Glenn Reynolds has an interesting letter from a reader that shows that if the Democratic Party wants to redeem themselves with security voters, they have an excellent chance to do so — and more importantly, then can ensure that Iraq is not a defeat for the United States:
Al Qaeda has been living on the hope that the Democrats will be “surrender monkeys”, and can be scared to defeat. I think the Democrats will be more steadfast about the war in position than opposition. Sensible Democratic politicians, together with Republicans, will ensure that the fight is not hampered.
When Al Qaeda sees that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats will cut and run, they will lose the illusion that all they have to do is to defeat Bush. They will see that whatever party is in power, Al Qaeda faces an unending struggle. This will turn the “media victory” into a bad psychological blow.
In a sense, showing Al Qaeda that both American political parties will fight Al Qaeda relentlessly, is the best thing to do now.
This assumes that the Democrats will not cut and run, of course…
The Democrats have a huge opportunity here, not only for themselves, but for the nation as a whole. If they send al-Qaeda the message that the US will not back down, regardless of who’s in power, al-Qaeda will suffer a major psychological blow. al-Qaeda’s entire strategy in the last few years is to replay the General Giap strategy in Vietnam — get the Americans to lose their will to fight and a vastly inferior force can win a battle that they could never win otherwise.
The Democrats have an opportunity to win this war, but it requires them to ensure that their “new direction” in Iraq isn’t heading towards the exit at the first opportunity. If the Democrats show that they’re as willing to stand and fight as the Republicans are — but would in fact do more to fight back against al-Qaeda, it would send exactly the right message to the enemy. Right now all that al-Qaeda, Iran, and the rest of the hostile forces think they need to do is wait out the Bush Administration — once Bush is out of power, they’re hoping that the world will go back to the status quo. If the Democrats send the message that even if they’re in power, al-Qaeda will still have no refuge, al-Qaeda’s whole thrust of battle goes down the toilet.
I’ve been harshly critical of the Democrats in the past, and for good reason. Prove me wrong. Let’s see the Democrats not back down in a fight, let’s see them commit themselves to liberal values abroad. Let’s see them fight a smarter war on terror. If they do that, then they’ll prove themselves responsible enough to be in power.
The balls is in their court. They can choose to advance the cause of freedom, or they can choose to be an obstacle. As the ruling party in Congress, everyone, regardless of political affiliation, should hope they do the right thing.
