Bill Kristol, writing in The Weekly Standard, urges President Bush to resist the calls for surrender. I doing so, he shows himself a fine tactician:

Here's what I gather is a basic lesson of tactics: When you find yourself in an ambush, attack into the ambush. Don't twist and turn in the kill zone, looking for a way to retreat. Especially when the ambush is not a powerful one, and the Democrats' position (to mix military metaphors) is way overextended. The Democrats are hoping the president will break and run. They will not allow him a dignified retreat or welcome him with compromise. They will spring to finish him off completely. It doesn't matter what the president's motives are. Some of his advisers are trying to persuade him that he needs to go for a grand bargain now so as to build bipartisan support for his policies when he's gone. But the only way to do that is to hold firm now--and to counterattack. Those who try to convince him otherwise offer nothing but defeat, for the troops, for the mission, and for the president.

He’s absolutely right, of course. That’s how they trained us for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), “attack into the ambush.” That’s not just the best hope for survival, it’s the best chance for ultimate victory, as well. The fact that foreign and domestic enemies of the President fervently wish him to retreat, should underscore the folly of doing so.

The Editors at NRO likewise caution us not to panic, nor to cave in to illogical advice from intransigent, longtime opponents of our efforts in Iraq, like the Democrats and the editors of the New York Times:

But opponents of the war are now willing to retreat from Iraq, no matter what the consequences. Sunday’s New York Times editorial calling for a withdrawal had this extraordinarily candid passage: “Americans must be clear that Iraq, and the region around it, could be even bloodier and more chaotic after Americans leave. There could be reprisals against those who worked with American forces, further ethnic cleansing, even genocide. Potentially destabilizing refugee flows could hit Jordan and Syria. Iran and Turkey could be tempted to make power grabs. Perhaps most important, the invasion has created a new stronghold from which terrorist activity could proliferate.”

As many have remarked, the Surge against the Surge is in full swing. Time to stand firm against the panic.

(Via Powerline)