Winning
Make no mistake, America will win the day against the terrorists. It may take five years or ten years. How will we know it? There will be many ways to measure our success. Ultimately victory will come when the number of terrorists in the world becomes insignificant. This will only happen when those who are thinking about terrorism as a career choice - choose not to. And that will happen when many things take place over time.
1. The Middle East is exposed to the western people in greater numbers. They will discover that we are not the evil people described to them by they're fanatical religious leaders. Right now these places that hate us are essentially closed societies. They have little freedom compared to us. This is why we are in Iraq. We will be there and hopefully in other parts of the middle east as time goes on.
2. When the United States military makes the price of being a terrorist so high that recruiting them will be nearly impossible. This will take time. The enemy has had no other victories other than 9/11. However the media treats the isolated attacks and even the fact that some terrorists have not been captured as a sort of 'victory' for the terrorists.
3. The education system in the Islamic world is anti-western. The children in the Arab world are being taught that they are superior to the 'non-believers'. So much so that it is permissible and honorable to kill a non-believer. This idea and the venomous effect that it has had must be destroyed. When that happens the mindset that allows these young to be recruited into the terror business will be gone.
4. Victory will not be measured by how many countries 'Like' America. Countries have mutual interests that keep them allied, such as freedom and commerce. No one should give a damn if France or the Germans like us. They don't! Get over it. The question is - will they attack us? Of course not. These are free nations and ultimately ruled by the people. The French wine maker may hate our guts but he still wants us as customers. Fear and respect for our might is what we need to keep our place in the world as the only superpower. And to all you wienies who think it is unfair to be the only superpower on earth it is time to wake and smell the coffee - start taking a look at the benefits that go along with it. (I will cover this is another session). In the not to distant future (a few years) Iran, Syria, North Korea, to name a few, will have changed dramatically politically. More than likely they will become unstable for a period of time before re-emerging into something better. That is our role in the world and it is in our interest to fulfill it.
Of course the American culture demands instant results. We wanted to be victorious yesterday, without one military or civilian death. This is, of course absurd. It will come down to who can convince and educate the American public on the best plan to defeat our enemy, and in a way who our real enemy is. Right now my money is on 'W'.