Terms of debate

For MoveOn.org if you disagree with them it is not a matter for debate. Your voice is to be silenced. At Opinion Journal, the experience of people who have changed their opinion about the war and would like to give victory a chance is on display.

In the Hell Hath No Fury sweepstakes, groups like MoveOn.org are gearing up to take on a new set of perceived traitors in their midst--Democrats who have acknowledged some success from the troop surge in Iraq.

Chief among the targets is Washington Congressman Brian Baird, whose indiscretion was recognizing progress on the ground, despite having initially opposed the surge and having opposed the war in the first place. After a recent trip to Iraq, Mr. Baird said: "One of the things that gets very little attention is that virtually every other country I visited says it would be a mistake to pull out now."

We hope he took his flak jacket home from Baghdad. MoveOn is rolling out an ad this week in Mr. Baird's Washington district, in which a former soldier tells of being shot at in 2003 by the Iraqis he had fought to liberate and calls America's continued presence in the country "wrong, immoral and irresponsible." What does this have to do with the wisdom--or lack thereof--of the current strategy? Nada, which tells you something about MoveOn's honesty.

The group doesn't aim to engage in debate, but to punish and silence Democrats who dare to think for themselves. There's a pattern here: When John Dingell contradicted party orthodoxy on global warming and auto mileage standards this year, MoveOn ran ads in his Michigan district calling the 81-year-old Congressman "Dingellsaurus."

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For a group born out of trying to hush the debate over President Clinton's misbehavior in office, hushing opponents MoveOn has a singular inability to engage in open debate on the issues. There is something cowardly about this type of conduct. It has been a tactic of the left for some time, but only recently has been turned on its own. Maybe the new victims will speak out about the tactic. It would certainly improve the level of debate in this country.