"Declare Victory and Go Home"
Memo to the bright bulbs who planned the Iraq operation: if you leave without winning, you lose, especially after the President, in a rare moment of articulate vision, defined success as the establishment of a bastion of democracy in the Middle East. It's hard to imagine that even the most ardent advocates of the war would have supported an operation without the commitment and staying power to achieve its broader objectives. There is no point to overthrowing Saddam if you are going to replace him with a Somalia-style anarchy which means less freedom and security for the Iraqi people and greater danger to US national interests.
This is one area where Howard Dean has been head-and-shoulders above the cut-and-run Democrats, especially those who had a vote and cast it to support the whole ill-conceived mess back in 2002. Dean, curiously cast as a "leftist" for the simple act of questioning (for very good reasons) the need for the war, has been the most forthright in opposing premature withdrawal of US forces until the mission can be accomplished. Bush is now showing every sign of wanting to walk away from the mess he created - a pattern of personal behavior that stretches back to his AWOL days from the National Guard. All the more reason to let the grown-ups back to run the government, with a veiw towards something bigger than tomorrow's poll numbers.
9:53:36 AM 
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