War? What War?

Investor's Business Daily:

WWIII: Clinton thought terrorism was a law enforcement matter. Kerry thought it could be reduced to a "nuisance." Now Pelosi says Iraq is not a war but a "situation." Should we issue car bombers parking tickets?

Gen. Douglas MacArthur once said that in war there is no substitute for victory, but future Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told Fox News' Brit Hume on Wednesday that in Iraq there is no substitute for withdrawal — that Iraq is "not a war to be won but a situation to be solved."

This is music to the ears of al-Qaida leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. As we have written, they have proclaimed Iraq a central front in the terror war, the future heart of a caliphate stretching from Morocco to India. Pelosi does not want us to win that war.

But then, Democrats haven't wanted us to win in any war since World War II, not even the Cold War. This is why for the next two years we need to be afraid, very afraid.

Democrats don't believe America should win its wars or even confront its enemies. Just talk to them, appease them. Over the next two years they'll provide such aid and comfort to our enemies both orally and, if possible, legislatively.

This is old whine in a new bottle. In a nationally televised debate on Jan. 29, 2004, Sen. John Kerry, who doesn't think our troops are the best and the brightest, said he thought the Bush administration had "exaggerated" the terrorist threat and that terrorism was "primarily an intelligence and law enforcement operation."

This from the man who, along with Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, opposes the Patriot Act, NSA surveillance of terrorist communications and the monitoring of terrorist finances. He also wants lawyers for the likes of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Muhammed and would have our troops read jihadists their Miranda rights on the battlefield.

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There were other "situations" — the U.S. withdrawal from Somalia after U.S. troops were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, encouraging Osama bin Laden to strike America; the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia; the 1998 attack on our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden.

All these were acts of war requiring a military response. But on the Democrats' watch, we did nothing. Pelosi would have us, as in Somalia, withdraw under fire and rally around the flag — a white flag.

Iraq is a central front on the war on terror — the terrorists say so. That is where they want to defeat us. And if they do, car bombs may go off one day on the streets not only of Baghdad, but also Baghdad by the Bay — San Francisco.

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The editorial goes on to say that what we need now is more George Patton and less Pelosi. It captures much of what is wrong with the Democrats attitude about victory. They should be held to account.