Getting the guts to win the war

This link will take you over to Confederate Yankee post reproducing a very long letter someone wrote explaining what this war is, why we have to win it and how we risk losing it. As I noted, it's long, but every word is worth reading, because it says something important. The main point I got out of it is that until we, as a nation, recognize that we are truly at war against an enemy that desires our total annihilation, we will lose the war. Wars are won only when the nation desires victory. In a funny way, President Bush's effectiveness has created the potential for our losing this war. Because he immediately took the war abroad, and attacked the terrorists where they live, President Bush created a situation in which we haven't had a terrorist attack on our soil for almost four years. This quiet time means that most citizens have decided (a) that terrorists aren't so bad; (b) that we're bullies; and (c) that adding "a" and "b" together means that we shouldn't be fighting at all. This false reasoning means that, ironically, the best thing that could happen to our war effort would be another attack on American soil. And before you think I'm crazy, look at Israel. In the wake of Oslo, Israel's peace movement effectively divided the Israeli political body, leaving it ripe for attack by Hamas, Hezbollah, the PLO, etc. Divided, the Israelis could do nothing, and were rather like a wounded deer being harried by jackals. Then, the second Intifadah began, and its effect was the total opposite of what the PLO and its crew intended. They envisioned the Intifadah as Israel's death blow. In fact, it coalesced public sentiment so strongly in favor of an active and aggressive Israeli defense that the Intifadah failed. Having to defend ones homeland can turn you into a nation of cowards (see Spain) or a nation of heroes (see Israel). We, however, are a nation of confused people (see Israel before the second Intifadah) and that, in a way, is the most dangerous place of all.