As for that leaked, classified NIE report, the Dems and the NY Times have swung and missed yet again. And how about the hypocrisy of our own Ted Kennedy, from our friends at Powerline,

Ted Kennedy weighed in with the most surreal attack:

“The American people deserve the full story, not those parts of it that the Bush administration selects,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

That would be hilarious, if it were not so contemptible. When Democrats in the bureaucracy illegally leaked misleading portions of the NIE’s “key judgments” in hopes of influencing the election, that was fine with Kennedy. But when the administration declassified the entire “judgments” section so that the American people can read it all and judge for themselves, now Kennedy complains that the voters aren’t getting “the full story.” Absolutely outrageous, but typical of the Democrats’ ever more hysterical campaign.

Captain Ed has a great post on the real news in the NIE,

As the NIE concludes, a victory in Iraq would seriously damage the radical Islamist movement, perhaps even mortally. We have no chance to strike a blow against them by retreating. Democrats have badly misrepresented this report and offer the one solution guaranteed to result in making the problem worse — as the NIE also concludes.

President Bush and Afghanistan’s Harmid Karzi had a press conference yesterday and talked about the terrorist threat in relation to the NIE. Bush went off on the politically motivated leak of the report and the obvious media spin designed to misrepresent the news.It is well worth watching.

More bad news for the cut and run crowd. A letter from the President of Iraq to the American people,

…In order to rid Iraq of the constant threat of violence, we still need your help. As long as we are determent to outlast and outsmart our enemy, we shall reach our common goals.

Iraq is slowly gaining the ability to fight this war with its own soldiers, evidenced recently by the relinquishing of complete control of coalition forces to the Iraqi government. The coalition now employs more soldiers from Iraq than any other nation. Slowly but surely, Iraq will be able to protect itself on its own.

The stakes of Iraq are enormous, world-shifting even. This is why our country should be a point of concern for every democratic country of the world. I can assure you that the immediate departure of coalition forces would only unleash tensions between different communities, the prospect of a safe Iraq wou ld be completely lost, and the previous descriptions of a civil war would seem insufficient and tame compared to the bloodshed of an Iraq that loses its international support.

And although I cannot promise when or how the American presence will completely end in Iraq, I can promise that American soldiers do not fight in vain. We in Iraq recognize that an incredible amount of American resources have been offered to us. And we understand that many Americans are frustrated with the course of the war, and we understand that doubt naturally coincides with difficulty. I realize that many Americans were apprehensive about the decision to go to war. But I ask that you put this behind you in favor of supporting a democratic and free Iraq, and a future for Iraqis that excludes the threat of violence and extremism. I ask that you consider what the terms of failure in Iraq would actually look like, and what they would mean for Iraq, the United States and the international community.

I would venture to say that the interest of Iraq and the United States are one in this matter. The United States carries a heavy responsibility in helping us. As complicated as the relationship may be, America and Iraq are now siblings in the world.

Take a few minutes to read the whole letter.