Oliver North on the President's surprise visit to Iraq --The commander in chief's surprise Labor Day visit to Iraq has buoyed our troops, reassured an anxious ally and confounded America's adversaries in radical Islam. Whether the president's on-site evaluation will change the political dynamic in Washington or alter the behavior of Iraq's neighbors remains to be seen.
For several months now, this column has urged President Bush to put Iraq on his travel itinerary. This week's six-hour visit to the front -- his third since U.S. troops entered Mesopotamia in March 2003 -- is particularly important to the upcoming congressional debate on the future of our commitment to a stable and independent Iraq. His trip comes just one week before the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, are scheduled to testify before Congress with their assessments of the war effort thus far...
...It was evident that Bush was most at ease with the troops he commands. He bantered with them, asked pointed questions, listened to their answers, posed for photos with them and signed dozens of autographs.
Marine Capt. Lee Hemming, a Cobra gunship pilot, told his ultimate boss that stateside rotations were too short and putting a strain on military families. The captain also proffered that because Iraqi security forces were doing the job in Al Anbar's urban areas, he and his fellow Americans were able to focus on hunting down bad guys in the desert. When Bush asked about morale, the young officer replied, to the undoubted relief of senior commanders: "Very high, sir."
In addressing the troops directly, Bush used the occasion to rebuke his critics in Washington, telling the assembled ranks: "Because of your hard work, because of your bravery and sacrifice, you are denying al Qaeda a safe haven from which to plot and plan and carry out attacks against the United States of America. What you're doing here is making this country safer, and I thank you for your hard work."The troops in Iraq may have been heartened by the president's words, but Democrats in Washington weren't. Air Force One was barely off the Al Asad runway before Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley, released a petulant rebuttal: "Every objective assessment has shown the president's flawed Iraq strategy is failing to deliver what it was supposed to: a political solution for Iraq . . . . it is time Republicans recognize the reality on the ground, stand up to President Bush and help Democrats bring a responsible end to the war."
The bravery and sacrifice of the young American volunteers who. Bush visited are irrefutable. Their success in Iraq's largest province is evident to any who care to see it. Whether these factors will elicit continued support from a majority in Congress is now the paramount issue. Unfortunately, winning over Democrats may prove to be more difficult than defeating al Qaeda in Al Anbar.
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