Why We Must Win the War on Terror

This is a nightmare I have on occasion. I seem to have it much more frequently when I hear people on the news talk about how we have to get out of Iraq as soon as possible, yet offer no plan of action to do so. I listen very closely to hear their plans. How will we do it? How will we make sure the terrorists do not follow us back to the U.S.? I hear no answers, only rhetoric.

Moments later, the television screen is full of news from Israel. Another homicide bombing has taken place killing innocent people and maiming others for the rest of their lives. A cold seed of dread begins to grow in my stomach. Will the next clip of a homicide bombing be in a neighborhood I recognize? A neighborhood I grew up in, perhaps? A neighborhood right here in America?

Can we withdraw from Iraq without first making certain that everything is settled there? If we do, will the terrorists not follow us back to the U.S. and change the face of our country forever? Oh wait, they have already done that. On September 11^th, 2001, terrorists flew commercial airliners into the World Trade Center in New York and irrevocably changed the face of our country while also leaving thousands of families bereft of their sons, daughters, wives and husbands. It happened once. It can happen again. However, it is our chief duty to make sure a tragedy, like 9/11, never happens again.

We are at war with terrorists in Iraq. In fact, the war in Iraq has become the main front for the War against Terror. Do we have the right to exit the War against Terror before it is resolved, thereby creating an unsafe environment for the entire world; most especially the United States of America? Do we have a right to bring that battle to the U.S. where our children can be caught up in it? Should we? No. It is our solemn duty to keep the front of the War on Terror right where it is, in Iraq. We must win the War on Terror without withdrawing too early. We must make sure the War on Terror is won completely and decisively. Until we can do that, we must remain where we are and increase our forces until we can accomplish this one, very important, goal. It is our duty to the world and to our children.

There are arguments on both sides that ultimately don't change a thing about our involvement in this war. We started the War on Terror and we must finish the War on Terror. He said, she said isn't helping our troops accomplish this goal. In fact, the anti-war talk, disrespect of the President and sympathy for terrorists that want to see every single American dead is undermining their morale. How can it not? Our soldiers' families are inundated with pundit after pundit telling the world that the war in Iraq, the War on Terror, is an unjust war; an illegal war. What do you think this does to wives, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters of our military personnel? It surely doesn't make them feel very good.

Our soldiers are putting their lives on the line every single day in Iraq. Our Marines, Army, Air Force and Navy are putting themselves between us and these terrorists so they can protect America; so they can protect our children. You can't say you support our troops out of one side of your mouth while out of the other side you are condemning anything and everything they are doing in Iraq. It doesn't help our troops when people continue to complain about and malign our government and our great country while our soldiers stand on foreign soil trying valiantly to protect and defend that very same country. We wonder why the "world" has turned against us, when we should, instead, be asking ourselves why we have turned against ourselves. We cannot expect other countries to respect us, if we do not show that we respect ourselves.

If we are to turn this War on Terror around and make it better, we must be willing to put aside all this self-serving rhetoric and seriously begin to discuss ways we can win this War on Terror. It is time to stop blaming and tearing each other down. It is time to start offering real ideas and building one another up. The recent bomb-scare in Miami as well as the recent, terrifying experience of New Yorkers, who woke up to a horrific smell that seemed to represent a chemical or biological attack, could have been so much worse. If we pull out of Iraq too soon, we will find that out all too quickly.

We must win the War on Terror so we aren't awakened each day with news of how another neighborhood in our country has been attacked or how terrorists have taken our children hostage in their own schools. Many people, many Americans, talk of leaving the Middle East in peace; yet all I hear from the Middle East is their talk of destroying every single American in the world because we live our lives differently. We cannot simply "leave them alone," for they will not, ever, leave us alone. We must remain committed and determined so we can win the War on Terror. We cannot waffle. We cannot doubt. We don't have the luxury of second-guessing ourselves. We have to win the War on Terror, because there is no other, acceptable, choice.