I read a few reports yesterday about the Iraq war being effectively over and noticed how little media coverage it garnered.

I’m not any sort of military analyst or expert, and I don’t have any friends or family serving right now.  I’m just a sister and a friend to two soldiers who served, and because of them my interest in this war was greater than if I had not had any family or friends involved.

When my brother was serving during the early years of the war, he would send weekly email updates to the whole family, and once he expressed how he believed that the good things that were happening in Iraq were not being reported.  I wanted to do something to support him, and so I went looking for an organization that I could affiliate with in order to stand up for him here at home.

I did some research and found Free Republic.  The patriots on that site were some of the finest I had ever met and I was thrilled to be associated with those who were determined that what happened to our vets during and after Viet Nam, did not happen to this generation of soldiers.  I attended my first pro war event – a counter demo in Longmont Colorado – to stand up to a group of peaceniks who had organized an Anti War Rally the very day I joined Free Republic.

From that day to this, I have never wavered in my support of President Bush, Our Troops, and the Mission they were engaged in.  As a confirmed Neo Con my position was and is that those of us in the west have a sacred responsibility to help those in our world who want to create constitutional/rule of law Democracy and that it is completely appropriate to use military force to help them, especially when the tyrants ruling them are messing with Americans.

For me the darkest days were those just before the Surge during the summer of 2007.  Politicians like Harry Reid were claiming the war was lost, and everyone was wondering what was going to happen.

I remember crying one night thinking about so many courageous families in Iraq who had put everything on the line to stand with the American Troops.  I knew that if we pulled out, most or all of them would be murdered.  It was about this time that Mel Morgan and Friends organized the first nationwide  Move America Forward Caravan to support President Bush as the Surge was being planned.

One only has to consider the killing fields of Cambodia and Viet Nam and the millions of lives lost or ruined because America came home too early when thinking of how it could have gone had we cut and run from our friends in Iraq during the summer of 2007.

How wonderful that instead of frantically evacuating embassies and pulling troops, our Marines will leave quietly having handed the bulk of security to Iraqis.  The absolute pride and sense of wonder at what these brave men and women have accomplished just overwhelms my heart, and coming on the heels of such amazing political reversals this past week as the people spoke in Mass, I like to believe the tide has turned in terms of what direction we are going to take as a world. 

Will we live free? 

That has been the question in my mind ever since it dawned on me that Barack Obama was a Marxist.

Will we bow down to World Government Tyrants who want to collectivize everything and murder and sterilize as many people as they can get control over?  The climategate scandal, the H1N1 Fraud being investigated by the EU, and the Mass Senate Special election are all unexpected and MOST WELCOME developments in the fights raging around how we will live and who gets to be in charge of making life or death decisions for individuals, families, and nations. 

Since I first put pen to paper ten years ago, the constant theme of my message has been Family Sovereignty and Freedom.  And although that at times has meant odd affiliations and becoming friends with people who were out of my cloistered mormon mommy existence, I am so grateful for the many friends made during these years of activism and writing.  I believe we have all made a difference, especially this past year at the teaparties, and I just want to burst with joy, hope, and love for the American Experiment.

We will have to fight many battles in the years to come, but I believe the battles of the past three years have set our world on a course towards Freedom and I just feel lucky to have been able to watch, write, and participate a little bit.

Let FREEDOM ring!

Jenny Hatch