Marietta Daily Journal
August 21, 2006

Pretending threat not real would be huge mistake

Despite news of the recent plot to blow 10 U.S.-bound jetliners out of the sky, and with the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by Islamic fascists just around the corner, there are many in this country who want to pretend we have nothing to fear from Islamic fascism. Last week's bizarre ruling by a federal judge in Detroit, stating that it is illegal to eavesdrop on foreign terrorists in this country, is proof positive that far too many of our fellow Americans just don't get it.

Many of them are so deranged with hatred of President George W. Bush that they see his administration as the greater threat to the country. Their anger is fueled as well by the many mistakes that have been made in the conduct of the war in Iraq. So they want us to give up the fight against Islamic radicalism, to "redeploy," to retreat back behind our oceans and make believe that there aren't Muslims burning with fanatic hatred and determination to destroy us.

That might be a popular decision, but it would be a disastrous one, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) reminded last week. In remarks to a joint meeting of the Marietta Kiwanis and Marietta Rotary clubs, he warned, "If we make mistakes, correct them. But do not make the mistake of leaving, for if we make the mistake of leaving in the war on terror, there will be no return, none at all," he said. "Have we made mistakes in this war on terror? Sure, you're going to make mistakes. But the greatest mistake of all would be for us to look the other way."

"This is a fight for everything that we in the United States of America believe in," he continued. "It's so important to understand that this is the first war in the history of our republic where our enemy doesn't want what we have, they just don't want us to have what we have."

Isakson noted that Hezbollah attacked the United States seven times in the 1980s and '90s, beginning with its bombing in Beirut that killed 240 of our Marines and continuing through the first attack on the World Trade Center, the bloody bombings of our embassies in Beirut, Africa and the attack on the USS Cole. And not once did we respond in any significant way until after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We were right to respond, we were right to continue to respond and, though from time to time we make mistakes, the gravest mistake we could make would be to believe that you can accommodate terror, to think that if you leave them alone, they'll leave us alone," he warned.

Those on the left now clamoring to bring our troops home, declare the war against Islamic fascism over and cower under the bed sheets should remember that Muslim radicals are attacking us not because of what we've done, but because of who we are and their hatred of our values. It doesn't matter to them who our president is, because they've been attacking us during four administrations of both parties and show no signs of stopping. We can take the advice of people like Ned Lamont and John Kerry and Howard Dean and stop fighting; but those fighting against us are not going to stop fighting. If we stop fighting, it just makes it easier for them.

Isakson noted that Wednesday, the day of his speech, was the day on which the now-foiled plot to blow up 10 U.S.-bound airliners over the Atlantic was to have taken place.

"Now the next time you hear somebody say we need to repeal the U.S. Patriot Act, or we don't need to be listening to what terrorists are talking about, I want you to ask them how they would have felt if on Aug. 16, 2006, 10 domestic airliners took 6,000 people to their graves because we weren't able to listen to people we knew were terrorists.

"That's crazy!" the senator added, to the loudest applause of his speech.

We think his audience - and the senator - have it right.

We are in a war of good against evil, and we have no doubt about which side must win.