Will we take the fight forward?

Daniel Henninger got me thinking today about the meaning on the war on terrorism.

Peace doesn't seem to be the normal state of affairs for human beings. Tyranny is always there, like the sea outside the dikes of the Netherlands, ready to exploit every weakness to take power. President Bush was right that the best way to preserve our own liberty is to fight to extend liberal democracy, private property and economic freedom throughout the world. America has been fortunate in that it has not had to fight a war on its homeland since the Civil War. 9/11 was the result of years of failing to rise to challenges like the first attack on our Marines in Lebanon, and subsequent acts of war that were treated as criminal offenses. It made many of us realize the horror of allowing this war to be fought here instead of where the terrorists nest.

President Bush sees this for what it is, another fight in the ongoing struggle to protect freedom and human rights. Opponents of this war don't see the big picture. They continually harp about not finding Saddam's WMD or that there was no link between Saddam to the 9/11 attacks. They dwell on technicalities and legalistic points to avoid the truth that everybody knows: Saddam is an evil man who created an evil regime. He was a threat to world peace as long as he was free. We did the world, the Arab world in particular, a huge favor by dethroning him.

We are in the process of innoculating Iraq against future tyranny by establishing in the minds of its people the understanding that they have individual rights, and that government is to be their servant, not their master. Those who focus only on the casualties and the resistance show their own selfishness and shallowness, largely because they crave a return to the power they once had in this country. Their resentment of democracy and the voters who supported President Bush is palpable.

The question before us all today is whether we are willing to fight for the rights of man and democracy. Will we take the fight forward which our ancestors began in 1776 or let it lapse? This is the test history imposes on our generation. I hope we don't fail it.