Tomorrow marks the 6th anniversary of Al Qaeda's attack on America. The world, and how we view it, has changed markedly since that crisp, late-summer day in 2001 when two planes slammed into the World Trade Center's twin towers, another plane blasted the Pentagon, and a fourth flight, literally, was wrestled to the ground in Pennsylvania before it could assault the U.S. Capitol.
These are sobering times. We are engaged in a war like none other we've fought before. And we need to be realistic about our opponent. Radical Islam understands it cannot survive (let alone thrive) in a world of spreading democracy, open markets, religious freedom and instant information via the Internet. We must accept that our opponents are motivated by fanatical faith, which they believe gives them every justification to murder us as we work, play or even fly.
During a White House briefing on this subject, I asked the President's top terrorism aide on the National Security Council what he proposed we call this struggle. After noting there's a debate among experts on the proper name, he said: "The Long War." That should give us some sense of what we're in for.
The fact we have suffered no major attacks on US soil during the last six years is an answer to prayer and a testament to the valor of our nation's fighting men and women. Clearly, we have succeeded in taking the fight to Al Qaeda -- even as we all recognize some elements of that effort have not gone well. But we need to accept that this war will wax and wane for decades, if not generations. That is a discouraging proposition for a peace-loving, affluent, diverse land like America. But prevail we will.
I have this conviction because of my faith in the One True God, who vanquishes all enemies and pretenders, but also because of the role He has set for America is His-story (history). America weathered our worst crisis in the mid-1800s and "solved" the issue of slavery for a watching world. In the 1900s, we defeated totalitarianism (Nazism in World War II and Communism in the Cold War). It appears America again has an unwelcome but essential role to define and then defeat radical Islam in this super-violent expression.
As we prepare to mark this somber day, let us remember our fighting men and women overseas. But I pray we will also remember that we filled churches and offered prayers in the immediate aftermath of 9-11. So we should tomorrow (and every day) as we seek God's favor in this great, disquieting Long War.
