Wanted: One Patriotic Politician

I could not bring myself to watch the President's speech last night. It was too painful for me. President Bush pulled the trigger on the Iraq war in March 2003, in my opinion, in part because he did not understand the limitations of military power and the grave implications of exercising this power in the wrong place at the wrong time. Today, I'm not convinced that his knowledge in this area has improved significantly.

So this morning, I read the speech on the White House website.

In the speech, Bush expressed the view that the political gains made by the Iraqi election in January 2005 threatened to undermine the terrorists' objectives, so they adopted a strategy of fomenting sectarian violence. This strategy on their part, he says, has succeeded.

If that was what was happening, then Bush should have been pushing for a strategy to encourage sectarian unity. Where were the appeals to the religious leaders to use their influence to prevent Iraq from falling into sectarian strife? Did Bush try to enlist the help of Shiite and Sunni communities in the United States to communicate with these leaders? These two communities live at peace with each other in this country.

Even now, while acknowledging that the enemy has successfully exploited historical animosities between the two major religious communities to serve their ends, he does not come out with his own strategy of alleviating these animosities as a way to undermine the terrorists' goals.

Now his plan is to send in more than 20,000 troops. This time it will be different, he says, because Iraqi forces will take the lead and because neighborhoods cleared of terrorists will have troops stationed there to make sure the terrorists don't return.

Iraqis will be given jobs, and infrastructure will be restored. By November, the Iraqi government will have secured all its provinces.

Perhaps we will get lucky. Perhaps the terrorists will decide to let the Baghdad government "win," and move to take over the country only after U.S. troops have withdrawn. If we are unlucky, the terrorists will keep up the pressure on the U.S. to prevent any withdrawal, not only in November, but not even after January 2009, when a U.S. President from the Democratic Party is inaugurated.

The following quote from an analysis by UPI International Editor Claude Salhani seems instructive:

"The most realistic outlook is for civil strife between Sunnis and Shiites to rage on for a number of years until there is a clear winner, a compromise borne of shear exhaustion or a break up of the country. The challenge for the United States will be to keep the entire, oil-rich region from descending into chaos," say [James Hoge, editor, Peter G. Peterson, chair, of Foreign Affairs].

The Democrats are not helping matters any today by threatening to withhold funds for the buildup announced by Bush. They know they are just grandstanding for the sake of their supporters. The country is in danger, but their primary consideration is to figure out how best to position their party for 2008.

America is in dire need of a leader who will be a true patriot. The soldiers dying in Iraq are patriots, because they are laying down their lives for no reason other than that they were asked to do so by their country. All Americans should salute their sacrifice with humble gratitude.

The country needs a political leader who will step up to the same standard of patriotism as those soldiers in Iraq. Who among our politicians will serve the interests of the country, even if it means putting their political career in jeopardy? Bush has fallen short of that mark, and so have Nancy Pelosi and the other Democratic Party leaders.