Rudy certainly has gotten quite a bit of mileage about his comments on the Democrat party fecklessness in the face of terrorism and the ongoing war in Iraq. He's absolutely right to slam the Democrats for reverting to a pre-9/11 mentality on defending the US from terrorist attacks by terrorist groups that are ideologically driven to defeat the West over a period of not weeks and months but generations.
Here's the one question Democrats cannot answer because it would give lie to the fact that they have no interest in fighting the terrorists and those that seek to do harm to the US.
Al Qaeda is operating in Iraq. By leaving Iraq and setting timetables and all the rest - as Congress is voting to do in their latest measures - they would be handing a sanctuary to al Qaeda, which is the terrorist group that attacked the US on 9/11, at the USS Cole, at the Khobar Towers, at the African embassies, and is currently trying to attack us yet again.
How does withdrawing troops where they have the capabilities to kill al Qaeda actually make us safer? Or do Democrats believe that al Qaeda isn't in Iraq, despite al Qaeda itself announcing that this is the case?
All you will get from Democrats is that the war is lost, that leaving Iraq means that al Qaeda will have one less place to attack us, etc.
That ignores the fact that al Qaeda has no problem crossing borders and attacking the US inside the US. If the US leaves Iraq, al Qaeda isn't going to leave. They're going to continue fighting there, and use Iraq as a springboard to launching attacks elsewhere. Going after al Qaeda where it is operating is the best and only way to deal with the problem, not withdrawing forces where they are already engaging al Qaeda.
And most importantly, if Democrats believe the war is truly lost, why not demand immediate withdrawal because anything less is nothing more than a cynical ploy to convince themselves and their followers that they gave this a chance and are putting the military through a meatgrinder to prove a point (wrongly to boot). Sen. Harry Reid repeatedly has stated the US has lost in Iraq, and his clarifications on the matter only show that he has no interest in knowing otherwise. The same goes for Rep. Nancy Pelosi. Neither bothers to show up for military briefings on the situation in Iraq, so how can they form an informed opinion on the situation?
Instead, they take comfort in passing mealy mouthed bills that have absolutely no chance of being passed as though they think this somehow fulfills their obligation to the troops and to secure ongoing funding for the military operations in Iraq.
This is fecklessness of the worst kind, and it will do nothing except embolden the insurgents and terrorists in Iraq, give comfort to the Iranians in knowing that the divided US polity can be exploited to further their own goals for the region, and al Qaeda knows that if it can simply hold out long enough that it will claim victory once again because they have the will and fortitude to deal with setbacks while the US does not. The Democrats simply do not recognize the power of their words and what it does to those who listen overseas - especially the insurgents, terrorists, and other enemies of the US, not to mention US allies or potential allies.
The Democrats are handing enemies of the US an easy propaganda victory, and yet it is the Democrats who think that Rudy is out of line?
At least there are some GOPers who recognize that Reid's words are damaging more than just domestic politics. They're calling for Reid to step down. With Reid's statements and falsehoods, one needs a scorecard to keep track.
UPDATE:
The Senate passed their version of the defeat and retreat bill 51-46 and the full rundown will be listed here. It will most certainly be vetoed by President Bush. What a way to send messages. Speaking of sending messages, here's one for Reid from Sen. Lieberman.
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