The German fascism of World War II and the Russian communism of the Cold War (World War III) have been replaced by a new form of totalitarianism, Islamic theo-fascism, which also must be eradicated. If it is any consolation, you are far from alone in misunderstanding the nature and importance of this conflict. Kerry himself has shown little understanding, which is perhaps explainable as he missed ¾ of the Senate committee hearings on related matters.

Our primary but by no means only justification for invading Iraq was the ongoing, continuing refusal of Saddam Hussein to allow the weapons inspectors to perform their duties unmolested, which was a condition of the terms of peace of the first Gulf War. Whether he actually had the weapons is technically immaterial; the fact is that he refused to allow inspections, and this refusal was one of the grounds for war, and the one most often cited. It was, however, not the only reason.

Other justifications that are less often cited but equally valid were Saddam’s harboring and on-going support of terrorist groups. While an Iraqi link to al Qaeda is easily proven by pointing out the fact al Qaeda bomb-builder Abdul Rahman Yasin fled to Baghdad after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Saddam supported a number of other terrorist groups, including Abu Nidal Organization, Ansar al-Islam (closely tied to al Qaeda), Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization, Palestine Liberation Front, and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Special Command.

Clearly, we are fighting a global war on terrorism, not just on al Qaeda. Opening a front in Iraq in no way distracted the military from the conflict in Afghanistan, no more than having European and Pacific fronts distracted us from achieving our objectives during the Second World War. Opening a second front in Iraq not only deposed a dictator and freed 25 million Iraqis in addition to the 25 million Afghanis previously freed from the Taliban, it effectively surrounded two of the main sponsors of Islamic theo-fascism, Syria and Iran. Both of these countries are now isolated, surrounded by unfriendly governments. It also provided the US military an opportunity to employ a honeypot doctrine that attracts Jihadis from their primary breeding grounds of Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. While it gets paid little attention to in the general media, a large number of militants that we are killing in Iraq come from these countries. When Bush opened this second front, he put into motion events that are drastically and consistently grinding down the Muslim radicals arrayed against us. Over 40,000 extremists have been killed in Iraq so far, and this does not include rumors from Iraqi civilians that say hundreds if not thousands of Iranians are being killed along their shared border in attempts to infiltrate Iraq, and similar stories exist about actions on the Syrian border.

Militant radical Islam must be destroyed in the same way Nazism was destroyed in Germany. It must be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed, by any and all means necessary. The radical ideology of Islam may take longer to extinguish, but Islamic moderates will not have the chance to regain control of their religion unless we firmly stamp out the radical elements within it. This may go on for decades as did our Cold War against communism, but it is no less a war for survival, not only for ourselves, but for the moderates of Islam.

George Bush knows this, and has acted upon it. He is one of a handful of world leaders that has the foresight, the courage, and the conviction to see this war through.