OK, I have to confess that I have been guilty of the appearance of jingoism. I do think that this war in Iraq is necessary to get at the root of Islamist terrorism, but I am not pro-war. War is awful. It's dangerous. It leaves people dead, and worse, disabled in body and spirit. I think it is a little scary to be found "cheering, chanting and waving flags" in celebration of war.

I wasn't there, so I can't say whether this rally was jingoism or an expression of support for our president and our troops. There is a distinction. We should never celebrate war.

Abraham Lincoln pressed the war to quell the rebellion, but he did not want it. He wrote and signed many letters to widows and mothers of the slain expressing his sorrow for their loss. But that is why he was so frustrated with his first Generals. If we have to go to war, we should go all out and get it over with fast. It's the limited wars like Korea and Vietnam that prolong the death and misery.

The idea that war is never necessary is false and should be obvious. Evil triumphs when good people do nothing. However, beware lest the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. War is expensive in money and lives, that's why it should be avoided when possible. But we cannot shirk our responsibility to the cause of freedom. We have to have the courage of our heritage, but not be jingoistic or adopt the spirit of Manifest Destiny that led us to decimate the American Indians.