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Saturday, September 15, 2007
For security’s sake, America won’t betray Iraq
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hop aboard. The John McCain campaign bus rolling through Iowa expresses what should be the sentiment of this entire nation: “No Surrender.”
As President Bush made clear in a 17-minute address to the nation Thursday night, surrender may be an option for the next President — but it won’t be for this one.
History — assuming it is written by free men and women not intimidated into silence by the fear of attracting the terrorists’ notice — will be exceedingly kind to this president. With pressure on all sides to abandon to their fate friends who have put their lives in our hands, on our promise, the president declined. Declined emphatically.
Speaking directly to the people of Iraq, Bush promised “that America does not abandon our friends, and we will not abandon you.” It’s a promise we should honor.
How long should the United States remain in Iraq? Until al-Qaida and the Jihadist know they’re defeated. Until it’s clear to the entire world that America’s word is its bond. Until terrorists the world over are never again tempted to fly planes into landmark buildings or to plot the mass murder of American citizens. That clearly won’t happen by next March, May or July. It won’t happen by next November’s presidential election. And it likely won’t happen on the watch of the next president.
That’s not to say, however, that retreat won’t occur on the next president’s watch. The failure of the field of Democrats to confront its loony left over the despicable ad in The New York Times, identifying Gen. David Petraeus as “General Betray Us,” and their insistence on finding a quick, face-saving reason to diddy-bop to the exit door, oblivious to consequences, renders the whole lot suspect on national security.
If you believe, as I do, that for the foreseeable future — a decade, maybe two, maybe more, depending on whether we succeed or fail in Iraq — the world is inherently less safe and that evil people will kill us en masse, as they did on that infamous Sept. 11, you can’t have confidence in leaders antsy to run. And the Democrats are, damn the consequences.
Describe it in any terms you like, but this is a party under the control of the ’60s generation of leftists. General Betray Us. The betrayal, if we follow the advice of the Democratic field, won’t be just of the American patriots putting their lives on the line, as Gen. Petraeus is doing, but of every friend of America, especially those in Iraq, who walk through minefields based on our promises.
This is about us, a moment that reveals our character, a moment when, as Bush said Thursday night, “our moral and strategic imperatives are one.” This is not a mission driven by adventurism or revenge or the imposition an alien idea — democracy — on inhospitable soil. It’s about us. Our freedom. Our security. Our ability to go to work in tall buildings or to gather in large crowds or to board airplanes without weighing, however fleetingly, the odds that madmen will choose this day to make a statement with our deaths.
The president got it right: “If we were driven out of Iraq, extremists of all strains would be emboldened. Al-Qaida could gain new recruits and new sanctuaries. Iran would benefit from the chaos and would be encouraged in its efforts to gain nuclear weapons and dominate the region. Extremists could control a key part of the global energy supply. Iraq could face a humanitarian nightmare. Democracy movements would be violently reversed. We would leave our children to face a more dangerous world.”
While testifying before Congress last week, Petraeus drew flak for declining to speculate on whether the war in Iraq has made America safer. “Sir,” he replied, “I don’t know, actually.” Despite the criticism, it was precisely the right answer. Bush, not Petraeus, is the appropriate leader to address that question — as he emphatically did Thursday.
When Bush appears to be reeling, under siege from public opinion polls, unified Democrats and defections among Republican allies, he has the remarkable leadership ability to plant his feet, define his principled ground, and stand fast. Never betray people who believe in you. Bush won’t.
History, indeed, will be kind to this wartime leader.
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