It appears that if you try hard enough, and want something bad enough, you can convince yourself of just about anything. In Mark Matt Towery’s 13 September Townhall.com article, "Public Opposition To Small Troop Reductions Raises Similarity To Carter Days," [http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MattTowery/2007/09/13/public_opposition_to_small_troop_reductions_raises_similarity_to_carter_days] he misstates historical and economic facts to the point it leaves me stunned.

     First,...what standard of measurement is being used to conclude that the current economy is comparable to the stagflation of the Carter years? Interest rates on mortgages are not at 21 percent. Jobless rates are not moving between 12 and 14 percent. The stock market is hitting all-time highs, not setting record losses. The media during Carter's administration kept attempting to minimize the economic problems. No matter what economic good news is reported by Wall Street, the major newsprint and network media these days are stretching themselves to find something gloomy to report about.

     Second, President Carter's problem was his total inability to act decisively. By pressuring the Iranian government to release it’s political prisoners–those in jail for actively advocating and fomenting a revolution and overthrow of the government...there surprisingly enough was a revolution and overthrow of the Iranian government. The ensuing reactionary government of Islamic fundamentalists correctly guessed that they could humiliate the US government by invading our embassy and taking our people hostage without retribution from a Carter Whitehouse...They were smart enough to know that President-elect Regan response would likely be more direct than President Carter's solution of sending diplomats to meet with Iranian "students" in France.

     No matter the complaints lodged about President Bush, timidity and indecisiveness can not be credibly attached to the Bush administration.

     Third, the US and the United Nations both STILL have peacekeeping forces in Bosnia. When did the military ground campaign end there? If US troops are needed to ensure stability in Bosnia, why would they be needed less in Iraq? Again, I think the media has convinced itself, and the less informed of the US public, that we are continuing to sustain unacceptable military losses. Before the war started the going in position was 10,000 American dead within the first 3 months. Given that we lost more than 4,000 troops dead at EACH of the battles of Iwo Jima, D-Day, Okinawa, and the Philippine Islands, 10,000 in a battle the scale of Operation Iraqi Freedom seemed to be high but not unreasonable.

     But that didn’t and hasn’t happened in Iraq.

     Although the loss of any of our fighting men or women is a cause for national morning, the truth is, police statistic indicate that in the last 6 months, there have been more shooting in Washington DC than in Bagdad. Maybe someone should assert that the war on crime is unwinnable and that we should abandon the greater DC metropolitan area as an unwinnable cause . . . .

     If politicians would make a personal stand based on their integrity and an earnest belief of what is best for the nation–instead of constantly putting their finger to test the political winds of the latest poll data, Congressional ratings (whose approval rating is a little more than half of the President’s rating) wouldn’t be lower than popularity of Used-car Salesmen and Telemarketers.

     This was NOT the agenda that President Bush outlined in his original campaign platform. September 11th was the fault of our nation attempting to ignore Islamo-fascism. While our military and national planners have made missteps and lost opportunities for lack of Arab and Persian cultural understanding, it appears that we’re starting to get things right–much to the consternation of both the Islamo-fascists & Jihadists, willing to seek victory at any cost, as well as those voices in both Washington and in our media, just as willing to seek defeat at any cost.