Should America pursue safety or victory?

Clifford May argues that America shouldn't view safety as the only yardstick by which we measure our strategy in the war on terror.

Throughout 1940 and most of 1941, Churchill and the British people stood alone against totalitarianism and nihilism. You might even say the British fought a unilateral war.

Even then, Churchill didn't look for an exit strategy. He famously said: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."

He less famously added:

"We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war … This is our policy."

Muslim Success in Indonesia

Is there such a thing as "moderate Islam?" Can nations that are majority Muslim move towards freedom and democracy, away from repression, terrorism and autocracy? Two columns in the Christian Science Monitor covering Indonesia answer that question in the affirmative. Read about the Giant Muslim Success and why Democracy and Islam can go together.

With 155 million eligible voters, Indonesia directly chose its president for the first time on Monday, as well as electing local, regional, and national legislators. The voting was largely peaceful and, despite many complexities, conducted on one day (although official results are two weeks away).

Democracy can't work in a Muslim country like Afghanistan, they say, because of the dictatorial grip of the warlords. It won't work in Iraq because the country is in chaos. It won't work in Egypt, or Saudi Arabia, or the rest of the Arab world because of autocratic rulers and Muslim extremists.

Such critics in the US conveniently dismiss the presence of some 4 million to 7 million Muslims in their land who remain true to their religion but thrive under democracy and revere it. But even in predominantly Muslim nations there are examples of burgeoning democracy.

Israel's unexpected victory over terrorism

Yossi Klein Halevi & Michael B. Oren write of Israel's sucessful anti-terrorism policies.

.....the Israeli army destroyed most of what remained of Hamas's organization in the West Bank and a substantial part of its infrastructure in Gaza. Just last week, Israeli gunships rocketed a Hamas training camp in Gaza, killing 15 operatives. Hamas leaders, who once routinely led rallies and gave interviews to the media, don't dare show their faces in public anymore. Even their names are kept secret. Hardly a night passes without the arrest of a wanted terrorist. Hamas's ranks have become so depleted that the organization is now recruiting teenagers: At the Gaza border, Israeli forces recently broke up a Hamas cell made up of 16-year-olds.

Meanwhile, life inside Israel has returned to near normalcy. The economy, which was shrinking in 2001, is now growing at around 4 percent per year. Even the tourists are back: Jerusalem's premier King David Hotel, which a few years ago was almost empty, recently reached full occupancy. All summer, Israel seemed to be celebrating itself, with music and film festivals and a nightly crafts fair in Jerusalem that brought crowds back to its once-deserted downtown. Everyone knows a terrorist attack can happen at any time. Still, Israeli society no longer lives in anticipation of an attack. The Beersheba bombing, which once would have seemed to Israelis part of an endless and unwinnable war, is now perceived as an aberration. Terror that no longer paralyzes is no longer terror.