I first met you in early 2002 at an event at your friend Clyde Rodbell’s home in Atlanta as you were beginning your campaign for U.S. Senate to replace Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia. I remember you gave a short but powerful talk about the issues facing our country in light of the events of “9-11” a few months earlier. You emphasized the threat posed by our Islamist enemies and the states that sponsor or harbor them, mainly Iraq, Iran and Syria. And even though you were speaking to a Jewish group, it was clear that your concern for the state of Israel and your recognition that its citizens were on the front lines of the war against our mutual enemies was sincere and genuine, as attested to by your experience and record as a U.S. Congressman. I came over and thanked you for your support of the Jewish state and the Jewish people.

From that moment until this one I have voted for you, supported you financially, spoken well of you to my friends and held you in high regard. I have been impressed with your bearing, your manner of speaking, your positions and your character. I have always assumed you would become a leader of your caucus, your party and your country.

Senator, I believe that now your state, your party and your country needs your voice and your leadership more than ever. The U.S. Senate is about to enter into a debate on a series of non-binding resolutions and amendments that may very well turn the tide of the war in Iraq—against the U.S. Under the primary resolution, sponsored by Sens. Biden and Warner, the Senate would, incredibly, criticize and condemn the Commander-and-Chief for embarking on a course of action intended to achieve military victory in Iraq, after having just overwhelmingly confirmed as top commander the general who helped design that course. Sadly, the resolution is sponsored by your Republican colleague Sen. Warner, and as many as ten other members of your caucus may support it, giving the Democrats the margin of victory needed to humiliate our President.

I need not tell you, Senator, that the passage of this or any similar resolution would be disastrous for the war effort, and would forever be a black mark on the body in which you serve. On the one hand, because it would be “non-binding,” the resolution can have no effect on the policy charted by President Bush. As commander-in-chief and by virtue of prior congressional action the President has the power, authority and (for now) the funds to prosecute the war as he chooses. On the other hand, since nothing the U.S. Senate does is irrelevant or insignificant, even a toothless resolution will send an unmistakable message to all who hear it--our friends and allies, our enemies and antagonists, our citizens and most crucially our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. And the message they will hear loudly and clearly will be one of exhaustion, exasperation, despair and defeat. As my mother would ask, “what good can come from this?”

Sir, I have been waiting these past few weeks since the new Congress convened for men or women of the congressional Republican Party, my party, to grab the mantle of leadership, find a microphone and articulate repeatedly and passionately the words that our countrymen and women need to hear, even if they don’t know it: “We are for victory. The President is for victory. He is our commander-in-chief. We stand with the President.” Because I have met you, I respect you and I admire you I have hoped one of those voices would be yours. And now, with leaders like Rick Santorum and others like him gone from power the time is ripe for leaders like you to fill the gap. Together with precious few others in your party, you have the experience, the judgment, and the standing to pick up the standard of the “victory party” and carry it forward.

I note from your website that you have endorsed the President’s State of the Union message as it relates to the War on Terror. Unfortunately I did not see an endorsement of the President’s words on Iraq, which of course is a crucial front in the Terror War. Perhaps you, like some of your Republican colleagues and almost all of your Democrat ones, have reservations about the President’s strategy and plan for victory. All well and good—every citizen has the right to his or her concerns and perhaps as an elected official you have the obligation to express yours. But the Senate has its job to do and the President has his. He is doing his job. It seems to me the Senate’s job is either to support the President or pass legislation to stop him by de-funding the war.

With your re-election approaching it is only natural for you to consider calibrating your statements and positions so as to avoid harming your chances at the ballot box. However, at this historic tipping point in the War and in our national life I would urge you to abandon political considerations and stand for the only course open to us—total and unconditional victory in Iraq and in the War on Terror. This would admittedly be a somewhat formidable task if you were a GOP Senator with a blue-state electorate. It seems to me, though, that for a Senator from the great (red) state of Georgia, such a stance would be well received by the folks back home.

“We are for victory. The President is for victory. He is our commander-in-chief. We stand with the President.” Senator, these are the words that your constituents want to hear, that your countrymen need to hear. Someone besides Sens. Kyl and McCain in the U.S. Senate must be an unapologetic spokesperson for the “victory party” and support our President and our troops with words as well as deeds. Someone must stand up, come forward, speak up and turn back the defeatists in your caucus and in the Senate as a whole before it is too late.

Senator Chambliss, I believe that someone is you.