At this very moment, and no other, I support Bush on Iraq

In January of 2003 my friend Abe and I drove to Washington, D.C. to be a part of massive anti-war demonstrations. I came away disillusioned with my fellow doves. The moment I heard 50,000+ chanting "Free Palestine, End Zionism," I knew this had little to do with actual policy considerations. My reasons for being there were very different than almost everyone else's that I met. People there just didn't like war. I can respect that, but I can also see when war is necessary. In my estimate, this war wasn't necessary and I felt it was going to severely compromise our national security. Chemical and biological weapons were of little interest to me. Even if he had them, he couldn't use them without overwhelming retaliation.

What brought me to Washington was remembering how our reception was when US forces were deployed to Beirut and Mogadishu. In Beirut we lost 241 Marines in one day and I'm sure everyone's seen Black Hawk Down by now to know what happened in Mogadishu. In both cases, we went with the best of intentions. We certainly we're going to be entering Baghdad with even a shred of the nobility of those two previous Middle Eastern missions. The biggest difference in hypothesis and reality is that the Iraqi's gave us about two months to get our act together before they rebelled. I assumed the masses would be resisting us from day one.

When the war started, I refused to participate in any more demonstrations. I went to a candlelight vigil to honor all of the fallen - American and Iraqi - but I refused to demand a withdrawal of American forces, something almost all of activist friends wanted. When I asked what they thought the outcome of a sudden withdrawal might be, none of them had an answer. It was just a solution that sounded right.

Foreign policy does not have an "undo" button. During the Democratic primary debates in 2004, one of the candidates put it best; "saying 'I told you so' isn't a foriegn policy." As happy as I am about the Democratic sweep of Congress, I'm very worried about their Iraq policy. I don't think it's progressed much beyond the activist rhetoric or told ya so. Don't get me wrong, it feels good, but it isn't.

Where stand now is that the Democrats are preparing to push for a quick phased withdrawal. The biggest proponent of this, Rep. Murtha, is poised to become Senate Majority Leader as a reward for letting Americans be able to openly admit they want to quit. If a hawkish vet can say we lost, then hey... so say we all. Well, at least about 60% of the public anyway.

Bush has a different idea. If the rumors are true, he wants to make one last push to secure peace in Iraq through military might. He wants to call a regional summit send an additional 20,000 troops in an admittedly last ditch effort to secure Baghdad before calling it quits. Read that last sentence again. Bush is ready to call it quits. He wants one more shot before packing up. Know what? I support that idea 100%. We owe it to Iraq to try once more. Bush knows this is his last shot and he's going to give it his all.

A rapid American withdrawal right now would be disastrous for Iraqi civilians. There would be no governing power beyond militias. Staying for another four years is equally bad, but getting the best minds together for one last try, one last push to make things work, gets all the support I can give. This should be something we can all agree on.

The biggest thing the Democrats could do for peace - real peace, not just leaving the fight - is to make sure Bush invites Syria and Iran to the regional summit. Take a look at the map. When we leave, they'll be holding all the cards. Ultimately this is about them giving us a chance to have a say in Iraq's future, not, as it would seem, the other way around.

Tags: Treyopia China politics current events Bush Murtha Pelosi Iran Syria conference summit regional Democrats James Baker ISG Iraq Study Group Syria Iran War Iraq Withdrawl withdrawel defeat loose quit support protest activist ideas