President Bush honored the 1700 Americans who have died in Iraq by standing pat and refusing to cut and run. He knows that to run, withdraw, shrink back – or even imply any of these – is tantamount to surrender.

President Bush said Saturday that pulling out of Iraq now is not an option, rejecting calls by some lawmakers and many people asked in polls to start bringing U.S. troops home.

”The terrorists and insurgents are trying to get us to retreat. Their goal is to get us to leave before Iraqis have had a chance to show the region what a government that is elected and truly accountable to its citizens can do for its people,” Bush said in his weekly radio address.

”We will settle for nothing less than victory” over terrorists there, he said later.

Damn straight. Durbin and the dems may be weak kneed, confused and consumed with partisan envy. But Bush has his eye on the most paramount subject of the day. Success in Iraq will change the world for the better – for my lifetime and my children’s lifetimes.