TWO YEARS after the fateful attacks of September 11, the United States remains locked in an epic struggle with a new nemesis--international terrorism. Like fascism and communism before it, terrorism poses a direct threat to our interests and values, and fundamentally challenges the international order on which our security, liberty and prosperity depend. Eliminating this threat must be one of the highest priorities of U.S. foreign policy.
Winning this war requires that the United States maintain its military dominance and forcefully apply it to deter and defeat tyrants and terrorists alike. Destroying the Taliban in Afghanistan and removing Saddam Hussein's brutal regime in Iraq--both of which were incubators of hateful violence--were critical to our global counter-terrorism campaign. These wars were just, and our military victories in each have made the United States and the world safer by depriving terrorists of safe havens, funding and support.
