In his speech tonight that spelled out our strategy for Iraq, the President didn't tell me anything I didn't really already know. I guess I'd have to say I'm reassured anyway, because there probably are some people who really don't see why we ought to stay the course. Bush was pretty clear on it tonight. One of the highlights of the speech was a recitation of the failures of the terrorists to disrupt our progress.
We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who behead civilian hostages and broadcast their atrocities for the world to see. These are savage acts of violence, but they have not brought the terrorists any closer to achieving their strategic objectives. The terrorists -- both foreign and Iraqi -- failed to stop the transfer of sovereignty. They failed to break our Coalition and force a mass withdrawal by our allies. They failed to incite an Iraqi civil war. They failed to prevent free elections. They failed to stop the formation of a democratic Iraqi government that represents all of Iraq's diverse population. And they failed to stop Iraqis from signing up in large number with the police forces and the army to defend their new democracy.
Terrorist failures are Iraqi successes. Bush made the point that the terrorists, whom he described as men who "take innocent lives to create chaos for the cameras", can succeed only if we willingly abandon the Iraqis. They play to the cameras in hopes of winning the war in the minds of the American public. We, the people, must choose to abandon the Iraqis. In order to make that choice a reality we must bring enough pressure to bear on our elected representatives that we force them to retreat.
The only way our enemies can succeed is if we forget the lessons of September the 11th, if we abandon the Iraqi people to men like Zarqawi, and if we yield the future of the Middle East to men like Bin Laden. For the sake of our nation's security, this will not happen on my watch.
It's hard for me to imagine an American leader who would ever suggest we abandon Iraq, considering what we have at stake.
Some wonder whether Iraq is a central front in the war on terror. Among the terrorists, there is no debate. Hear the words of Osama Bin Laden: "This Third World War is raging" in Iraq. "The whole world is watching this war." He says it will end in "victory and glory, or misery and humiliation." The terrorists know that the outcome will leave them emboldened, or defeated.
Unfortunately I don't have to rely on my imagination. All I have to do is listen to the Senate Minority Leader for a little while.
"'Staying the course,' as the president advocates, is neither sustainable nor likely to lead to the success we all seek," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said. "The president's numerous references to September 11th did not provide a way forward in Iraq; they only served to remind the American people that our most dangerous enemy, namely Osama bin Laden, is still on the loose."
Bin Laden may be on the loose if he's still alive, but he's been pretty damn quiet lately. Bin Laden miscalculated in attacking the World Trade Center towers. He misjudged the lengths to which America would go to take away his base of operations and take the fight to his own part of the world. But he, or whoever has taken over for him, hasn't misjudged the Harry Reids we have in our midst. Those are the folks that are so easily persuaded by terrorist on-camera appearances. Reid's comments, and like comments from Ted Kennedy, Dick Durbin, and Patrick Leahy, are aid and comfort for the enemy. Could we find better allies for bin Laden than this sorry bunch?
Comments