The Republican war

Fouad Ajami in the WSJ:

Mr. President, the one defining mark of your own moral outlook is the distinction between friend and foe, a refusal to be lulled into moral and political compromises. Your critics have made much of this and have seen it as self-righteousness and moral absolutism, but this has guided you through the great, divisive issues faced by our country over these last, searing years. Scooter Libby was a soldier in your--our--war in Iraq, he was chief of staff to a vice president who had become a lightning rod to the war's critics.

Keep in mind, the foe in this case was a covert CIA agent working for the United States to prevent the nation's enemies from obtaining nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

The friend was a partisan hit man.

In Ajami's mind the enemy isn't bin Laden or Saddam. It's the CIA the State Department, and the Democrats.

In "The Soldier's Creed," there is a particularly compelling principle: "I will never leave a fallen comrade." .... They have done it, we know, to give heart to those who embark on a common mission, to give them confidence that they will not be given up under duress.

Libby betrayed his oath to defend the country when it conflicted with his loyalty to the president. He sacrificed a real soldier to do it.