The American Spectator

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p> LOSING HEART br> Re: Jed Babbin's Have We Lost in Iraq? : /p>

President Bush is not leading us anywhere. You are correct when you say that President Bush is "not engaged." I'm not sure he ever was ever engaged. I never bought the line that Karl Rove was the genius behind Mr. Bush's election as President. Mr. Bush is President today because the Democrats offered us Mr. Gore and Mr. Kerry. Their activities after their defeats clearly show they would have been worse Presidents than Mr. Bush.

Mr. Bush lost all of my confidence when he nominated Ms. Miers to the SCOTUS. Clearly a very dumb mistake. The failure of the White House to support border control, limit federal spending and be a clear leader in matters of constitutional law are signs of continuing weakness. The wolves are at the door and our President is hiding in a straw house built on patriotism.

The "left" is gaining ground. The weaknesses of the White House and Congress have opened a window of opportunity allowing communists and socialists to move more rapidly toward their goals. President Bush, like Tsar Nicholas II in Russia, is oblivious to the undercurrents of political movement in the U.S. Health care and Social Security will be the drivers of the 2008 election, not Iraq or Iran. (Unless we go to war with Iran over a nuclear bomb, in which case all bets are off.) Russia lost their war with Japan in 1905 and we will, ultimately, lose our war in the Middle East. We cannot afford the spending that will soon be necessary within our borders and also pay for a long-term war of attrition with Islamofascism.

p>The parallels between Russia (and Nicholas II) in the early 1900s and the U.S. (and President Bush) today are clear. Those who do not read and understand history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. br> -- Nelson Ward br> Ribera, New Mexico /p>

I find it most unpleasant disagreeing with Jed, but his hand-wringing panic piece is unworthy of his usual somber judgment. Jed has joined the chorus of elite naysayers over Iraq because a handful of fanatics have managed to score an apparent victory. Instead of seeing the destruction of this sacred shrine, which has withstood 1,200 years of sectarian violence, as a despicable desperate act perpetrated by a remnant of hardcore death eaters, Jed instead sees a failure by Bush. So much so, that it manages to taint our entire noble enterprise of Iraqi and Middle East freedom.

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