As a senior member of the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees, I have monitored the developments in the war on terror and know how vital it is that America wins this war.  It is a war on multiple fronts, waged not only to root out and defeat the Al Qaeda terrorists who attacked our homeland some six years ago, but also to deny them a sanctuary and a base from which to launch future attacks. 

As we all know, the job of making Iraq a secure place is difficult because of deep-seated religious and ethnic divisions, punctuated by the memory of the murderous acts of Saddam's dictatorship against many.  For sure, Al Qaeda and local terrorists along with hostile foreign governments, including Iran, have both encouraged and funded the current violence in Iraq in hopes the nation will not follow the path to democracy.  They must not be allowed to succeed.

Any American life lost in defense of our nation is one too many.  Yet, we must not turn from our task of defeating terrorism before the job is done.  President Bush recently announced his decision to reinforce American troop strength by some 21,000 soldiers to help Iraq's new government finally control violence and restore order.  The President's troop "surge" decision is opposed by those in Congress who feel America must leave Iraq before our work is finished.

Senator Ted Kennedy and other liberal Democrats in both houses have talked of legislation to cut the funding for our troops in Iraq.  These actions are misguided and dangerous.  Our enemies would gain comfort from them and our troops who are in direct harm's way would be placed at greater personal risk.

I do not support withholding funds from our troops as they fight each day for our safety.  Also last week, I signed on as a cosponsor to legislation drafted by Congressman Sam Johnson, R-Texas, opposing any effort to "cut off or restrict" such funding for our military.  They need our full support.

Iraq's new government is taking steps to control the violence from all ethnic groups in that country and makes it clear that our abandoning them at this stage would guarantee failure for democracy in Iraq.  And it would guarantee a tremendous set back in America's battle to deny terrorism a foothold.  Pulling back now with no viable alternative plan to stabilize Iraq would be a disastrous action.

While I believe the decision to bolster troop strength in Iraq should have been made much sooner, it presents the only viable option to bringing order to the country and laying the foundation for Iraqi government control of that nation's security.  These additional troops would be used to permanently clean out insurgent nests which previously the Iraqi government had sheltered.  However, Iraq's prime minister Al-Maliki has now declared that no areas of his country will be off-limits to U.S. and Iraqi forces.

While America must not be in Iraq indefinitely, we should make every effort not to leave without ensuring that the terrorists there are put down.  To do otherwise, would be terribly shortsighted and would ultimately embolden our terrorist enemies who have made no secret of their desire to continue to kill Americans.