The third anniversary of the deadliest enemy attack on US soil has come and gone, the memory once again fading. It is important to take stock of what we have learned from that fateful day. The lessons are clear and the enemy is open about its identity, aims and agenda. The US and its allies are fighting a religious ideology that is every bit as genocidal, evil and apocalyptic in its methods and goals as the National Socialists, fascists or communists of the last century. Much has changed in the last three years and what we have learned is not always pleasant or easily digestible, but the truth has a way of shining through the dark clouds of propaganda, misinformation and purposeful ignorance.

— The 'Peace Party', also affectionately known as the capitulation party, is pathetic and unbelievably shortsighted when it comes to the fight that we face. The various 'isms' of the Left have lost all credibility in the 'War on Terror.' They have embraced the Chamberlain philosophy of peace at any cost and the 'blame the victim' mentality that somehow the US is responsible for Sept. 11th and brought this upon itself. They have focused their hatred on the government and military that is trying to protect them instead of at those who are seeking to kill them.  The pathetically ignorant peasants in the streets of New York spent an incredible amount of money and effort to vent their blind rage at George Bush and the Republican Party. Yet where are their drums and slogans, giant puppets and banners when children are slaughtered in Russia, commuters massacred in Madrid, hostages executed in Iraq or Americans obliterated just miles from the scene of their most recent protests? Their lack of outrage at such events reveals the utter hypocrisy of their cause and the shortsightedness of their leaders.

— France was/is better allies with despotic, corrupt, terroristic regimes than with the nation that liberated it from the Nazi boot and protected it for half a century from the horrors of the iron curtain.

— Schroeder, Putin and Chirac are small, corrupt men with little vision and a poor sense of history.

— There are September 10th people and September 11th people. There are two major 'progressive' newspapers published in my hometown and neither one will dare delve into the past to address 9—11 except to attack President Bush. They refuse to ever speak about the nature of the enemy or advocate for its defeat. That would be too incompatible with their sadly twisted view of world events.

— All the vitriol heaped upon the militant Islamists as vicious, barbaric, uncaring, brutal baby killers (including by yours truly) is absolutely true and completely justified as the most recent strikes in Russia and Israel attest. If nothing else, pundits and commentators like myself have been too kind in their characterization of those who wage jihad against Western Civilization.

— The 'War on Terror' is indeed a world war in every sense of the phrase.  Few struggles are as clear cut as this one.

— The U.S. has discovered who has the courage, vision, and stomach to fight and defeat the barbarians at the gate and who does not.

— The unwieldy coalition of nations in the War on Terror is perhaps one of the oddest ever assembled in recorded history. It consists of the idealistic newly liberated countries of Eastern Europe who understand tyranny and oppression, military oligarchies like Pakistan, family fiefdoms like Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and the faithful defenders of the outposts of civilization consisting of Italy, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. All brought together in a strange concoction of self—preservation and idealism.

— Memories are short in the modern age. Who truly remembers the African embassy bombings, the Khobar Towers attack, the Bali bombings, slain US diplomats, the bloody beheadings, the unending bus bombings in Israel, and the church bombings in Iraq and Pakistan?  How long before the Madrid train bombings, the Russian school slaughter and even 9—11 are blurred and buried in the public's consciousness. The disease of denial is rampant among those who seek only to blame the victims instead of seeing the ugliness and agenda of those who seek their destruction. .

— The United Nations has lived up to the derision of its critics as a virtually useless debating society of corrupt thugs, despots and dictators. It has shown no true interest in confronting the evil, genocide, terrorism or civilian slaughter occurring throughout the world. Rawanda, Dafur, and the eastern Congo bear witness to its fecklessness.

— The brave and the bold are few and far between in the quest to stamp out the newest manifestation of mans endless ability to inflict unimaginable acts of cruelty on his fellow man.

— It will take another massive terrorist strike on US soil for the populace to once again awaken from its perpetual complacency to support the struggle to engage and eliminate those who seek the utter capitulation, destruction or conversion of the West.

— The age of terror regimes must come to an end. The governments of Iraq, Afghanistan, and, apparently (hopefully), Libya no longer fit that definition. The regimes of Iran, Syria, Sudan and North Korea must be changed or properly contained. Whether this is accomplished by internal reforms or military action, the funding, training, recruiting, and arming of the most dangerous among us by foreign governments must be eliminated. The days of tolerance and appeasement are at an end.

These are just a few of the many lessons we have learned in the last three years. No one wishes for war and all the horrors that go with it, but there are times when it necessary and even desirable. We must take the lessons of the tragedy and treachery of the September 11th attacks and learn from them. There is a worldwide, brutal cult of terror death that seeks our destruction and the annihilation of our children.  There is no way to overestimate their brutality or the evil of their agenda. The carnage that the followers of militant Islam perpetrated on September 11th must never be forgotten and every drop of spilled blood must be avenged. The only outcome of this struggle must be complete, total and overwhelming victory. Justice demands it and our continued liberty requires it. There can be no consideration of capitulation or appeasement in the face of such a foe.

War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.   —John Stuart Mill

David Huntwork is a conservative activist and freelance columnist in Northern Colorado