A RECIPE FOR DEFEAT

All are not praising the Iraq Study Group's report. John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee for 2008, called the plan a recipe for defeat. Rudy Giuliani, the other presumptive Republican nominee for 2008, says leaving Iraq would be a terrible mistake. So what's the problem with the report?

McCain drew a direct parallel with Vietnam, saying "There's only one thing worse than an overstressed Army and Marine Corps, and that's a defeated Army and Marine Corps. We saw that in 1973. And I believe that this is a recipe that will lead to, sooner or later, our defeat in Iraq." He's probably right. But after 4 years of fighting, the American people don't care anymore. They've given up. They no longer see the point in winning, which would explain the Democratic victories last month.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is also running for president, is saying pretty much the same thing. Giuliani actually was part of the Iraq Study Group, but resigned. He specifically took issue with the claim that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to blame for the situation in Iraq: "Israel and Palestine is an important issue. Sometimes it's used as an excuse to deal with underlying issues. But the reality here is that the Islamo-fundamentalist terrorists are at war with our way of life, with our modern world, with rights for women, religious freedom, societies that have religious freedom. And all of that would still exist, no matter what happens in Israel and Palestine." Exactly.

At least a few politicians see the light, for now anyway.

We need leadership now more than ever before. The American people don't really see any further threat from the Islamic fascists! Right now in who knows how many locales in the Middle east we have Islamic radicals working on plans to use horrible weapons to kill thousands of Americans on our own soil. The danger is there, but the American public is now blind to it.