Victor Davis Hanson: Our Civil War over the War on Terror

a piece on National Review Online (15 July) and transcript of Hugh Hewitt's interview from yesterday (15 July).

Great picture in need of caption.

Uberman vs. Unterman: Lesson of a Surviving Navy Seal

Wretchard at Belmont Club has a great post on the importance of perseverance and resolve on the battlefield. This, he says, is what the one surviving member of the Seal Recon team demonstrated. And the lesson bin Laden should glean from that is that he will lose. Wretchard draws upon our fight against the Japanese at Guadacanal as support.

Michael Ledeen at The Corner adds a few thoughts.

Eliot Cohen Reflecting on Iraq Now That His Son is Heading There

Steve Hayward recommended this article in Washington Post by Eliot Cohen, a self-described war hawk, thinking back through the War in Iraq in light of his son's soon deployment.

Blair: Our Determination

It is important that those engaged in terrorism realise that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism on the world. Whatever they do, it is our determination that they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear in this country and in other civilised nations throughout the world.

This is Blair's claim, and it is good. It needs to be said over and over again. But the question, for a good part of the West, as Bill Bennett says, is still an open question. How many of the left would echo Blair's determination?

UPDATE: Hugh Hewitt got an email (regarding the bombing in London, the loss of the SEALS and Stockdale and Al Franken's interview of Tom Oliphant) from a Navy officer today unwittingly answering Bennett's question:

We at USNA are suffering this week as we lost not only two former alumni in Afghanistan, but we also lost a paragon of honor and bravery in VADM James Stockdale. But let me be very clear about today's events in Great Britain. The human refuse who committed these heinous acts are desperate and those of us who wear our country's uniform are MORE DETERMINED THAN EVER to put an end to their reign of terror. Unless America decides to lose its mind and allow the left and its buffoons like Oliphant and Franken to run the show, we WILL PREVAIL. Oliphant strikes no fear in anyone . Navy SEALS and ARMY SOF and Marine Force Recon scare the living heck out of Bin Laden. I will put my hat with them as well as all of the future officers we are producing at USNA, USMA and USAFA and let Oliphant and his ilk defend themselves. We are going to hunt the terrorists down and we will kill them, one at a time if necessary. Sleep well Mr. Oliphant, braver men than you are on the job!"

Alex Massie in 'The Scotsman' on the 4th

A nice column by Alex Massie in the Scotsman.

Lincoln on the 4th of July

Over at Powerline, Scott has a fine post on "The Eternal Significance of Independence Day," relying on both Lincoln and Coolidge.

Henniger's "Ground Zero to Baghdad"

Hugh Hewitt points out this piece, "Ground Zero to Baghdad: September 11 and the collapse of national unity," by Daniel Henniger and includes this quote:

On a very warm Wednesday this past May, during Fleet Week in New York City, a passerby at Ground Zero encountered some 150 astonishingly young Marines in fatigues, wet with sweat after a run, standing at attention on the site's edge, outside the fence. They were from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and they appeared to be in the middle of a formal ceremony. Yesterday the organizer of the May event, Maj. Dave Anderson, explained they were laying a wreath to honor the victims of September 11, and that the three Marines chosen to lay the wreath had earned Purple Hearts while serving in Iraq. When the ceremony ended, he said, a woman came out of the crowd, crying, and grabbed his wrist to say that her brother had died in there that day, and she said to him, 'When people see you Marines doing this, they'll know that you will take the fight forward.'

Henniger does think that the media has been changing its coverage of the Iraq War, moving from opposing to supportive. I look forward to that.