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Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 30, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Secret to Immortality
Caroline B. Glick Silencing dissent in America
Oct. 29, 2009
Lini S. Kadaba: Do tactics avert flu or reduce humanity?
JWisdom.com We Must Revamp our Religious Vocabulary With Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 28, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Atheists in Bubbleland
JWisdom.com Why what we wear impacts who we are With Rabbis Mordechai Becher, Menachem Golberger and Aliza Bulow ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 27, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The United Nations Is Outraged Again, Or: Department of Mideast Static
JWisdom.com The Science of Love With Rabbi Jonathan Rietti ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 26, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Damaging disclosures with a twist
JWisdom.com Wisdom and Wonks With Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 23, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Are you ready for the ultimate pleasure?
JWisdom.com Watermark and oneness with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick Stop using limited powers in a way that expands our enemies' advantages over us
Oct. 22, 2009
Steven Emerson: Terror Cases Share Desire to Kill Americans
JWisdom.com No More More Family Fights --- Really? By Sarah Chana Radcliffe ( 5 minutes)
Oct. 21, 2009
Tonya Alanez: Holocaust denier sues survivor, calling Auschwitz memoir 'vicious lies'
JWisdom.com Meditating Jewishly: A Panacea for Success by Sarah Yoheved Rigler ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 20, 2009
Dennis Prager: Obama and Dalai Lama: Why Israel Worries about U.S. President
JWisdom.com Abraham was not religious By Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer ( 6 minutes)
Oct. 19, 2009
JWisdom.comWhy Good People Do Bad Things By Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 16, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Perfect Number
JWisdom.com Hearing Voices By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick How Turkey was lost
Oct. 15, 2009
Jeff Jacoby: Peace vs. the 'peace process'
JWisdom.com: Former MTV producer and stand-up comedian Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff: Taming a Control Freak (A VERY fast 15 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review May 15, 2007 / 27 Iyar, 5767

Defeatist Dems boost enemy's morale

By Kathryn Lopez


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Supposed leaders — such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — declare that the war is lost. Thus, we have a video from Al Qaeda's No. 2 nut, Ayman al-Zawahiri, rejoicing. We've got them now, al-Zawahiri figures. And I'd think the same if I were a jihadist.


Maybe we can chalk this Democratic rhetoric up to the partisan ways of Beltway. But what happens in the Beltway doesn't stay there. And when we're dealing with war, irresponsible rhetoric isn't chiefly a breach of domestic politeness — it's a slap in the face to our troops abroad and a morale boost for their foes on the battlefield.


The war critics' attitude has been all wrong since the so-called surge began. The critics on left and right alike have refused to give the surge a chance, including prominent Democrats who initially supported the war and a Democratic Senate that unanimously approved Army Gen. David H. Petraeus to go to Iraq, declaring his efforts a failure while he was just getting started. True leaders might have considered — instead of shooting their military in the collective foot and giving moral support to the enemy — taking a deep breath and realizing that the brave sacrifices of Americans, Iraqis and our allies have earned Petraeus and his forces a chance to succeed.


The last few weeks didn't have to be like this and the summer months don't need to follow the same pattern, building toward another showdown between Congress and the president in September. If the leaders on the Democratic side had been adult about it — instead of throwing tantrums, cheered on by the antiwar left-wing Internet — they could have might have tried something like this: "Mr. President, we don't like what we're seeing in Iraq, and neither do the American. We know you can't either, but we owe it to those who have already sacrificed to give Petraeus our confidence."


And he has it. But we also can't stay in Iraq indefinitely and we can't continue to lose American lives. Knowing that our enemy will only be re-energized by an immediate exit, we must send a united signal to our friends in Iraq that although we want to help to make their new country work, we are not colonial rulers and we cannot be there forever.


Let's set some benchmarks — help them in the chaos of their new government to set some goals. We're their friend and mentor but not their nation builder, which we think you agree with us on. Mr. President, we live in dangerous times. Mistakes have been made but — unified and responsible — we can avoid making fatal ones now.


The war in Iraq has not been a grand success, to say the least. We can all agree on that. Americans don't like to lose. We can agree on that, too. Now let's go from there and try to come to a reasonable compromise that won't leave the legacy of our fallen and the Iraqi people high and dry. Had Democratic leaders in Congress taken that approach, they would have proven themselves statesmen. Instead, I fear, the majority party in Congress may be leading us to greater dangers we could have avoided.

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