Senate Says No To Retreat

WASHINGTON — The Democratic Party's presidential field is dividing over the question of funding American soldiers in Iraq, with senators Obama of Illinois and Clinton of New York voting with an 82-to-16 majority for a Republican resolution against cutting any money for troops in the field. Senators Biden of Delaware and Dodd of Connecticut were in the minority.

The vote, along with the narrow 50-to-48 defeat of a binding resolution calling for the withdrawal of soldiers from Iraq by March 31, 2008, was a major victory for the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, a Republican of Kentucky who quietly worked for two months to persuade his caucus to vote together.

Assisted by two Democrats, Senator Pryor of Arkansas and Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and by an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, Senator Lieberman of Connecticut, the Republicans defeated a resolution sponsored by the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, a Democrat of Nevada, which would mandate that the military begin a retreat from Iraq within 120 days of its passage. They did so even though a strong hawk, Senator McCain, a Republican of Arizona, was absent. He was in Iowa campaigning for the presidency.

At least the Senate understands how important it is to continue funding for the troops in Iraq. And at least 50 members of the Senate understand how important it is to keep the troops in Iraq until the mission is accomplished. The war in Iraq is central to the global war on terrorism. Forget the chicken/egg debate of whether Al Qaeda was in Iraq before America's invasion or not, the simple fact is that they are there now. Al Qaeda is spending considerable resources in trying to win Iraq. America can not let that happen.

Remember, Al Qaeda is a war mongering entity without a country. Engaging them in a foreign country is much better than engaging them in our own. If we can continue to disrupt their operations, gather intelligence on them and keep them centrally confined to Iraq and Afghanistan, that is a victory in its own right. Not allowing them the moment to regroup, rethink and retool against domestic American targets is as important a goal as anything. This is the first time that Al Queda has been militarily challenged, and while America has unfortunately taken casualties, the casualty rate on the other side is higher and costlier.