Time to Hit Hard

With Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death Wednesday comes cries from Murtha and the left to pull out of Iraq, soon. Congressman Jack Murtha said, "we should be able to substantially reduce our presence in Iraq and redeploy our military outside of Iraq."

Admittedly, I am no military strategist, but it seems to me that a major victory should be followed up with more pounding on the enemy, until they unconditionally surrender. Imagine if WW2 had been fought that way. "Gee, we've had some success, now let's go home." No. A war is not over until it's over, win, lose, or draw. The impatience with some during this procedure is maddening. Do they really want us to win quickly? Do they understand what that would entail? If we wanted to level Iraq, we could. That's not the goal. The goal is to give back to the Iraqi people their country and to enable them to establish a government they can live with, one that will not subject them to chemical weapons, torture, rape and murder.

The Iraqis have suffered long, first under Saddam Hussein, and now through the pangs of the birth of a free nation. They deserve better than having the U.S. cut tail and run, leaving them at the mercy of terrorists. The leaders of the new Iraqi government want us there. They need us there. The U.S. has abandoned friends before. I say, "Never again."