What strikes me most about the Iraq Surrender Group's report and the discussion following its release is how few people in positions of power are willing to stand up for victory.  A war isn't something you can decide to just stop doing because you're tired of it; particularly this one.  We're in a war people.  As MacArthur said, "there's no substitute for victory." 

Our nation has given its word that we will stand by Iraq until it can sustain itself as a free nation.  Even more than individuals, nations cannot afford not to keep their word.  The consequences are too severe.  In 1975 the United States did not keep its word to the government of South Vietnam, and thanks to the Democrat controlled congress of the day, stopped all military aid to South Vietnam, which promptly fell to the invading North Vietnamese Army.  In the following five years, Cuba sent troops to Angola, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, and a bunch of "students" in Iran took over an American embassy and held Americans hostage in it for over a year.  These things happened because after a humiliating defeat in Vietnam, one of our own making, the question "what will America do?" became less important to Communist governments and Muslim radicals, who believed, correctly, that America would do nothing.

If we abandon Iraq to the tender mercies of the likes of Al Qaeda and Iran, what country will take American assurances of support seriously?

No, as I said, we are in a war, and the only thing to do is win it.  Whatever it takes.  Why people like Moqtada Al-Sadr are still walking around is beyond me.  Why Iran and Syria are allowed to funnel weapons and foreign fighters into Iraq to kill American military personnel without paying a very high price is also beyond me.  Meanwhile, we dawdle and debate whether to enlist the help of Iran and Syria in our own humiliation.

Ever since those crazy radical students took over our embassy in Tehran, we have tolerated Islamic terrorism.  It's long past time we stopped tolerating it and started fighting it with everything we have.  Whatever it takes.