Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Larger ideals

Joe Lieberman:

In the flurry of news bombarding us each day of the ups and downs from all fronts in the war on terrorism, it is easy to forget the larger ideals it is all about.

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We cannot let that happen. A democracy such as ours can only go to war and win with the informed support of the people. The terrorists can never defeat us militarily. But they can divide us and defeat us politically if the American people become disappointed and disengaged because they don't appreciate and support the overriding principles that require military action.
The same, of course, is true for the people of Iraq, our allies in Europe, Asia and throughout the Muslim world. They need to better understand and embrace our purpose and what it means for them.
What we are fighting for in Iraq and around the world is freedom. What we are fighting against is an Islamic terrorist totalitarian movement that represents as dire a threat to individual liberty as the fascist and communist totalitarian threats we faced and defeated in the last century.
What we are fighting for is an expanding worldwide community of democracies. What we are fighting against is the prospect of a new evil empire, a radical Islamic caliphate that would suppress the freedom of its people and threaten the security of every other nation's citizens.
The Islamist jihadist terrorists who wage holy war against us in Iraq and elsewhere represent a system of values exactly the opposite of America's. There is no better way to know this enemy than to read their words. The father of the jihadist movement, Sayyed Qutb of Egypt, wrote in 1952, "The death of those who are killed for the cause of God gives more impetus to the cause, which continues to thrive on their blood."

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The values and ideas we cherish and Osama bin Laden denounces are on the line in the Iraq war. To call the war in Iraq separate and distinct from the larger war on terrorism is inaccurate. Iraq today is a battle — a crucial battle — in the global war on terrorism.