The Labor Day decision

Steve Huntley:

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The problem for Bush and for the military -- and perhaps ultimately for the Democrats as well -- is how can you achieve significant progress in the battle zone when the homefront is at war over the war? In this media-obsessed world, our enemies in Iraq know that a humiliating defeat of the mighty United States is merely months away if they can frustrate the surge strategy. To say that is not to question the patriotism of the war's opponents. Robust and responsible debate is fundamental to democracy. Still, not even the most ardent opponent of the war can deny that insurgents in Iraq find cause for encouragement in our divisive debate.

Regrettably, debate may no longer be the proper characterization for the ever-increasingly acrimonious exchanges in Washington, with the president saying the other day that Democrats have "undercut the troops" and Senate President Harry Reid saying that Bush is not a king. Even this rancor may pale in comparison to the recriminations and backbiting that could follow a disgraceful final chapter of U.S. involvement in Iraq. Remember how long the bitterness over Vietnam has lingered, those old wounds even emerging to roil the waters of the 2004 presidential election, to the detriment of Democrats.

Some anti-war optimists assert that an American withdrawal would force Shia and Sunni to come to terms, that it's the American presence that keeps the violence going. Defenders of our engagement say withdrawal would only lead to more bloodshed, a wider civil war and genocide. Many Americans no doubt are beyond caring about post-America Iraq; they just want us out.

Which brings us back to the president and the Democrats. What will be Bush's choices come Labor Day if Petraeus has been unable to deliver results that any reasonable person would see as progress? Will Republican defections force his hand on an Iraqi withdrawal? And what will Democrats do if Petraeus does deliver, if any reasonable person can conclude by late summer that the tide is beginning to turn in Iraq? Can the anti-war wing of the party be forced to yield to what then would be the best interests of the country in a continuing U.S. miliary role in Iraq?

A day of reckoning -- and its aftermath -- is coming. And Labor Day is only five months away.

The Democrats seem desperate to preempt having to make that decision by insuring defeat before that date. Their desperation for defeat is more emotional than rational. That happens in war sometimes. The Democrats were never committed to winning this war for the most part. Most of them voted for it to avoid political defeat and many of them are urging retreat now for the same reason. They have no soul when it comes to the use of force beyond their own political viability. However, their investment in defeat has made the possibility of victory too painful for them to contemplate and maintain their political viability.