Refreshing words about Iraq

Here's something you don't have to come to Iraq to appreciate: If an elected government can stabilize itself here -- if an Iraqi army, overwhelmingly Muslim, can fight and defeat jihadist extremists -- the victory will deliver a crushing blow to extremists everywhere. It's significant, I think, that Iraqis have not mounted large demonstrations against the Danish cartoons. As a matter of fact, at a dinner served by an Iraqi-owned catering company, every plate came equipped with three pats of butter prominently labelled, "Product of Denmark."

If, on the other hand, Iraq were to fail -- if the insurgents pushed Iraq into chaos -- the whole world would pay. I asked yet another U.S. officer: Why not just quit and withdraw? He answered, "These [jihadis] would follow us home."

It matters desperately to each and every citizen of every democratic country that the Americans and the new Iraqi government succeed here. And it matters desperately to the brave men and women fighting here to know that the world supports their work. They are fighting to defend you too.  -- David Frum: