At war with reality

NY Dailey News ^ | November 12, 2007 | Unk.

[Signalman]

Editorial

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi miscalculated once more - failing, apparently, even to glance at the calendar, and thus seeking to ram through another pull-out-of-Iraq bill on Veterans Day weekend yet. Very bad appearances there, and Pelosi rescheduled the vote for later on.

Nor did Pelosi appear to note that word has come in from Baghdad that U.S. commanders are happy about the greatly improved security situation in most quarters of town. A top American commander, in fact, told The New York Times the military has routed Al Qaeda forces from Baghdad, putting U.S. brass in position to withdraw surge troops as planned. "Murder victims are down 80% from where they were at the peak," said Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil.

By failing to respond to progess in Iraq, congressional Democrats have taken to pursuing symbolic measures that are increasingly counterproductive and will likely come back to haunt the party. They'd do well to heed Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who recalled in a speech that "Democrats under Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy forged a foreign policy that was simultaneously principled, internationalist and tough-minded."

But now, Lieberman said, "No Democratic presidential primary candidate today speaks of America's moral or strategic responsibility to stand with the Iraqi people against the totalitarian forces of radical Islam, or of the consequences of handing a victory in Iraq to Al Qaeda and Iran. ... Democrats have remained emotionally invested in a narrative of defeat and retreat in Iraq, reluctant to acknowledge the progress we are now achieving, or even that progress has enabled us to begin drawing down our troops there." In other words, the facts on the ground should matter to the Dems, but for now, they don't.

[Sunshine Sister]

This editorial is very well written and right to the point.