June 20, 2005
Twenty years ago June 15, TWA Flight 847 was hijacked and flown to Beirut.
Hezbollah terrorists murdered navy diver Robert Stethem and threw his body on the tarmac for the world to see.
President Reagan did not retaliate.
When Hezbollah terrorists murdered 300 American Marines while they slept in their barracks in Beirut, Reagan pulled the rest out.
It sent a message there is no cost to killing Americans.
We have been reaping the whirlwind ever since.
Opinion polls show Americans are getting nervous about Iraq and President Bush's popularity is declining.
Newspaper editorials and even some republican senators are saying the U.S. should plan for a quick withdrawal.
Public officials complain about the treatment of terrorists at Guantanamo.
Too bad they didn't express equal concern for Robert Stethem.
The killers are not fools.
They're counting on us cutting and running so they can cut us and make us run some more.
The only thing they respect is someone who can defeat them.
Will we stay the course and defeat them, or will we be defeated?
Remember TWA Flight 847.
I'm Cal Thomas in Washington.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C. Watch his television show, After Hours with Cal Thomas, on the Fox News Channel, Saturdays at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
