Don’t Forget Veterans’ Families

RUSH: Laura in Erie, Pennsylvania. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hi there, Rush. Mega optimistic dittos. I wanted to give you an opportunity to clarify something you said earlier when you were talking about Senator Obama’s sacrifice. I know what you mean, and I think he means more taxes for the rich to go to the poor, and we know they’ve misused those taxes, but the word sacrifice, I think this is a perfect day to clarify and to just applaud those that are truly the ones that have given the ultimate sacrifice on Veterans Day that we —

RUSH: Well, of course. We’re celebrating Veterans Day today. It was actually yesterday. Of course, we are talking about uniformed men and women who have volunteered or been drafted, have served in combat, no question that’s a sacrifice, but that’s not what Obama is talking about with sacrifice. Obama’s definition of sacrifice is to take from people who have been luckier than everybody else and have a lot and make ’em give it back. The whole line is, ‘You know, I want to give something back.’ Why? People who are successful are already giving plenty. I don’t mean this in a selfish sense, but their definition of sacrifice is them taking things from people they don’t like who have much more than they think they should have. America wasn’t built on that kind of sacrifice. America wasn’t built on socialism.

CALLER: I agree.

RUSH: That’s what I was talking about. I appreciate the opportunity to clarify.

CALLER: Yeah. I thank you for all you do, and you’ve shown us that if they stop taking our money, then maybe we can truly give it to the causes that we feel, you know, like your contribution to your charity for sons and daughters of people who have given the ultimate sacrifice.

RUSH: Exactly right.

CALLER: And continue to do that and know that every person that’s ever served this country in uniform deserves just the richest blessings and applause from all of us today.

RUSH: As do their families.

CALLER: As do their families. I am a retired major, and I just completely am in awe of those that continue to do that every day.

RUSH: So are we all.

CALLER: I know.

RUSH: Barbara Ledeen, who is a friend of mine, has written a piece in Human Events: ‘Military Families Celebrate Veterans’ Day,’ and we’ll link to it at RushLimbaugh.com. It’s really poignant. ‘And what about a boy who was captain of his football team who now, as a man, learns how to maneuver on prosthetic legs and dreams of coaching a high school team? And those who are wounded or killed — their moms look at their ‘before’ photos and know that ‘honor, courage, commitment’ have to suffice because that is all there is. That, and love.’ It’s really a great piece, because she is a military mom. Her husband is Michael Ledeen, and their son is a Marine in Iraq. She starts out by saying, ‘I vaguely remember that when I was young, Veterans Day was a day of respect, a day when men wore poppies in their lapels, when 11 minutes after the 11th hour on November 11, bells tolled, sirens blared and people stopped what they were doing and remembered the valiant soldiers who gave their all for our freedom. How distant and quaint that all seems now: it is a way of measuring how American has changed.

‘Now I am a military mom. I choose to ignore the popular culture’s perception of the military. I rely on what and who I know. I know that I am grateful that I am blessed to have a son in the U.S Marines, on his second tour in Iraq, who is uninjured and inspiring to us and to all who know him. I know that there are moms who are not so lucky and Veterans Day brings them unavoidably to my mind. Getting through this weekend must be a lot tougher for the mothers of this war’s wounded and dead than it was when men wore poppies and everyone stopped to commemorate the nation’s loss. I do not know how these moms get through Veterans Day.’ So I agree with you totally, but I don’t want to forget the families of all of these people, ever, because as Barbara writes, all they’ve got are pictures, memories, and love. All of this in a period of time now where a major political party’s significantly sized base has devoted the last four years to impugning the honor, and the courage, and the character of all those in the US military.

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RUSH: Montague, California, next, this is Patty. It’s great to have you on the program.

CALLER: Hello?

RUSH: Hi.

CALLER: Hi. Thank you for taking my call. I wanted to call you on Veterans Day, and thank you for your support of the troops, and your positive outlook on our war effort over there. I have two sons in the United States Army. My older son is a US Army Airborne Ranger, and my younger son is an infantryman with the 1st Infantry Division.

RUSH: Well, those are both huge units.

CALLER: Yes. Yes, they are, sir.

RUSH: Airborne Rangers and the 4th ID.

CALLER: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I just so appreciate your warmth and your love of our soldiers, and you support them, and I can’t tell you how much it means to me. I just wanted to thank you, sir.

RUSH: Well, thank you. I hope you heard the call earlier where a caller and I were discussing sacrifice, and one of the things that I don’t think should ever be left out of that discussion is the sacrifice that families make.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: Military families.

CALLER: I did hear that call.

RUSH: Good, because while your sons are over there, you’ve had to put up with four years of negative news about the mission, about the troops —

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: — stories about their raping and —

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: — murdering —

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: — citizens and all this sort of stuff, and you always face the possibility every day of losing them.

CALLER: Yes, that is true, sir, and it’s very disheartening, and it’s a fight every day to fight back the fear and to keep the faith and to just listen to the positive and to try to filter out the negative, and that is absolutely correct. That’s true, sir.

RUSH: Well, we have all the admiration and love for you people in the world, those of you in military families, and you will always have it from the vast majority of the people in this country, Patty. I want you to listen. We’ve got a sound bite here from MSNBC Live, the anchor Tamron Hall talking with correspondent Tom Aspell, and Tamron Hall says, ‘We hear that these pronouncements are dramatic improvements in the capital of Baghdad. But what do you see from your vantage point being there?’ Before we play the bite, I just want to remind you. Last Thursday, a New York Times story was headlined: ‘Insurgent Group Driven Out of Baghdad.’ It was Al-Qaeda! Only 13% of the country is left infested with Al-Qaeda. Most of it’s Mookie al-Sadr’s boys. I saw just a moment ago that Petraeus is going to enter into discussions with Mookie. Al-Qaeda has been kicked out of Baghdad! That was the whole purpose of the surge — and, of course, the New York Times couldn’t even identify the group. ‘Insurgent Group Driven Out of Baghdad.’ The whole objective has been realized. This reporter, Tom Aspell, MSNBC Live, grudgingly sort of confirms that.

ASPELL: American casualties are down; casualties among Iraqi security force also down. Here’s a telling statistic. At the beginning of the summer, there used to be about 187 explosions per month in central Baghdad, and that figure has now dropped to about 18 per month — and then the number of indirect fire attacks, that is rocket and mortar fire in and around Baghdad, that has dropped from nearly 400 a month down to about 20 a month. Now, that’s a significant decrease. That certainly means that thanks to that surge of 30,000 American troops in and around Baghdad at the beginning of this year and going right through the summer, because those troops — now saying that Baghdad is largely pacified. There are still incidents going on in and around the capitol, but certainly, as the prime minister said on Sunday, it seems to have dropped off by about 70 or 80% — and that’s a considerable improvement.

RUSH: What does that mean? It means Bush was right! Oh, they can’t bring themselves to say that. It just means… In fact, did this guy say Al-Qaeda? No. These ‘attacks,’ these ‘incidents,’ they are way down. Nothing about Al-Qaeda being driven out of Baghdad. Nothing! It just doesn’t fit the narrative.