Today I had the good fortune to visit with some Members of the British Parliament who happened to be in the United States. We discussed the "War on Terror," "War Against Islamofacsim," "Islam's War on the West," whatever we want to call it.
The fact that we had a discussion of what we should call it is indicative of the problems that we have presently with the American public and world opinion. On what should we focus with our allies and others (even ourselves) when talking about the war? I suggest the following:
- First Principles: our shared underlying values and the moral authority that they give us
- Trust between allies
- Stress our purpose and resolve
We fought a 45 year Cold War by relying on these, while pursuing our national interest with intellectual coherence and by bringing to bear all of the instruments of national power. We need to do so again.
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