Cowardice of Democrat leadership

Ed Koch:

There are people in our country who have different views on what U.S. policy toward Iraq should be. MoveOn.org, a radical group of opponents of the Iraq war, took a full-page ad in The New York Times of Sept. 10, the day he was to testify before the House of Representatives. Under his photo, a banner headline stated, in a play on words, "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?"

It is vile on the part of MoveOn to charge the general with betrayal of our country, even before he testified.

The Republican candidates for president have denounced MoveOn for its unfair attack on Gen. Petraeus. Most of the Democratic presidential candidates declined to do so when asked.

While I believe we should leave Iraq immediately, I respect the opinions of those who have come to a different conclusion. We are at war. The Iraqi insurgents and al Qaeda operatives want to kill us - not only U.S. military personnel in Iraq, but Americans wherever we are, including those of us in the United States.

There are those, like President Bush, who believe we are safer fighting them there than here, where they will surely ultimately follow us.

In my opinion, the Democratic candidates declined to denounce MoveOn because they fear themselves becoming the victims of a similar onslaught from the radical left. This is a cowardly position, which I hope they will rethink. It takes more than intelligence to be a good or great president. It takes integrity and courage, as well.

This is not the only wartime foolishness perpetrated by Democrats. This silence of the Democratic presidential candidates is similar to the damage to the country perpetrated by all but one of the Democratic members of Congress from New York City. They, with the exception of Rep. Anthony Weiner, voted against an amendment by Rep. Peter King (R-Nassau) which will protect passengers boarding planes who in good faith report suspicious activities of other passengers to airline personnel and police.

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Under the law, of course, Move.On has the right to libel and slander the general - a public personality - with impunity, and be protected from lawsuits. Nevertheless, decent people have an obligation to come to the general's defense and denounce Move.On by no longer supporting it and withholding any future financial contributions to it.

Ed Koch is a Democrat with integrity. That is a very rare commodity these days especially when it comes to the war in Iraq. Although he no longer supports its he is at least honorable enough to recognize that those who do are honorable people. The same can not be said for the MoveOn crowd. That crowd has cocooned itself into an alternate universe where everyone either agrees with them or is a liar and otherwise dishonest. They need to reexamine this pathology.