Of course, it's imperative that we stabilize Iraq and quickly reduce our armed role there.

That's because international Islamic religious fanatics have the same goal as the Axis fascists - the destruction of our way of life.

Fortunately, it's still not too late to develop a comprehensive global strategy to eliminate our real enemy.

Our generals talk a good game about taking care of their grunts, and the majority of our Beltway politicians bay with moralistic fervor about how they, too, support the troops.

We citizens don't need to know every detail of every military operation in this new kind of war. Nor should the media tell us and hence our enemy.

Our fumbling government's response since Beirut - during both Republican and Democratic administrations - has been to cut and run, or to flat ignore this growing threat, apparently hoping it would go away.