The American Spectator

Win in Iraq, demonstrably and definitively, and the United States will be vindicated, as will, in domestic politics, the administration that fumbled and stumbled but never lost its will or its admirable aims. And victory over the terrorists in Iraq, a victory for republican government every bit as lasting as the ones post-World War II in West Germany and Japan, is indeed still possible. A government is on the verge of being stabilized there. The terrorists are ever more desperate, and by some reports running out of weapons materiel. The good guys — the Americans and our allies — can win this thing. And silence the critics. And strike a mighty blow for freedom.

In this Easter week, all our eggs are in that rickety basket. All the more reason for us to redouble our efforts to make sure the basket doesn’t fail.

Right now there’s no specially good reason for optimism anywhere in the public sphere. But steadfastness and courage — and sheer, cussed insistence on seeing a principled commitment through to the end — can survive even where optimism falters. Churchill once offered blood, toil, tears and sweat. Grimly, we conservatives can do no less.