If we Lose

Perish the thought of a Vietnam style withdrawal from Iraq. The Opinion Journal weighs in:

• The U.S. would lose all credibility on weapons proliferation.
• Broader Mideast instability.
• We would lose all credibility with Muslim reformers.

And certainly not least:

• We would invite more terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Osama bin Laden said many times that he saw the weak U.S. response to Somalia and the Khobar Towers and USS Cole bombings as evidence that we lacked the will for a long fight. The forceful response after 9/11 taught al Qaeda otherwise, but a retreat in Iraq would revive that reputation for American weakness.

Liberals would benefit from a "fortress America" which would be necessary if we withdrew from the Middle East, with the massive expansion of federal power, which they so fear from president Bush's policies. Just the opposite is occuring: he is preserving freedom.