Friday, October 07, 2005

War on Terror

New York City remains on high alert after a reported threat of terrorist action against the city's subway system. The fact that the source of the information was a terrorist captured in Iraq would tend to corroborate President Bush's position that the war in Iraq is a key focus of the global war with terrorists.

Just yesterday, the President gave a major speech on the war on terrorism, in which he described the nature of the enemy:
Some call this evil Islamic radicalism; others, militant Jihadism; still others, Islamo-fascism. Whatever it's called, this ideology is very different from the religion of Islam. This form of radicalism exploits Islam to serve a violent, political vision: the establishment, by terrorism and subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom. These extremists distort the idea of jihad into a call for terrorist murder against Christians and Jews and Hindus -- and also against Muslims from other traditions, who they regard as heretics.

and stated the determination needed to prevail:
There's always a temptation, in the middle of a long struggle, to seek the quiet life, to escape the duties and problems of the world, and to hope the enemy grows weary of fanaticism and tired of murder. This would be a pleasant world, but it's not the world we live in. The enemy is never tired, never sated, never content with yesterday's brutality. This enemy considers every retreat of the civilized world as an invitation to greater violence. In Iraq, there is no peace without victory. We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory.

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