Governor Pataki saluted New York troops in Baghdad this week, telling them “the war began on September 11 in New York, but we can end it on the streets of Iraq.” The Pentagon arranged the two-day trip and invited Mr. Pataki and the governors of Idaho, Minnesota, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Oregon. The governors met with American administrator L. Paul Bremer III, General Ricardo Sanchez, and members of the Iraqi Governing Council. They dined with troops from their individual states and walked the streets of Baghdad, visiting Iraqi citizens. According to the Associated Press, one Iraqi employee at a plastic foam factory in Baghdad complained to Mr. Pataki of the gruff methods American troops sometimes use while patrolling streets. Through a translator, the governor replied, “I’m so proud to hear you complain to me the same way that a New Yorker would.”

Although the governors returned to America safely, the trip was not without risk. Just before they arrived, a vehicle packed with explosives detonated in the town of Iskandariyah, just 30 miles south of the capital. Mr. Pataki likened terrorists igniting car bombs to those who “attacked our towers in New York City killing thousands of residents.”

As a governor, Mr. Pataki doesn’t have much responsibility for foreign policy. But he is the leader of the state that was attacked on September 11, 2001. So it’s nice to see him draw the connection between what happened here that day and what’s going on now in Iraq. It was a trip worth making.