Earlier today President Bush made a comment that the war on terror cannot be won, and now Democrats are going nuts. What the Democrats aren’t addressing is the nature of the war on terror. Instead of shouting “President Bush doesn’t think we can win,” they should stop and look at the second part of his comment: “you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world.” The nature of the war on terror is such that it can’t be “won,” because it’s ongoing. People that hate us (primarily Islam extremists), will keep hating us, and we’ll never get rid of all of them that want to do us harm. What we can do however is get rid of and pressure governments that harbor these people.

I liken the war on terror to a police force fighting gang violence. Will they ever wipe out every gang completely? Probably not, but they can still bust people, and they can empower the neighborhoods where the gangs flourish. A free Iraq can be an anti-terrorist Iraq.