…and other items of the ridiculous.

I fatigue at the gravity of recent opposition foolishness about Iraq and the war with terrorists [not to be called the Global War on Terror].

So here are some links and excerpts that say more than I have energy to say:

Editorial, Opinion Journal

So this is Democratic foreign policy: Assure our enemies that they can ignore a President who still has 21 months to serve; and wash their hands of Baghdad and of their own guilt for voting to let Mr. Bush go to war. No doubt Democrats think the President's low job approval, and public unhappiness with the war, gives them a kind of political immunity. But we wonder.

Once we leave Iraq, America's enemies will still reside in the Mideast; and they will be stronger if we leave behind a failed government and bloodbath in Iraq. Mr. Bush's successor will have to contain the damage, and that person could even be a Democrat. But by reverting to their Vietnam message of retreat and by blaming Mr. Bush for all the world's ills, Democrats on Capitol Hill may once again convince voters that they can't be trusted with the White House in a dangerous world. (Via Memeorandum)

Claudia Rosett, Philadelphia Inquirer

(Headlined, Pelosi was nuts to visit with Assad)

Having done her shopping, Pelosi went on, against the express wishes of the White House, to talk with President Bashar Assad. Perched on pillowed armchairs, chatting away, they provided yet another photo-op - a tableau implying that Assad is no monster, but in many ways a reasonable fellow, just like the rest of us. Pelosi emerged to announce that she had expressed her concerns on various fronts and that Assad is now willing to hold peace talks with Israel.

This is not just nutty politics; it is dangerous. For Pelosi, this may count as interaction. But for Assad's regime in Syria, this amounts to chumps on pilgrimage. Damascus is infested by a dynastic tyranny in which "dialogue" serves chiefly as cover for duplicity and terror. These traits are not simply regrettable habits that Assad might be charmed out of. They are big business and prime instruments of power.

(snip)

Dignifying Assad with visits, chats and photo-ops is bad policy, whether it comes from America's top Democrat, from Republican congressmen, or from the White House itself. Assad runs the kind of government for which the phrase "regime change" was invented - and however unfashionable that phrase has now become, it is still the only true path to peace in Damascus. (Via Memeorandum, also noted by The Tank at NRO)

Amir Taheri, NY Post

"Her visit was a godsend to an isolated and beleaguered regime," says a Lebanese minister. "The Syrian regime, which had been thinking of bowing to international pressure, is now reassured: All it has to do is to wait until Pelosi's party takes over the White House in 2009."

The Pelosi mission confirms the analysis made by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the United States is incapable of developing and implementing a long-term strategy. In this analysis, America might wake up one morning and decide to do the exact opposite of what it has been doing for years.

The region's most radical elements liked Pelosi best if only because she endorsed their campaign of vilification against the Bush administration.

(snip)

Pelosi applies the tenets of multiculturalism to international affairs: All systems are comparable; all systems are of equal value. Other cultures might not be as good as hers - but hers sure can be as bad as theirs.

The Pelosi Doctrine opposes the use of force, even against aggressive anti-American regimes. Throughout her tour, the speaker made it clear that she was determined to hasten the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, with hints that the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan would also be "reviewed." Pelosi's America would fight back only in self-defense and rejects preemptive war. Under the Pelosi Doctrine, the United States must work with regimes in place, including those perceived as threats.

(snip)

Pelosization could plunge the Middle East into endless civil and regional wars, facilitate the return of terrorist organizations now facing defeat and ultimate destruction, and, in time, threaten U.S. national security on a grander scale. That, in turn, could force the United States into wars bigger and costlier than the ones in Afghanistan and Iraq that Pelosi regards as mistakes.

Grandma Pelosi. Peace at any cost, power at any price.