The American Spectator

Print Email

Text Size

The Spectacle Blog

He was first out of the gate as far as I can tell:

"The release of the purported bin Laden video starkly reminds us that there is no greater responsibility for a president than to protect America from attack and to command our military forces in a time of war against a barbaric enemy -- an enemy plotting every day to kill Americans.

"Osama bin Laden and his henchmen must be hunted down -- and as president, I will. Al Qaeda terrorists and the violent, aggressive ideology they propagandize must be defeated across the globe, in Afghanistan and in Iraq, which bin Laden's top lieutenant calls al Qaeda's central battlefront against the United States. My presidency will be al Qaeda's worst nightmare.

"This is no time for equivocation and waffling from politicians on the need to succeed in Iraq. As Ronald Reagan would say, now is a time for choosing. With General Petraeus set to testify before Congress next week, we can choose to continue to support the new strategy and the real progress -- not apparent progress -- our troops have made against our enemies in Iraq. Or, we can choose the path of surrender by undermining our current military campaign through funding cutoffs and congressionally mandated troop withdrawals.

"You know where I stand. I believe you can't be serious about fighting the war on terror unless you are serious about fighting and defeating al Qaeda in Iraq. We can succeed if we don't lose our resolve."

Look for Democratic candidates to come out saying that this reinforces the failure of Bush's War on Terror policies by pursuing an unneccesary war rather fight the real enemy.

topics:
Military, Iraq