American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror. 

After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul.

So much for the argument that Barack's superior "judgment" justifies his election as President.  If his policy had won the day, American troops would have been leaving Iraq with their tails between their legs, and Al-Qaeda in Iraq would be proclaiming triumph.

After all, here is what Barack had to say as of September 13, 2007:

There is no military solution in Iraq, and there never was.  The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year, but now. (emphasis added).

The rescue of hostages held by FARC, a Colombian terrorist group, has some important lessons to teach both Barack Obama and the left generally about dealing with bad guys across the world.

1. Sometimes, action is more effective than talk.

Reporters Without Borders was one of the groups most insistent on dialogue with the terrorists.  But after learning through laptops obtained in the wake of the rescues that the terrorists had actually had no intention of releasing the American or French hostages.  According to an account in the Wall Street Journal its leader had this to say:

"I have to recognize that the strong hand has prevailed," said human-rights activist Robert Menard, founder and secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders. "Our insistence on the need to negotiate with the FARC, hoping they would release their most valuable card, was foolish."

Yep.  Keep in mind that there are, indeed, people out there who can't be cajoled, charmed, bribed or reasoned out of their chosen (terrorist) course.


2. Sometimes, "negotiation" is just a way to dupe the naive.

Barack Obama has said that he'd meet with Hugo Chavez without precondition (although, in fairness, he's now "refined his position" on that stand, as well).

Problem is, of course, that in this whole FARC scenario, Chavez was using the pretext of negotiations as a way to achieve a propaganda victory for himself -- and to forge closer ties with the terrorists.  Ostensibly, the purpose of the negotiations was to free the hostages.  But for Chavez, they were nothing but a cynical ploy.

In other words, we can "negotiate" with guys like Chavez all we want.  That doesn't mean that they'll be negotiating with us in good faith.

 

Because Americans are less afraid and because Republicans have abandoned the foreign policy center, Democrats need not worry that Obama will suffer the fate of George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale or John Kerry. He won't lose because he looks weak. The greater danger is that he will change positions in a bid to look strong -- as he recently did on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- and come across as inauthentic and insincere. As Ruy Teixeira and John Halpin have noted, the Democrats' biggest political liability is not that Americans believe they are too liberal but rather that they believe that Democrats don't stand for anything at all. On foreign policy, Obama has a chance to change that: to articulate a vision based on the principles of global cooperation and human dignity that animated Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt. He shouldn't be deterred by fears of being called soft. Those fears are the echoes of a bygone age.

Why has Sen. Jesse Helms for so long been our country's very favorite conservative senator? Why do we love him?

Let me count the reasons:

1. In every word and deed, Sen. Helms embodies solid conservative principles. No one else in the Senate, no one at all, comes even close to his reputation for selfless, steadfast adherence to every tenet of our conservative philosophy. Name the issue, and I can tell you how he will vote. Name the issue. Free enterprise. Limited government. Strong national defense. Traditional values. Name the issue. Jesse Helms is predictable.

   That is why we admire and love him. And that is why he's the conservative liberals love to hate.

2. Sen. Helms forces votes on issues the liberals don't want to vote on. Time and again, year in and year out, Sen. Helms has been the only conservative prepared to make the Senate vote on conservative issues where most politicians are on the opposite side from the American people. Think about all the liberal senators who have been defeated by more conservative challengers since 1972. It's a fact. Jesse Helms made every one of those liberals vulnerable. He gave them all voting records their challengers could run against. Jesse Helms makes democracy work.

   That is why we admire and love him. And that is why he's the conservative liberals love to hate.

Striking Constrast in These Brief Bulletins from LBN News Alerts---

First, a PROFILE IN JELLO
 

LBN-PRESIDENTIAL BACK ROOM:   ***Senator Barack Obama said he might "refine" his Iraq policies after meeting with military commanders there later this summer. But hours later he held a second news conference to emphasize his commitment to the withdrawing of all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office.  

And then, a PROFILE IN COURAGE

CONDOLEEZZA RICE SAYS SHE'S 'PROUD' OF DECISION TO INVADE IRAQ": Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she's "proud" of the U.S. decision to wage the Iraq war and insisted that the world is not more dangerous than it was when George W. Bush took office. "We're now beginning to see that perhaps it's not so popular to be a suicide bomber. We're beginning to see that perhaps people are questioning whether Osama Bin Laden ought to really be the face of Islam," Rice, 53, said in an interview to be broadcast this weekend on Bloomberg Television's "Conversations with Judy Woodruff.

Ronald Reagan, "What the Fourth of July Means to Me"

July Fourth is the birthday of our nation. I believed as a boy, and believe even more today, that it is the birthday of the greatest nation on earth.

The day of our nation's birth in that little hall in Philadelphia, [was] a day on which debate had raged for hours. The men gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign the Declaration of Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the words "treason, the gallows, the headsman's axe," and the issue remained in doubt.
. . . 

In recent years . . . I've come to think of [Independence Day] as more than just the birthday of a nation.

It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history.

Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government.

Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people.

Thank you, troops, for preserving our freedom; thank you, heroes and heroines of all stripes who have led this country wisely and well -- and most of all, thanks to the Creator who has blessed us with a country so generous, and free, and fair.  Happy Fourth of July!

First off, Happy Independence Day to all of the Townhall readers out there. I know many of you, like me, spend the holiday with friends and family enjoying apple pie and fireworks.  This is also a time for us to celebrate the bravery of our men and women in the Armed Forces, and their courage to keep us free.  My wife introduced me to this new campaign to show our support for the troops.  It’s very easy, but meaningful at the same time.

http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php

It’s shocking how many times I have approached a soldier to thank him, and to see that he is embarrassed by it.  I’m sure most of it is due to their humble nature, but I can’t stop thinking that in this day and age, when cynicism and indifference seem to be laudable character traits, that maybe they’re just not used to the positive attention.  Either way, it’s best to shake their hand and give them a sincere “thank you” but this is a terrific gesture just the same. 

Have a happy, and safe Independence Day.