Reid states that the effort in Iraq is failing. And the natural reaction by the Republicans? Democrats hate the troops.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV), has come under fire as of late for comments he made regarding the status of the war in Iraq.

I believe, he said, that the secretary of state, secretary of defense and [the president know] this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq.

Not surprisingly, many Republican lawmakers have come out against this statement, alleging that his words show Democratic leaders in Washington are defeatists.

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has called the words said by Reid, as well as his counterpart in the House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), bordering on treason.

I think Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are getting very, very close to treason, DeLay said. For the Majority Leader of the United States Senate in the time of war, with soldiers dying on the ground, announcing that we had lost the war is very close to treasonous.

Vice President Dick Cheney had something to say about Reid as well.

What is most troubling about Mr. Reids comments is his defeatism, Cheney said. Indeed, he said the war is already lost, and the timetable legislation he is pursuing would guarantee defeat.

Not to be outdone, presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani decided to use the fears of a post-9/11 world to his advantage on his campaign, stating that, if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, America will be at risk for another terrorist attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001 â?¦ make no mistake; the Democrats want to put us back on defense.

These attacks on Harry Reid and Democrats in general are worth nothing because they are based on ideas that Republicans have tried to rally Americans upon in the past: that Democratic policies are anti-American. Reid states that the effort in Iraq is failing. And the natural reaction by the Republicans? Democrats hate the troops, dont care about our security and are trying to lose the war in Iraq.

Unfortunately for Republicans, the American people arent buying it. According to a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, 55 percent of Americans believe that victory isnt possible in Iraq; only 36 percent believe it is.

Its important to note that Reids statements, however, say that he believes that several Republican leaders “ possibly including the president “ already know this war is lost, too. Rather than saying they thought the war was doing well, Republicans went on the attack, smearing Reid and other Democrats by saying they hurt our troops morale with such statements.

You know what else hurts troop morale? Inadequate body armor. But thats an argument for another day.

We sent our troops to Iraq with the mission to remove a tyrant and instill democracy; they have done that. It is now time for the Iraqis to step up and secure their own nation without the requirement that American troops be there to supervise. A gradual withdrawal would do that.

It would work like Adam Smiths Invisible Hand in economics (a theory that Republicans often like to cite in fiscal matters but often ignore in other aspects of life). If the Iraqis are rational people, they will act in their best interest to step up to the task and take over the defense of their own nation.

But it will only work if the Americans arent there to do it for them. If American troops remain, theres no point in doing what they dont need to do.

I want a stable Iraqi government, and I want our troops to believe that they have succeeded. When they return home, I will be the first one at the parade welcoming them back.

But I will not have my support for them questioned when I am simply arguing against the rationale for keeping them in harms way. The time for the troops to come home is now. The Democrats get it. The American people get it. How long will it be until the Republicans do?

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