Thursday, March 24, 2005

And I said, how 'bout a revolution? Pro-Syrian terrorists have apparently bombed an anti-Syrian stronghold in Lebanon, killing three. In Baghdad, residents pulled out their own guns and fought back against terrorists who were gunning down civilians. A joint Iraqi-Army/U.S.-forces operation killed more than 80 insurgents. And the people in the impoverished country of Kyrgyzstan have kicked their president out of power.

There's a war going on, and our forces are only playing a small part of it. Beyond the War in Iraq, beyond the greater War on Terrorism, there are political and military clashes popping up in isolated spots in and near the Middle East. The people are getting the courage to rise up for what they believe in.

Analysts, both of the liberal and conservative persuasion, have rightly credited President Bush's actions in Iraq for causing a few democratic dominos to teeter. The protests (and equally big counterprotests) in Lebanon marked a dramatic shift in Middle Eastern politics. While a giant fuse has been lit, we don't know where it leads, if anywhere at all. So it's too soon to tell what results will come from our actions in the Middle East, but we're off to a good start.

This is merely a positive development, not yet a positive result. The final outcome, as I've said before, will take years to determine. Until then, there will continue to be victories and losses, progress and setbacks. But after we get through the hardships, we can see that we've been fighting the good fight all along.

We've moved past the debate over whether we took the right path in fighting the War on Terrorism. We're long down that road, and we're seeing positive change. Despite past disagreements, there is no reason not to celebrate our accomplishments and to support our aggressive foreign policy in the future.