Democrats Disrespect a Patriot

On the day General David Petraeus, the commander of our forces in Iraq, testified before Congress, the radical leftist organization MoveOn.org was given a deeply discounted rate by the New York Times (a "family discount") for a hate ad describing General Petraeus as "General BetrayUs." As Dennis Miller noted, the left seems inordinately proud that they were able to make a rhyme.

MoveOn.org is the same organization that ran two ads on its website comparing President Bush to Hitler. Ironically, it is funded by George Soros, who as a boy, used to go around with his stepfather pointing out Jews to the Nazis occupying his country. Now he's a naturalized American, but he doesn't seem to like America very much or wish it anything but harm.

With few exceptions, Democrats have not criticized this tacky and hateful ad. To their credit, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Ed Koch, and Senator Joseph Lieberman have done so, but the Democrat leadership has mostly joined in the trashing of General Petraeus, despite the fact that the surge he asked for and leads is working.

But maybe that's the problem. As House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) said, a good report by General Petraeus "would be very bad news for us." Senate Majority Leader described Petraeus as a liar even before his testimony. And Democrats continue to smear him for reporting that the surge is working.

The antiwar liberals have been claiming that we are in the middle of a Sunni-Shiite civil war. The fact is that Sunnis and Shiites are working with us to fight the terrorists in their midst. The Iraqi army and the tribal chiefs are standing up and helping to drive al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations out of Iraq. Anbar Province, which we were told just nine months ago was permanently lost to the terrorists, is under control. There were 37 terrorist attacks per day there less than a year ago. Today, it's less than one per day. Ramadi, Fallujah, and other trouble spots have been largely subdued. And to make it worse for the critics, the Iraqi government has met three of the political benchmarks and is making progress on the others.

Democracy is a slow process. It doesn't move quickly. If you want to achieve the benchmarks quickly, it will take a strongman like the one we deposed. In the meantime, the democratic process appears to be working in that slow, plodding, gradual way that democracy does its business.

In other words, the surge is working, as Petraeus, who is the in-country commander, reported. There is still work to be done, such as smashing Muqtada Al-Sadr's "Mahdi Army", but on the whole, the situation is much better than nine months ago.

But the Democrats, who have gotten out in front of the defeat bandwagon due to their close relationship with MoveOn.org and other such radical organizations, who claim they "own" the party - bought and paid for. It seems that some of them would rather see America lose the war than allow George Bush to win it, so deep is their hatred for this President.

With very little left to criticize, the desperate Democrats have taken to their standard tactic, the politics of personal destruction, smearing anyone who dares to pint out our successes in Iraq - especially General Petraeus. They've even gone after the likes of CBS anchor Katie Couric and Democratic Rep. Brian Baird who have gone to Iraq to see for themselves and have commented on the progress that is being made. Even two of the New York Times's own reporters have taken note of it. (Are they still writing for the paper?)

There was a time when Americans pulled together in wartime. That is the only way for our efforts to stop the terrorists to be successful. The rush to harm our war effort and defeat our country is shameful and it must stop. We can disagree about the wisdom of the war or the strategy, but politicizing the war is simply a road to a victory for the terrorists. Democrats must reassess their relationship with the Far Left and put an end to the smears or it will come back to bite them. Americans do not appreciate the smearing of good men and patriots.