I am an inveterate e-mailer and letter writer to our esteemed Wyoming Congressional delegation -- an all-Republican gang of three. Lately I have been beseeching them with demands we get out of Iraq now. Here's the e-mail response I received Feb. 10 from Rep. Barbara Cubin:

Dear Mike:

Thank you for contacting me regarding our action in Iraq. I appreciate your comments.

For decades we have been in the cross hairs of terrorists. Even before September 11th, we had lost 600 Americans since the 1983 bombings in Beirut. We must now fight this war on our terms, bringing the fight to the terrorists, lest they bring the fight again to our cities, towns, and rural communities.

Radical Islamists will not go away if ignored, they will not be content with attacks on foreign soil, and they will not be placated by nice words or friendly gestures. Osama bin Ladin has called the war in Iraq the center of World War III. He realizes the importance of Iraq, his partners in terror recognize it, and we need to realize it too.

The connection between al Qaeda and Iraq has been documented and I supported the ousting of Saddam as part of our global War on Terror. I would like to see our soldiers out of Iraq as soon as possible, but not before their job is complete. On January 10, 2007, President Bush presented a comprehensive plan to achieve success in Iraq. The President will send over 20,000 additional troops to Baghdad to support intensified security operations by the Iraqi military. The President also pledged to step up operations in destroying networks, including those originating in Iran and Syria, that are supplying resources to our enemies in Iraq. Just as important as the military surge in Baghdad, however, is the broader political strategy to marginalize the insurgency and facilitate discussion between Iraq's warring factions. For this plan to be successful, the Iraqi Government, led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, must do their part to achieve reconciliation. Ultimately, the Iraqi people will have to work out their own differences -- we cannot do that for them.

The President's plan is the collaborative product of the smartest, brightest and most experienced minds in our Armed Forces. If the commanders on the ground are confident this plan is the path to victory in Iraq, then I will stand behind them and the troops they lead. That is why I have cosponsored legislation (H.R. 511) stating that Congress will not cut off or restrict funding for our Armed Forces deployed in harm's way.

I remain opposed to immediate withdrawal, or the setting of an arbitrary date for withdrawal, because it gives the enemy time to conserve their resources, then attack with full force when we leave. I will resist Democrat efforts to choke off funding that our troops need to do their jobs safely and effectively. It would be shameful to endanger U.S. servicemen and women in Iraq by denying them congressional funding in order to make a political statement.

We cannot let Iraq fall into the hands of terrorists. Failure in Iraq would have disastrous implications both for regional and global stability. It would embolden our enemies and harm our efforts in the Global War on Terror both abroad and in our own nation.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts with me. Please keep in touch should you have any additional questions or concerns.

With warm regards,
Barbara Cubin
Member of Congress

It's tough to know where to begin with my rebuttal. Hard to believe she is repeating the same old lie that "the connection between al Qaeda and Iraq has been documented." By whom? Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, and Douglas Feith -- the neocons' Three Stooges? The Bushies told this same old lie for the months leading up to the war and for a year or so thereafter. We don't hear it any more because the American people have wised up.

No surprise that Cubin supports the Republicans' H.R. 511 that is against cutting off funding to troops in the field. They say they need this bill because of those troop-hating Democrats and their alleged attempts to do just that. Never happened, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will never take this course. So H.R. 511 is a calculated political ploy by the Repubs, a bold effort to create a controversy where none exists.

Rep. Cubin also paraphrases the oft-repeated warning that "we have to fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here." This is a Republican chant, one that even manages to bring up the "over there" which many of us remember as a line from a song from another war. "The Yanks are comin', the Yanks are comin' "... and so on. This World War I ditty ends with the chilling line: "And we won't come home [back?] 'til it's over over there." I'm sure that this is how Iraq feels to some grunts "over there" on their third or fourth tour. As of today, there are 3,120 U.S. soldiers who didn't survive "over there," and thousands more who did, but came home minus a leg or haunted for life.

And why can't right-wingers say "Democratic" instead of "Democrat?" Bush does this all the time. Cubin says: "I will resist Democrat efforts to choke off funding to the troops..." That should be "Democratic efforts" or "efforts by Democrats." I hate to be a language scold, but you have to keep on these Republicans.