President Bush's insistence that terrorists be afforded no sanctuary anywhere in the world has detractors; but taking an active role in the prosecution and elimination of global terrorism is preferable than taking a passive role.

The terrorist threat is perhaps the most serious the nation has faced, given the fact that these terrorists would use weapons of mass destruction – nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons capable of killing hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. If the terrorists had in their possession a “suitcase nuke,” they assuredly would have used it in Manhattan in lieu of the civilian airliners. We have to ensure that never happens.

The president has characterized the enemy accurately in no uncertain terms. The enemy is hard to find, but there’s no question about what their aims are – to deprive the citizens of the United States of their liberty and their lives whenever possible.

Americans have always risen to accept the challenges of the past, and this is one of our greatest challenges. The United States is a great nation because its people are unwilling to relinquish their desire to live their lives with liberty and freedom.

Foreign Policy

The purpose of United States foreign policy should be to promote freedom, peace, and prosperity around the world.

The federal government must continue to support human rights abroad and deter aggression by maintaining well-prepared military forces. We must encourage other nations to foster human rights and ensure human dignity, but we must not entangle ourselves in conflicts that are not in keeping with our national interest. We must choose which crises to get involved with because even the most powerful nation cannot always prevent man's inhumanity to man.

American military personnel are entitled to a defense budget that meets our current needs and our future obligations. And the foreign policy of the United States, as directed by the President, should have the clear-cut, no-nonsense goal of maintaining a well-equipped and well-trained force - to be able to fight and win war, and, therefore, prevent wars from happening in the first place.

Iraq

The goal of guerilla warfare is political victory, not military victory. And the insurgents' true target is American public opinion here at home.

Critics of the U.S. invasion of Iraq say that the intelligence President Bush used to make his decision was faulty, yet we know weapons of mass destruction existed before the war. Saddam had ample opportunity to demonstrate compliance, so why didn't he do so before the deadline?

Saddam was an international terrorist. He financed terrorist activities against Israel and plotted to assassinate former President Bush. Given this, the president was merely acting in concert with his belief that global terrorism must be eradicated.