Amir Taheri

The defeat industry is back at work again, with the usual suspects acting as a chorus calling for an American retreat in the face of Islamist terror.

Five years ago, the same cast of characters was calling for retreat from Iraq, abandoning that country to al Qaeda and its allies. The argument, according to Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, was that America, having already lost the war, had better acknowledge defeat and run away.

Those who wanted to appear more sophisticated, like then-Sen. Joe Biden, recommended that the United States carve up Iraq into three or five mini-states and then withdraw.

AP