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Kristol Clear

by John F. Tamburo, Editor in Chief, Publisher
Originally Posted: 7/9/2007 3:40:12 PM

The entire weekend, the New York Times has been rumbling that the Bush administration is getting ready to announce a pullout timetable for Iraq.  This rumor is in response to the defection of cowardly RINOs Richard Lugar and Pete Domenici to the appeasment ranks.  Needless to say, others have weighed in on the consequences of such a pullout.  So far, the finest opinion I have read comes from Bill Kristol.  In an op-ed for The Weekly Standard entitled Moment of Truth for the President, Kristol forcefully hits home:  If President Bush turns tail and runs, it will be a disaster for the United States, the President’s legacy and the people of Iraq, and a gigantic victory for the jihadist forces of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (the "central front" in the war on terror, as noted by Ayman al-Zawahiri, #2 in al_Qaeda).  It wouold also be a massive win for Iran, who is provisioning terrorist "insurgents" who are blowing up our troops.

The troop surge has only just begun, but preliminary results show that it is working, as Mr. Kristol noted, "better than expected."  There is no chance that the yellow-backed libs will amass a veto-proof majority of both houses of Congress to force a pullout.  Therefore, the President should ride it out.  As Mr. Kristol properly noted, the president is being ambushed by his own party’s cowardly RINO element.  Attack into the ambush.

Mr. President, I am glad to see that the White House is denying the existence of any plans to turn tail and run, which surely would dwarf the embarrassment of the 1975 Saigon pullout, and tell al-Qaeda that America is run by changeable little wimps who have nothing of their stomach for sacrifice to meet an objective.  The result of this pullout would be to free al-Qaeda to attack our shores, for the terrorists would know that we would huff anf puff, but leave the job unfinished because of socialist America-hating moonbats who think that America has earned the destruction that terrorism would bring to our shores.  They would have no fear of us.

Now what happens if we keep the surge in place, aggressively refute the RINOs and the moonbats, and further go on a strong offensive to kill or capture every terrorist "insurgent" in Iraq...We would succeed.  We’re 85% of the way there now.  We would, by staying the course through the lazy-toosh Congress’ summer recess, buy Iraq time to become strong and stable in its own right.  The casualty reports would continue to decrease, and then would end.  Iraqi forces would take over from our forces, and being properly trained with their principal enemy gutted, they would be able to fend for themselves -- and win.

For President Bush, he would, as Kristol notes, be looked at as the visionary who saw what the Middle East could be if the terrorists were vanquished.  He would generate a windfall of support for the GOP in 2008, and virtually ensure not only our retention of the White House but also our return to Congressional control.

For al-Qaeda and every other terrorist group in the world, the lesson would be harsh:  Attack American interests at the risk of your very existence.  Osama bin Laden would learn that Mogadishu was the aberration in American response, not the norm, caused by a spineless president who lived by polls and not principles.

The White House denies that any pullout is imminent.  This is a good thing, and I hope and pray that the President grows a new set of steel cajones and lets his generals guide us to total victory.