Seeing Us Through Enemy Eyes

Yesterday President Bush, at the Pentagon, made another speech about Iraq. This was a minor speech. Little of it, if any of it, was new. He has said little new about it for months. In fact, until he announces some change in course, events on the ground--military and political--will have more influence on the American public than any speech of our highest government official.

There is much more to be said about that, later. For now, one passage in his speech caught my ear:

To leave Iraq now would be to repeat the costly mistakes of the past that led to the attacks of September the 11th, 2001. The terrorists saw our response to the hostage crisis in Iran, the bombings in the Marine barracks in Lebanon, the first World Trade Center attack, the killing of American soldiers in Somalia, the destruction of two U.S. embassies in Africa, and the attack on the USS Cole. The terrorists concluded that we lacked the courage and character to defend ourselves, and so they attacked us.

Now the terrorists are testing our will and resolve in Iraq. If we fail that test, the consequences for the safety and security of the American people would be enormous. Our withdrawal from Iraq would allow the terrorists to claim an historic victory over the United States. It would leave our enemies emboldened...

He has said this many times. But this argument of the president is not just posturing. He is serious about it, and the argument is worthy of our attention. The insurgents in Iraq, the terrorists everywhere, look at the history of American involvement in the Muslin world and see us withdrawing when things get difficult. In Lebanon, the Marine Barracks was bombed and President Reagan withdrew (this is not characteristic of Democrats alone). In Somalia, our soldiers were beaten by a mob and we withdrew. Those are just two examples, but they are recent, prominent, important. And now, the rising toll in Iraq has us rethinking our involvement. Indeed, 100,000 or more people have gathered on the Mall today to protest our presence in Iraq. We are not now, and have rarely been, a power geared to the long term.

In fact, our military is set up to accomplish its goals quickly and as painlessly as possible. It is a central element in the American way of war and something our president has to consider as he charts our course in Iraq.

The point here is that our enemies consider it, too. As we, the American public, contemplate what we will do in Iraq and elsewhere as we fight Al Qaeda and its allies, we must include their perception of us as we weigh the costs against the benefits of the alternatives available to us, including withdrawal. No course of action will be costless.

There are many other considerations, of course: the cost in lives and the financial cost among them. But let us also remember that if we leave with our task undone--however we define that task--our enemies will take note and act accordingly.