[Center for Security Policy/Wall Street Journal] Frank J. Gaffney - On Sept. 11, 2001, a freedom-loving nation was attacked by a terrorist organization operating from the territory of a sovereign state with the acquiescence, if not the active complicity, of the latter's government. The U.S. retaliated with what can only be called a "disproportionate response." America launched air and ground assaults on Afghanistan, aimed at destroying not only the al-Qaeda safe havens but toppling the Taliban regime. We damaged or destroyed critical Afghan infrastructure so as to deny its use to the enemy. Civilian casualties occurred, as did refugee flows. Once the campaign to eliminate al-Qaeda was launched, there was no consideration given to negotiating with the terrorists or the government that afforded them protection. The U.S. would not have contemplated a UN-mandated ceasefire, let alone the insertion of an international peacekeeping force - whose purpose, inevitably, would have been to protect the terrorists from our military. For the U.S., the current phase of this War for the Free World began on Sept. 11, 2001. For others, like Israel it has been going on for decades and represents an unmistakably existential threat. We cannot afford to pretend that there is an appropriate way for the U.S. to fight Islamofascist totalitarians and the terror they wield against us, then insist that our allies must try to appease such groups.
2006-08-02 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive