American strength/American weakness

Victor Davis Hanson always writes very perceptive columns. Today's column is no exception. He notes how democracies thrived when the United States stayed the course (after WWII in Japan and Germany and in South Korea). He also notes how when we bailed early from South Vietnam the North Vietnamese (with Soviet assistance) steamrolled the people we abandoned and how it resulted in an image of American weakness. There are parallels to today's situation in Iraq and what can be expected if we stay the course or cut and run as some would prefer.