Free Republic

America may be heading home from Iraq sooner than many of us realize. For the implied message of the president's address at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., is that America wants out of Iraq. Rereading that speech, one finds in it little of Churchill's "We-shall-fight-them-on-the-beaches" defiance. Rather, the president laid out a five-step strategy to secure "freedom and independence, security and prosperity for the Iraqi people" – and then depart. The five steps? Besides helping to establish security, rebuild infrastructure and increase international aid, they are to transfer sovereignty to a U.N.-appointed interim government by June 30 and...

Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill came over and addressed Congress. He asked, rhetorically, "Who do they think we are?" It was an important question, because we must understand what our enemies think about us. Churchill's implicit answer was "They think we're suckers, and they think we won't be able to beat them." The fascists believed that we had become soft and effeminate, that we were so hooked on materialism and self-indulgence that they, the representatives of a younger, more virile, and more spiritually robust race (or nation), would easily dominate us and impose their will on us. The terror...