Real Consequences

Washington is, once again, awash with leaks and the press is in full hue and cry. The far left has their "lion", Ted Kennedy carrying water (he's better at carrying it than actually saving someone from it) in the form of his latest bill kneecapping the military. In this festive atmosphere it is very hard for anyone to get a word in edgewise. But President Bush tried yesterday. He warned Congressional Democrats of the very real consequences to the United States if troops are rapidly pulled out of Iraq. (Something some of us have been warning about for a long time.)

President Bush gravely warned House Democrats yesterday that America's credibility would be shattered if the United States pulled its troops from Iraq, forcing close ally Saudi Arabia to look elsewhere for protection and potentially destabilizing Egypt, the region's most populous country, according to participants in the meeting.

But Democrats in both the House and the Senate signaled that they will actively oppose his plan to send several additional U.S. combat brigades to Iraq, the first of which — made up of about 3,500 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division — could move relatively quickly into position from its current assignment in Kuwait. Bush's decision, which he will announce in a speech tonight, is rapidly becoming the first test of wills between the Republican president and the new Democratic-controlled Congress.

That's about all the ink (or pixels) the WaPo could spare before going off onto the Democratic talking points and positions. But the consequences, not to Bush but to America, are genuinely dire. The consequences to Iraq even worse, although the WaPo really doesn't mention that sort of minor detail in this article. But people over there in the Middle East are quite aware of what will happen.