Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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A month has passed since our historic telethon, “From the Front Lines,” and Move America Foward is still packaging and sending goodies to our troops. Volunteers have come from all over California to our packing headquarters in Sacramento where they work for our troops.

Troops, who are laboring under extreme heat in Iraq and Afghanistan, are taking time out of their days to write thank yous to the Americans who gave so generously.

“Thank you for the great box. It was shared with soldiers in my unit,” wrote SFC Alan Bair. “It’s great to know we have awesome support back home. We all know that you take time ou of schedules for these.”

Bair is on his fourth tour of duty in Iraq. It is the least we can do for him and all of our service members who protect us.

The June 26 telethon - which included participattion from Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Dr. Laura, and other luminaries - and was hosted by Michelle Malkin and our own Melanie Morgan - raised $1.5 million for packages to send to our troops. This week alone MAF will send out another 15 tons of packages.

“We are humbled and esctatic over the success of the telethon, and by the generosity of our volunteers who everyday give of themselves because they love our troops,” MAF Chairman Melanie Morgan said. “We could not have done it without all of the people who appeared on the telethon, our volunteers, and the generous Americans.”

Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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N.Y. Times Photo

Despite naysaying by top politicians, the Surge in Iraq has worked. The troops have been so successful that they not only have quelled violence, but they have made major gains in strengthening relationships with Iraqis citizens of all religions. Our fine troops have also trained Iraqi troops so well that the Iraqis are defending their own country more and more.

Here is what President Bush said today about the changes for our troops and why they happened:

“Good morning.  This has been a month of encouraging news from Iraq.  Violence is down to its lowest level since the spring of 2004, and we’re now in our third consecutive month with reduced violence levels holding steady.  General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker caution that the progress is still reversible, but they report that there now appears to be a “degree of durability” to the gains we have made.

A significant reason for this sustained progress is the success of the surge.  Another is the increasing capability of the Iraqi forces.  Iraqi forces now have 192 combat battalions in the fight—and more than 110 of these battalions are taking the lead in combat operations against terrorists and extremists. 

We saw the capability of those forces earlier this year, when the Iraqi government launched successful military operations against Shia extremist groups in Basra, Amarah, and the Sadr City area of Baghdad.  Because of these operations, extremists who once terrorized the citizens of these communities have been driven from their strongholds.  As a result, our Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, was able to walk the streets of Sadr City last Wednesday, as something that would not have been possible just a few months ago.

This week, the Iraqi government is launching a new offensive in parts of the Diyala province that contain some of al Qaeda’s few remaining safe havens in the country.  This operation is Iraqi-led; our forces are playing a supporting role.  And in the moments—in the months ahead, the Iraqis will continue taking the lead in more military operations across the country.

As security in Iraq has improved, the Iraqi government has made political progress as well.  The Iraqi Council of Representatives has passed several major pieces of legislation this year, and Iraqi leaders are preparing for provincial elections.  And Prime Minister Maliki recently returned from a successful visit to Europe, where he held important diplomatic discussions with Chancellor Merkel, Prime Minister Berlusconi, and His Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.

The progress in Iraq has allowed us to continue our policy of “return on success.” We now have brought home all five of the combat brigades and the three Marine units that were sent to Iraq as part of the surge.  The last of these surge brigades returned home this month.  And later this year, General Petraeus will present me his recommendations on future troop levels—including further reductions in our combat forces as conditions permit.

As part of the “return on success” policy, we are also reducing the length of combat tours in Iraq.  Beginning tomorrow, troops deploying to Iraq will serve 12-month tours instead of 15-month tours.  This will ease the burden on our forces—and it will make life easier for our wonderful military families. 

We’re also making progress in our discussion with Prime Minister Maliki’s government on a strategic framework agreement.  This agreement will serve as the foundation for America’s presence in Iraq once the United Nations resolution authorizing the multinational forces there expires on December the 31st.

We remain a nation at war.  Al Qaeda is on the run in Iraq—but the terrorists remain dangerous, and they are determined to strike our country and our allies again.  In this time of war, America is grateful to all the men and women who have stepped forward to defend us.  They understand that we have no greater responsibility than to stop the terrorists before they launch another attack on our homeland.  And every day they make great sacrifices to keep the American people safe here at home.  We owe our thanks to all those who wear the uniform—and their families who support them in their vital work.  And the best way to honor them is to support their mission—and bring them home with victory.”

Iraq’s Interior Minister Thanks Wounded Troops for Liberating Iraq

Jawad Karim al-Bolani, minister of Interior in Iraq, visited wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Tuesday.

Critics of the war on terrorism in Iraq have said that the Iraqis didn’t want us there and they want us out. Now.  But Minister al-Bolani stopped to visit our most wounded warriors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to say “thank you,” according to www.cns.com.

“We have come … to express our gratitude and appreciation for the sacrifices made by these great warriors, soldiers, in freeing the Iraqi people and in helping us in Iraq recover from tyranny and dictatorship,” Jawad Karim al-Bolani, Iraq’s minister of the interior, said through a translator to a handful of journalists in the lobby of the medical center.

“We also want to express our gratitude to the families of all these great men and women and express how important their sacrifices are for our nation,” he added.

Bolani’s visit with troops comes on the heels of Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) recent trip to the Middle East, where the Democratic presidential candidate caused a stir when he canceled a planned visit to wounded American soldiers.

Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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Matthew Vandegrift, an American hero who gave his life for you and me, will soon have a school named after him. It is a fitting tribute for a man who was selfless, patriotic, and well educated.

“The Leander School district in Texas voted unanimously to name their new high school, opening in 2010, to honor him,” my friend Katie O’Malley wrote in Human Events.

But some ingrates opposed the naming of the school after Matthew.

“Naming the school after someone who signed up to serve in an illegal war promotes the board’s political pro-war message. Both my sons will attend this school. Both of them will know that it was named after someone who willingly signed up to take part in an illegal war defending, mainly, business interests.”

These are the words of a selfish, inhumane, fool who takes America’s freedoms and twists them into a tool to hurt others.

His or her son will learn from the school’s name, Matthew Vandegrift, that true Americans are willing to fight for their country – not bad mouth it. They will understand that the world targets America because they dislike Her freedom, Her hope, Her strength.

At 28-year-old, Matthew knew more than the people who oppose his name will know until they meet their Maker.

Read O’Malley’s article and comment so these hatemongers understand that they will not poison America as they did during the Vietnam War.

Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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When you get to wondering: How did this person get elected – this person who says our troops have lost the Iraq War; this person who said the surge would never work; this person who call our Marines cold-blooded murderers.

Take a look at this video. No. Wait.

The is a video taken by the University California at Santa Barbara, or UCSB College Republicans, during a gathering of miscreants who spend more time hating America and our troops than they do bathing. Their mouths are as filthy as their bodies, so expect to hear profane language. And expect to see a person (I guess it was a person) spitting on an Iraq War veteran.

We have seen this type of behavior before, in Berkeley, Calif., and around the country where anti-war militants and generally hateful people attack military recruiters, assault Gold Star parents, and disrupt the government’s business. In this tape, you will see a woman saying we should hang President Bush because he is no better than Saddam Hussein.

And you will hear the “F” word and a lot of other name calling. This is par for the course with these maniacs. These haters.

Perhaps the most disgusting thing of all is that one hateful radical screams that our veterans “are not peace makers.” Well, if acting like these maniacs is “peaceful,” I am glad our troops don’t follow in that tradition.

Here’s the link: Video of America’s haters

And may God Bless America and her peace makers.

Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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To all you naysayers, to the Valerie Plame fans of the world who would rather keep their heads in the sand as our enemies work to make nuclear bombs, get a load of this:

The Associated Press - yes, THAT Associated Press - reports that “The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program — a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium — reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.”

The removal of 550 metric tons of “yellowcake” — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam’s nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.

What’s now left is the final and complicated push to clean up the remaining radioactive debris at the former Tuwaitha nuclear complex about 12 miles south of Baghdad — using teams that include Iraqi experts recently trained in the Chernobyl fallout zone in Ukraine.

“Everyone is very happy to have this safely out of Iraq,” said a senior U.S. official who outlined the nearly three-month operation to The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

While yellowcake alone is not considered potent enough for a so-called “dirty bomb” — a conventional explosive that disperses radioactive material — it could stir widespread panic if incorporated in a blast. Yellowcake also can be enriched for use in reactors and, at higher levels, nuclear weapons using sophisticated equipment.

All whining-WMD-deniers will have to do more flip-flops than some liberal politicians to talk their way out of this one. Oh, sure, the “yellow cake” wasn’t ready to use for a dirty bomb. But you can bet your britches Saddam - who killed his own people with WMDs - was working on nukes - nukes he could handoff to killers like Osama bin Laden’s badboys.

Our troops in Iraq, AFghanistan and around the world are cleaning up radical Islamists who want to slit our throats. We are winning in Iraq, and the stabilization is coming along so nicely that Iraq’s Prime Minister feels secure enough to talk about freedom fro al Qaeda.

Mark my words: Any politicians running for office this cycle who talk down to our troops, saying the U.S. is losing the war, will change like flypaper in a horse barn. The truth has caught up with mainstream media - at least the Associated Press in this instance.

Here at MAF, we KNOW Americans love our troops and support them. Now our so-called leaders need to wake up and recognize the truth.