Since Senator Reid brought up the subject of reality let’s conduct a little reality check.  The reality in Iraq is slow and steady progress in the face of a determined enemy who knows what it takes to create mayhem and grab a depressing headline in this country.  Our enemy knows we don’t have the stomach for a protracted war so all he has to do is cause enough death and destruction for us to cry uncle.  Just like in the Vietnam conflict, it will be politicians and their media counterparts and not the men and women of the U.S. military who run for the high grass. 

     The reality is last month the Iraqi southern province of Maysan became the fourth province to come under full Iraqi security.  Speaking about the peaceful transfer of power, Gen. David Pertraeus said the handover “demonstrates another step toward a stable and secure Iraq.”  I don’t know about you but that sounds like real progress to me.  I wonder why it wasn’t the lead story on CNN or on page one in The New York Times. 

     Another reality Senator Reid might want to consider is the report of his fellow Senator Lindsay Graham who just returned from Iraq.  Senator Graham appeared on my radio show (Christian Worldview Today on Christian Talk 660, M-F from 7 to 9am) last week and said the surge is already showing dividends.  He said the security situation in An bar Province is much better with the leading Sheiks actually calling for people to join the police force.  Many Sunni leaders are beginning to openly reject Al Qaeda and recently the Iraqi justice system brought a Shea police official to trial for torturing a Sunni.  Senator Graham concluded by saying, “We must not allow car and suicide bombers to dictate our foreign policy.” 

     That is exactly what the terrorists hope will happen.  They hope their headline grabbing suicide attacks will finish off our already weakened resolve forcing us to leave Iraq so that it can become little more than a platform from which they can export their terrorist tactics.  The American Left has hitched their political wagon to failure in Iraq.  If the war were to turn around with demonstrable progress giving the Iraqi people a chance at democracy it would greatly reduce their chances of winning the White House and maintaining their congressional majority. 

     America cannot afford to lose Iraq to the control of Islamic extremist.  It would fast become a puppet nation with its strings pulled by Iran and Syria.  This would completely destabilize the region giving a huge victory to our enemies.  It would embolden Al Qaeda, proving that Osama Ben Laden was right to label us a paper tiger.  We must find the resolve to stop the surrender and find a clear path to victory.