In a Fox News interview today, Sen. McCain said that the elimination of Zarqawi is a "rebuke to those who want to cut and run" from Iraq. The "those" Sen. McCain may be referring to could be Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry (whose withdrawal plan McCain characterized as " a major step on the road to disaster" a while back) and other senior Democrats who have been pushing their plans for "strategic redeployment" and "withdrawal timetables." Last December, Dean said: the "idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong"; we need to "bring the 80,000 National Guard and Reserve troops home immediately" and all other troops within two years; and "we need a force in the Middle East, not in Iraq but in a friendly neighboring country to fight Zarqawi, who came to Iraq after this invasion." Dean's words must have been music to the ears of bin Ladin deputy al-Zawahiri who wrote a letter last summer to Zarqawi hoping for a rapid exit of U.S. forces from Iraq. No doubt some Democrats will use Zarqawi's demise to push harder for rapid U.S. troop withdrawal or, in the words of Sen. McCain, "cut and run." And what do you know, Sen. Kerry just put out a statement for -- you guessed it -- troop withdrawal:
With the end of al-Zarqawi and the confirmation of the final vital cabinet ministries in Iraq's new government, it's another sign that it's time for Iraqis to stand up for Iraq, bring the factions together, end the insurgency, and run their own country. Our troops have done their job in Iraq, and they've done it valiantly. It's time to work with the new Iraqi government to bring our combat troops home by the end of this year.
Can't wait to hear Howard Dean's take on Zarqawi's departure.