GOP Hopefuls & the War

GOP hopefuls strike similar war chords

By Alfonse D'Amato

Friday, May 25, 2007

Several miles north of Ground Zero, two profoundly different candidates for the Republican presidential nomination offered identical messages at the New York State Republican Committee s annual dinner.

Before a packed house, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain grimly reminded New Yorkers and America that we are a nation at war " not just the obvious conflict in Iraq, but the far more dangerous battle being waged around the world against a decentralized, fanatical Islamic foe who seeks to destroy us because we are a pluralistic democracy.

Both complimented the integrity of the other candidate and both stood as principled men who have a crucial message for their fellow citizens that must be heeded by this republic.

Giuliani was openly incredulous that Democratic presidential aspirants couldn t bring themselves to even utter the phrase Islamic fundamentalists during a recent debate when trying to describe an enemy who kills us for embracing diversity, equality and democracy. McCain stated that if we leave Iraq in defeat, the loose coalition of terrorist entities now battling us in Iraq will follow us home.

Both men have bitter, personal and cataclysmic experiences in confronting enemies of this nation. Both are vehemently opposed to posting a legislative calendar for withdrawal, and both believe that Democratic candidates fail to acknowledge the strategic threat that faces our homeland.

Because these political dinners are short, focused and time-choreographed, it is impossible for candidates to offer a detailed analysis of what would happen if the Middle East and Afghanistan were lost.

Consider this scenario, if Congress were to mandate the date of American withdrawal:

In a move designed to create chaos as the date approaches, mass attacks are staged to inflict maximum causalities on the remaining, greatly diminished American forces and to destroy American will at home. With a specific date in place for what is, in essence, an American surrender, Iran picks and chooses which Iraq tribe will benefit from its military and economic largesse; because it is in the interest of Iran to see a divided and bleeding Iraq, Iran funds all sides.

With Iraq now a client state of Iran, the Iranian president announces that Iran s nuclear research program has fabricated a half-dozen atomic warheads. They have been asked to base them inside Iraq by Iraqi religious zealots who are fearful of Zionist aggression. The Iranian leader announces that any attempt to remove the missiles will be considered an act against God and Islam and will trigger an Iranian retaliatory nuclear attack on oil fields throughout the Middle East, ensuring the end of the West s economic and cultural dominance.

Russia, seeking to enhance its own resurgent military and economic power, sees an historic opportunity to finally surpass the Western democracies as a global power. It moves to protect Arabian oil wells by inserting military assets into Saudi Arabia.

With a precarious supply of oil, America s economy becomes a fragile, dependent shell of its former self. Tens of thousands of SUVs are left abandoned in front of gas stations selling gas at $25 a gallon, when there is gas to sell.

Implausible? Look at the foe squarely. That is what Rudy Giuliani and John McCain are trying to tell us. Appreciate that 9/11 would be little more than an opening act for those Islamic terrorists who believe that women as equal partners in society is a crime worthy of stoning.

War is dreadful and our young men and women are being killed in the most horrific manner. Today s Information Age makes each one of those deaths a personal experience for America.

So when does a nation say, We will stand here and protect our principles, our future and our democracy?

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