I have a new hero -- Under Secretary of Defense Eric S. Edelman.

A Pentagon official has told Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton that questions she has raised about how the United States would withdraw from Iraq feed enemy propaganda.

The stinging wording of the message, from Under Secretary of Defense Eric S. Edelman, was unusual, particularly because it was directed at a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Mr. EdelmanÂ’s July 16 message, in response to questions Mrs. Clinton raised in May, was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

“Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq,” he wrote, “reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia.”

A Clinton spokesdrone made the following response.

A Clinton spokesman, Philippe Reines, said the senator would respond to Mr. Edelman’s boss, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. Mr. Reines said military leaders should offer a withdrawal plan rather than “a political plan to attack those who question them.”

Excuse me -- members of the United States Senate, especially those who are putting themselves forward as candidates for the presidency, should be offering their own strategy for victory rather than cravenly undercutting the troops and emboldening the enemy with calls for unilateral retreat and surrender.

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