come here. I was supposed to have an easy deployment in Karbala. Most guys coming out here were looking forward to combat. Not me. I had already done it. If you told me a few months ago what it would be like now I wouldn’t believe it. A little while ago we went to a soccer game. Lieutenant Tierney put it together. They have sixteen soccer teams now. We bought them uniforms, balls, water for the field, everything. They had a huge opening ceremony. Hundreds of people were there. It was incredible. Just incredible. It was a real storybook turnaround. This is why we fight. This is why what we do is worth doing. This is what makes the sacrifices, like Lieutenant Hightower having metal enter his body, worthwhile.”

Lieutenant Hightower was standing right next to us when Lieutenant Welch said that. He was hit with an IED a few months ago. Pieces of shrapnel tore up his leg. He nodded at what Lieutenant Welch said, agreeing that getting “blown up,” as Welch put it, was worth it.

“That is the most encouraging thing,” he said, “seeing American Soldiers at soccer games at a stadium that recently was used as a graveyard.”

When organizations like MoveOn issue a smear against Gen. Petraeus calling him a liar and a traitor, and Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton says his report requires "willing suspension of disbelief", you've got to figure he was telling the truth, and the subversive Democratic party didn't like it one bit.

The concerted efforts by the Democrats to discredit Gen. Petraeus started back at the end of July, when Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) stated that a positive report by Petraeus would be a "real big problem" for the Democrats.

Read, and draw your own conclusions.