The opinion polls show President Bush's popularity is slipping, along with American support for the effort in Iraq. This is precisely what our enemies are counting on. Ho Chi Minh watched the polls during the Vietnam War. And so are the Islamic extremists who wish us death.
This is more than a culture war. It is a war about the direction of the human race for the foreseeable future. Will free people win it, or will the oppressors?
Will religious pluralists who are tolerant of the faith of others win it, or will religious fanatics who believe in death for anyone who doesn't believe as they do?
President Bush must constantly remind the public of the stakes and what is being done to take the war to the enemy; it isn't enough to end the regime of Saddam Hussein. He was only part of the problem. The greater problem is bigger and more dangerous than any one man.
We could use some progress reports from Iraq that don't begin with the killing of American and British forces, but begin with freedom and consolidation of victories and human progress.
And it had better happen soon.
I'm Cal Thomas in Washington.
