Tough Talk

The line from opponents of liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein is that we don't have any proof that he's building weapons of mass destruction. We have the proof and so did the Israelis when they took out his nuclear power plant 20 years ago.

Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld had it right when he said America cannot afford to wait for more proof. "Think of the prelude to World War II," he said in an interview on Fox News Channel. "Think of all the countries that said, well, we don't have enough evidence. I mean, Mein Kampf had been written. Hitler had indicated what he intended to do." Millions died as a result of such miscalculations, he said.

Rumsfeld added that if the next attack against the West involves chemical, biological or nuclear weapons; inaction would leave hundreds of thousands of people dead. "The people who argued for waiting for more evidence have to ask themselves how they are going to feel at that point where another event occurs.

That's tough talk. It is also straight talk and the so-called peace advocates had better listen to it or they'll be complaining that we should have acted sooner when the next attack comes. I'm Cal Thomas in Washington.