Let me be clear: Those who say this is a war of choice are nothing more than wrong. This is a war of necessity. ~Rep. John Boehner

In a move that required the courage of a churchmouse, the House passed, by a substantial majority, a nonbinding resolution that rejects withdrawal from Iraq. Withdrawal (or refusing to rule out withdrawal) won 153 votes, almost all Democrats. If the Congressional GOP wishes to identify itself with a failed Iraq policy and a bankrupt foreign policy five months before the elections, they are only too welcome to do so.

Reps. Paul, Duncan and Leach deserve praise for once again bucking the trend in their party of toadying conformity and voting against the resolution. House Majority Leader Boehner shows that he deserves to lead the morally and politically bankrupt GOP majority by embracing its most indefensible and dreadful policy with absolute conviction and the willful blindness that has characterised its most adamant defenders since the beginning.

Correction: Originally, I hastily attributed the following quote of Rep. Norwood to Rep. Boehner. I appreciate having the error pointed out to me, and I apologise for the mistake.

Most news reports neglected to include Georgia Rep. Charlie Norwood’s inflammatory and offensive comment (which I saw in this morning’s WSJ print edition), when he said:

It’s time to stand up and vote. Is it al Qaeda or is it America?

Presumably Mr. Norwood thinks that voting for his position on Iraq puts you in league with America rather than al Qaeda (some choice!). If Mr. Norwood really wants to cast the divide over Iraq policy that starkly, he had better be ready for the response, and he may find that he is actually on the wrong side of that rhetorical question.

The reality is that those who have voted support for an extended presence in Iraq have affirmed that they wish to see al Qaeda and groups like it flourish by providing them with an invaluable asset: the continued occupation of an Islamic country and a reprise of the jihadis’ experience of Afghanistan in the 1980s that gave birth to al Qaeda in the first place. Of the two options in Mr. Norwood’s dreadful question, Mr. Norwood and company have chosen to vote for al Qaeda.

“Outrageous!” the warmongers will yell. “How dare you accuse us of such a thing?” they will cry. I say so because those who continue to vote money and voice support for an unconstitutional, illegal and immoral war, in contravention of their duty to the Constitution and to their constituents, have done more for improving al Qaeda’s strength than practically anyone else. If there were really only two options, as Mr. Norwood believes, then those who wish to deprive al Qaeda of the invaluable asset that they have in the Iraq war have voted for America.

Not only does the Iraq war provide a field of operations and propaganda fodder for al Qaeda, both of which are oxygen for it and likeminded groups, but it stands to reason that just as the Afghan jihad made bin Laden into the terrorist leader that he is and created al Qaeda the Iraqi jihad will create its own jihadist offspring whom Mr. Norwood and his fellow war supporters foolishly nurture with every new appropriation of money and commitment to “stay the course.” Would Mr. Norwood vote for a resolution expressing American dedication to creating the next generation’s bin Laden? Not in so many words, of course, but that is what he has done. Put less polemically, persisting in the folly of the Iraq war is a short-term waste of resources needed for real security threats and a long-term foreign policy disaster. Those who wish to “vote for America” will liquidate this pointless, wasteful and indefensible war with all due haste.

The GOP likes to pose (and I do mean pose) as the party of national strength and security, so why does it routinely endorse a war that daily weakens and strains our armed forces, distracts us from real threats elsewhere in the world and gradually diminishes public resolve for the broader fight against al Qaeda? Why is the party that pretends to place high priority on national security so committed to a war that steadily wears down our ability to fight our real enemies? Why won’t the GOP vote for America, Mr. Norwood?