To be sure, there are those in our country, and in the Congress, who seem indifferent to these realities. Stating them may diminish the numbers of ovations and be met with scoffing by his opponents and the pundits. But they must be recited tonight and with relentless regularity from now on.
For notice must be served: There will be far more blood on our hands if we try to wash them of this affair, either by simply “redeploying” to someplace where we hope we might yet be welcome, or by surrendering Iraq to the Iranians via so-called “regional negotiations.”
Worse yet, such further bloodshed will not be confined to Iraq. Our collapse in that distant place will greatly add to our own future peril from enemies abroad and at home determined not only to defeat us over there, but here, as well.
Fortunately, if the President issues such a necessary warning, his will no longer be a voice in the wilderness. Indeed, the public is increasingly being treated to televised information about the true, and growing, threat of Islamofascist terror in the West. It takes the form of fictionalized accounts (such as Fox’s wildly popular drama, “24”) and factual documentaries (like programs aired this weekend on Fox News and CNN about, respectively, the operations of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in America and the virulent hatred towards the West being incubated by Islamists in places like the United Kingdom).
Our present circumstance is, as the military says, “no drill”: Our enemies are truly on the march and our perceived weakness invites their mayhem here, as well as elsewhere.
Ironically, the most strident of Mr. Bush’s critics on Iraq – including many among the gaggle of presidential candidates who will be in the House chamber tonight fancying themselves giving such addresses in the future – decry what they regard as his mistake, and that of his predecessors, in ignoring Afghanistan. They profess a willingness to put more troops there to fight the Islamist totalitarians of the Taliban and al Qaeda. They resolve not to allow that tormented land once again to become a safe-haven for, and state-sponsor of, terror.
Yet, that is precisely what the same people propose now to do with Iraq, a vastly more populous and wealthy place. In truth, our defeat in Iraq will make it impossible to keep Afghanistan free, let alone protect ourselves from what will subsequently emerge out of the terrorists’ new Iraqi base.
Set aside the defeatists’ demeaning of the sacrifice of our troops. Or the shame of condemning to interminable horrors those in Iraq we promised to help. Our political elite and chattering classes deserve a stiff rebuke for ignoring – and encouraging the public to ignore – the truth: In a global war for the Free World, there is nowhere to run.
So, when Mr. Bush ascends the dais in the House chamber tonight, let us hope he does not shrink from delivering what is needed – an irresistible call to renewed American greatness, combined with a stern challenge to those who fail that test and who would, by encouraging our countrymen to do so as well, imperil us all.