The American Spectator

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Loose Canons

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Iraq -- under unceasing pressure from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and others -- will remain unstable for years to come because we didn't do what we should when we could. This instability is the goal of our adversaries in the Middle East. While Iraq continues to be anything other than a clear success of American policy, it is a failure in the eyes of the world. Further progress in the war against terrorism -- or, more correctly, the terrorists and the regimes that support them -- is less likely.

It cannot be said often enough: we are engaged in a clash of cultures. Like it or not, it is Western civilization against a twelfth-century religious oppression that aims to end our way of life. Where is the blueprint for winning this war? It is not in the United Nations or the IAEA. It is not in the theoretical multinationalism of the Kerrys and the Annans of the world.

The blueprint should be restated in terms that our enemies and friends cannot fail to understand. To win this clash of cultures will require the destruction of those who wish to destroy us. We should frame the blueprint in the lesson that Muammar Qaddafi has learned from our Iraq campaign. He is disarming because he did not want to be next on Uncle Sam's list. Iran -- the central terrorist nation -- should be. And no one -- friend or foe -- should doubt our intent. We must do unto others before they do unto us.

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Trade, Bill Clinton, Television, Constitution, Military, Iraq, Iran, United Nations, North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, Energy