We are, in short, a hiccup away from a Third World War. For now, I believe, that War is still winnable by civilized humanity, but that will not necessarily be so once Iran and North Korea possess the means to detonate AND deliver nuclear devices to international targets, in a reliable way. Once that happens, and the nuclear threat is present from all sides, we are no longer assured of survival. The bad guys (and they are bad guys, to be sure) have an abiding commitment to their cause, however degenerate that cause may be. We, in the meantime, cannot even get out of our SUV’s. They are willing, indeed, seemingly happily so, to die for their misguided and perverted cause. We, by contrast, are obsessed with the daily doings of Jessica Simpson and Lindsay Lohan and the present-day Golden Calf that is American Idol.

In our political discourse, we have never been more divided; not even during Vietnam. Except now, the stakes are so much higher. While the nut jobs in Tehran and Pyongyang prepare themselves for thermonuclear war, our isolationist wing, now apparently in charge of the Democratic Party, argues for withdrawal from Iraq by a date certain. Hey, guys, why not just surrender, and save both time and lives?

I recognize, as, I think, do many or most Americans, that there is a legitimate debate to be had about the wisdom of having chosen Iraq as the principal site of our War on Terror. We should (and no doubt will) be arguing about that for many years to come. But there is one thing about which there should be no real debate: we absolutely, positively cannot afford to lose this War. We must see it through, because the consequence of an ignominious departure has to be crystal clear to all: an understanding in the Islamic Fascist World that the West has no staying power, no conviction, and no commitment, and that we can and will be beaten. These principles are already an article of faith on the so-called “Arab Street,” and much of the blame for that may be laid at the feet of our feckless “allies” in Europe and elsewhere and the dithering do-nothings at the United Nations, who pass resolutions they have neither the will, nor even the slightest intention of enforcing.