General John Abizaid, Commander of Heroes

Make no mistake, General John Abizaid's appearances last week before committees of the U.S. Congress and at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government were stellar and made a huge impact nationally in bringing our people back behind the pro-liberty war effort being damned by critics.

The general of our U.S. Central Command made a solid case, easy to understand, that the United States and allies are winning the military war hands-down against Al Qaeda and Islamic extremist fascists in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, everywhere - freeing men, women, and children in the Middle East and Asia from despotism and giving them freedoms and economic opportunity they've never had before.

General Abizaid explained carefully, however, that we have a long way to go in building Iraq and Afghanistan military and police security forces and the necessary diplomatic efforts by our country and allies to continue countering pro-Islam fascist propaganda and terror networks throughout the Middle East and rest of the world.

It was a rare tour-de-force by General Abizaid at Harvard, where he was treated not only respectfully, but received a standing ovation at the end of his speech and question-answer session broadcast nationally on cable television by C-SPAN.

Appearing in military camouflage fatigues and boots at Harvard, and sitting in a chair throughout his discussion with a standing-room-only audience, General Abizaid laid out the case for U.S. policy and detailed how our young volunteer troops are fulfilling the military mission in heroic fashion as they, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, allied forces, and non-governmental humanitarian organizations also are partners in rebuilding the war-torn territories, providing water, sewage facilities, roads, rebuilding gutted areas, and winning support from the liberated populations as they continue fighting the terrorists and homicide bombers.

He said, as President Bush has repeatedly told the country, that this will be a long slug-fest for many years to come. But General Abizaid made the case in his appearances last week that we need to stay the course for liberty. The standing ovation he received from Harvard students was sincere, a congratulation of all our troops under his command, and brought tears to one's eyes as he came across with such sincerity, dedication, and humility.

Who ever thought a chief military U.S. general would receive such respectful applause at Harvard, where students stood up one after another with thoughtful questions that pushed him to explain fully our country's goals for freedom everywhere our troops are deployed. And General Abizaid did.

So what is the message? It's the same message that Winston Churchill gave students at Harrow in October 1941, as Britain was alone fighting Hitler and Mussolini, the fascist tyrants of that day and their efforts to conquer Europe and the world.

"Never give in," Churchill said, "never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."