Debra J. Saunders

If there is any good news coming out of Iraq, clearly Reid does not want to hear it. What is more, as the antiwar base pushes D.C. Democrats to de-fund the war, the day may come when they get what they want -- a precipitous withdrawal of U.S. troops.

Then what? On Thursday, two CNN correspondents just back from Iraq -- Kyra Phillips and Michael Ware -- were asked if it would help the situation in Iraq to withdraw U.S. troops.

Phillips responded: "There is no way U.S. troops could pull out. It would be a disaster."

Ware answered, "If you just want to look at it in terms of purely American national interest, if U.S. troops leave now, you're giving Iraq to Iran, a member of President Bush's axis of evil, and al-Qaida. That's who will own it. And so, coming back now, I'm struck by the nature of the debate on Capitol Hill, (by) how delusional it is. Whether you are for this war or against it, whether you've supported the way it's been executed or not, it does not matter. You broke it -- you've got to fix it now. You can't leave, or it's going to come and blow back on America."

Ware made news himself when he dismissed GOP Sen. John McCain's assertion that Westerners can walk through some Baghdad neighborhoods unarmed -- Ware wondered if McCain was in "Neverland." McCain later took back those words.

Meanwhile, Ware's claim that Congress is "delusional" likely will garner scant attention.

If the Democrats prevail, more than 3,300 U.S. troops will have died for a war that al-Qaida in Iraq could claim to have won. Many more Iraqi civilians will die, while survivors will be doomed to living with dread and chaos.

And all the Democrats can say is: Time to get out because Bush made me do it.

Debra J. Saunders
