BUSH MAKES HIS CASE
NEW YORK POST
Editorial
September 1, 2006
Anyone who thinks the War on Terror, now almost five years old, is nearing its end is mistaken. That was the message President Bush sent the nation - and the world - yesterday.
"This war will be difficult," Bush said at an American Legion convention, as he kicked off a series of speeches on the fight ahead. "This war will be long."
But the president vowed, with typical resolve, that the "war will end in the defeat of the terrorists and totalitarians."
The truth? Enormous dangers persist for the civilized world, despite considerable progress in the War on Terror.
Not that the partisan critics care.
"The American people know that, five years after 9/11, we are not as safe as we should and could be," Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid said yesterday.
Not as safe as we should be?
Well, isn't that the whole point?
That danger must be confronted.
America's enemies, Bush said, "come from different parts of the world, and they take inspiration from different sources." He pointed to "radicalized followers of the Sunni tradition," like al Qaeda's adherents. Shia terrorists, like those of Hezbollah, who "take guidance from state sponsors like Syria and Iran."
He cited "homegrown" terrorists - "fanatics who live quietly in free societies they dream to destroy." And he took special note of Iran's defiance in refusing to curb its nuclear program and in sponsoring terror.
These disparate groups, Bush said, "form the outlines of a single movement, a worldwide network of radicals that use terror to kill those who stand in the way of their totalitarian ideology."
Which is why the War on Terror, he added, is not just a military conflict, but "the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century."
Still think the war's almost over?
At the heart of the fight right now, of course, is Iraq - what Bush termed "the central front in our fight against terrorism." Failure there, Bush said bluntly, would be "disastrous."
"We would be handing Iraq over to our worst enemies," including "terrorists from all over the world who would suddenly have a base of operations far more valuable than Afghanistan under the Taliban." Iraq would become "a new sanctuary to recruit and train terrorists at the heart of the Middle East, with huge oil riches to fund their ambitions."
The result, in short order: "terrorists in the streets of our own cities."
But, again - even as pols call for U.S. troop withdrawals and estimates of when Iraqi forces can take over - it's clear that the war's end, even just in Iraq, is not at hand.
"Victory in Iraq will be difficult," Bush acknowledged, "and it will require more sacrifice." He compared the intensity of the fight to that of Omaha Beach and Guadalcanal.
But victory will pay off.
Whatever your views, it's hard to argue with the president about one thing: America can't quit now - even if it wants to. The only real options are winning - and losing.
More tough times ahead, yes.
But there is no choice save to fight.
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