Bush to Congress: 'You Did Not Vote for Failure'

Washington, DC (TLS). President Bush, speaking to Congress in his 2007 State of the Union address Tuesday evening, stated that when Congress voted to authorize the War in Iraq, 'you did not vote for failure.'

This could well be the key statement of the entire speech.

In a clear challenge to Democrats who now wish to cut and run in Iraq, in spite of the fact that most of them voted to authorize the President to invade, Mr. Bush makes his case for the necessity of the troop surge in order to secure Baghdad as part of a broader war that could well prevent the entire Middle East from disintegrating into violence and total collapse. Such a scenario would be devastating in our attempt to keep at bay the evil forces of Islamic Jihad.

For the United States to withdraw now would spell catastrophe for the entire region which would then fall to the extremists and terrorists of Iran and Syria.

'This is not the war we entered when we first went into Iraq,' stated the President, 'but this is the war we face now.' After a string of history-making successes in Iraq the enemy fought back in 2006. Such periods of battering occur in war. This is to be expected. However, we must not allow the enemy to crush our will and resolve.

We must remember that the United States brought about the following resounding successes:
--the removal of one of the most brutal dictators in human history
--the set-up of a provisional government based on democratic principles
--the formulation of a Constitution that is the most democratic in the Muslim world
--the election of a government under the provisions of that Constitution.

We have come too far to turn back now. As the war has morphed into a terrorist-insurgency from Syria and Iran, it is even more vital that the United States turns up the heat to beat back these threats to human liberty.

As expected, the Democrat response to the President's address, presented by Virginia Senator Jim Webb, was more of the bolderdash of excuses to accept defeat. Mr. Webb and his comrades need to be reminded that when Democrats by overwhelming majorities voted with Republicans to authorize this war, they did not vote for failure. They voted for victory, and nothing less than victory will be acceptable.