It astonishes me that the two remaining Democratic candidates for president, like most of their colleagues who have fallen by the wayside, practically stumble over each other trying to claim the distinction of who would be first to declare defeat in Iraq and retreat without honor, leaving Iraqis to fend for themselves against radical Islamists, and mocking the sacrifice of the brave young Americans who have lost their lives there.

Since then, things in Iraq have improved dramatically. To be sure, many of us doubted the wisdom of going to Iraq in the first place.  The decision to go may have been flawed and the war may have been mismanaged for years -- but Rumsfeld is gone now.  John McCain’s long sought surge has taken place and it has, to the surprise of many, worked remarkably well. Violence is down, not just a little, but way down -- all over Iraq, including in the once uncontrollable Sunni Triangle.  Sunni and Shiite are getting along far better than anyone would have imagined just a few months ago.  Al Qaeda in Iraq is on the run, in disarray and all but defeated.

The Iraqi government is making real progress; painfully slow progress, but progress nevertheless. Power sharing between Sunni and Shiite factions is slowly beginning to take place.  The big stumbling block of figuring out a way to share oil revenues among Sunni, Shia and Kurds is being solved. Schools, power and infrastructure are being restored to better than pre-war levels.  Saddam’s murder factories and torture chambers are permanently out of business.

Iraqis have risked everything to come out and vote, have their fingers dyed purple and proudly proclaim that they are for determining their own future. Despite being repeatedly targeted for murder by the insurgency and by al Qaeda in Iraq, Iraqi security forces are becoming stronger by the week. There is increasing support among Sunni sheiks and Shiite militia warlords for peace.

For the first time there is a real opportunity to establish a beacon of hope in the Mid-East: An island of democracy, tolerance, pluralism and hope in a sea of medieval hopelessness and repression.  An island where hope and prosperity are possible.  A place where women are allowed to be educated and are valued as human beings, not treated as chattels.

Now that our efforts in Iraq are beginning to really pay off, now that victory for the Iraqi people is in sight, now that the sacrifice of our young troops is starting to bear the genuine fruit of freedom: hope -- Is that the time to declare defeat, abandon the Iraqi people to intolerance and Taliban style totalitarianism and come home with our tail between our legs?  That is the question I would like to put to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Super Tuesday Winners and Losers

Super Tuesday gave a tremendous boost to the candidacy of Senator John McCain.  McCain showed that he has great across-the-board appeal to the Republican rank and file, coast to coast and border to border.   Mike Huckabee, the most personable of all the candidates, showed considerable strength in the south and in his Bible belt stronghold.  Undeniably, the big loser was Mitt Romney.

There were, however, a number of other losers on Super Tuesday.  Uber right wing radio god Rush Limbaugh, and lesser talking heads, Ann coulter, Hugh Hewitt, Laura Ingraham, and to some extent Sean Hannity, all came out of Super Tuesday considerably diminished.  All have made a mockery of Reagan’s 11^th Commandment by bad-mouthing John McCain and advising us to discard him like garbage, to work against him and even to campaign for Hillary in the case of Coulter.  Despite the litany of unbelievably destructive and divisive negative comments, we didn’t take the advice.  Indeed there was clearly a backlash against such apostasy bordering on rebellion.  Limbaugh especially, has been marginalized in a way he is most unaccustomed to.  Frankly, his massive ego could use some comeuppance.  He is apparently nowhere near as relevant or as influential as he envisions himself.

To these ultra conservative, McCain haters, I say stop it -- now.  Otherwise, write Howard Dean today, and make sure he puts you on the list to receive a “Republican Turncoat” Letter, thanking you profusely for helping to put either Hillary or Obama in the presidency, thus assuring Democratic power for a generation.  Coulter has already offered her services and I’m sure Dean has drafted a special note of thanks for her.

To the rest of us, I say it’s time to remember Reagan’s 11^th Commandment:  Thou shall speak no ill of fellow Republicans.   It is time also to examine the hard facts.  The Democrats had a huge turnout on Super Tuesday.  They are energized as never before.  It will be exceedingly difficult for any Republican to succeed in 2008.  Yet victory has never been more important.  On inauguration day, four of the nine Supreme Court Justices will be over seventy years of age.  The next president will probably appoint at least three, maybe four justices.  Do Republicans want them to be in the mold of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or of Roberts and Alito?

We must put aside the destructive, divisive bickering inspired by Limbaugh and Coulter and return to Ronald Reagan’s “big tent.”  It will take every ultra conservative, every traditional conservative, every moderate and every liberal in our party to have the slightest chance to defeat the Democrats next November.  We must be a party of inclusion, not a party of exclusion.  From this day forward, our mantra must be unity, unity, unity!  United we stand, divided we fall!

At the beginning of the Iraq war the United States accomplished in three weeks, what Iran had not been able to accomplish in ten years with a million casualties. We defeated the Iraqi military and toppled Saddam Hussein, a brutal murderous thug, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

But then, we started screwing up by the numbers. We went into a mere "policeman" mode. We so feared civilian casualties that we failed to nip the "insurgency" in the bud, or to stop the influx of foreign fighters.

For the past three years, we have been in a holding pattern. There is no real plan for victory, and none is in sight. For fear of killing civilians we have failed to clean out either the Sunni insurgents, the al Qaeda sympathizers in the Sunni Triangle, or the Shiite militia thugs in Sadr City. We are not winning -- and as a consequence, the overwhelming majority of Americans have had enough of Iraq.

Rule #1 to be taken from Vietnam and Iraq: If a "war" goes on for more than three years with no sign of victory, You lose the American people. Period.

Rule #2: The purpose of warfare is to break things, kill people and defeat the enemy. If you have no intention of doing that, its best to stay the hell out of it.

We had the ability to win both in Vietnam and in Iraq -- but we failed to do it.

I thought we had learned our lesson after Vietnam -- we had not. God deliver us from getting into any more wars we have no intention of winning.

When Iran sees the UN backtrack with respect to the ceasefire in Lebanon, especially on it's responsibility and commitment to disarm Iran's surrogate Hezbollah, why would anyone expect them not to kick sand in the international community's face with regard to their nuclear weapons program?

Iran has every reason to believe that it will get what it wants and that the Europeans will appease them, and give them repeated opportunities to make unreasonable demands.

They also know that the U.S. is bogged down in Iraq and spread too thin to pose any kind of credible threat to them -- that by virtue of Iraq, we lack either the capacity or the will to take them on, and that the American left has turned Bush into a wuss. For all of which, I'm sure they praise Allah and the invisible Imam.

Thus the cause of Islamofacism continues its advance in the face of what must seem to be a stumbling and impotent West.

Five years into the "War on Terror" we continue to slip back two steps for every step forward.  We are not yet winning this war.  We had better get our act together before it is too late.  I have the impression we don't have a clue how to fight an asymetrical war.  God help us.

Today, almost everyone is reporting that the ceasefire deal is coming apart. The reason is that European nations, which had originally promised combat troops, and a willingness to enforce the ceasefire in southern Lebanon (that is, disarm Hezbollah) are rapidly backpedaling. France, which had talked about leading the peacekeepers, and providing thousands of troops, when the ceasefire was being pushed through the UN, now offers 200 troops, and wants no part of leading the operation.  (Imagine the French backing out of a commitment!)

Meanwhile, Hezbollah is rapidly re-arming, and Iran is channeling millions through them to spend on Lebanon to rebuild homes etc.  in order to win the all important PR war.

Kofi, of course  does nothing but criticize Israel.  Long story short -- another in a long string of total failures for the UN.

Any comment from those who feel that diplomacy, negotiation and appeasement is the answer to all problems?

Judge Taylor is wrong! It is inconceivable to me that any American citizen who values the safety of his or her family could oppose this surveillance program. This is not a law enforcement program to which the Fourth Amendment applies, it is an intelligence gathering program in time of war, governed by the inherent  war powers of the executive.

Opposing sides in war have ALWAYS intercepted the communications of the enemy and it would constitute gross dereliction of duty to fail to do so now.  It is no different from Grant intercepting the couriers of Robert E. Lee, or FDR intercepting the coded radio transmissions of the Nazis.

I'll tell you quite honestly, If my family died in another 9/11 or worse because some president -- any president -- failed to do what the Bush administration is doing, there would be no containing my outrage. And I daresay, that virtually all of the those gloating over this shortsighted district court decision would be screaming to high heaven for the heads of those who failed to act if their wives, and children died because of such failure to mind the national security interest, and failure to protect American citizens.

Judge Taylor's decision represents the opinion of one liberal Carter appointed federal district judge; nothing more. It doesn't mean a thing. It has already been stayed, and has no effect at all.  The only surprise is that it took the ACLU this long to judge shop and find a liberal judge to rule this way. I would have thought that it would have happened months ago. The matter will shortly be determined on appeal. IN THE END, ONLY THE DECISION OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT WILL MATTER HERE.

I predict the decision will be 4 to 4 with Justice Kennedy holding the swing vote. What he will do, I haven't a clue, though I suspect he will vote to uphold the program.

It is certainly NOT correct that this surveillance could have been done with a court order - that is ludicrous. In most cases, there is mere suspicion if that, not probable cause. Therefore there could be no court order, and no warrant could issue. Anyone who has ever spent weeks obtaining Title III warrants knows this, and knows the distinction between criminal law on the one hand, and national security on the other.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't be listening to al Qaeda transmissions -- national security and our safety demands it -- just as it demanded we listen to coded German messages during WWII without a warrant. It would be dereliction of duty for any president to fail to do it. You can't connect the dots if you don't collect the dots.

I submit that such electronic eavesdropping is vastly less intrusive than the mindless and irrational probing of granny's preparation H by TSA.

If the Supremes toss it, which is possible, someday thousands of Americans will die as a result. If so, thank your friendly local chapter of the ACLU.

In the meantime, I expect the United States government  to keep me and my family safe and to continue to monitor the electronic traffic of the people who are sworn to murder us in our sleep.