The 2000 dead soldiers have clearly proven that we are willing to stand and die, not only to defend ourselves, but in order to exact consequences on our enemy.
This last one is very important.
Deposing the Taliban in Afghanistan alone would not have restored the respect factor which caused the attacks of 2001. They EXPECTED us to come there, where it was their plan to defeat us as they had the Russians. On the day when our media was taunting the military about the lack of "shock and awe", shock and awe was precisely what was in the minds of those on the Arab street...at our audacity.
The good news is that despite our attempts to frame our actions as defensive and altruistic, they are seen by the warped Arab mind as punitive and retaliatory.
Saddam had been declared the winner of the Gulf War by the Arab world, simply for surviving, and proceeding to thumb his nose at the Americans. He had come to be seen as the symbol of Arab power. This is why his extraction from that spider hole was such a significant emotional event for the Middle Eastern mind, and it is the main reason America has not been struck in four years. For us to think that we have somehow eradicated their capability to strike falls well short, and fails to acknowledge the real reason....CONSEQUENCES, Saddam Hussein's summary whipping chief among them, have had an impact on their WILL.
Fear of consequences is a primary motivator to inaction, thus we have 2000 dead soldiers to thank for such a noble and worthwhile sacrifice.
Its good to quote the inscriptions from the John F Kennedy eternal flame gravesite too....Gravesite Inscription:
Let the word go forth
From this time and place
To friend and foe alike
That the torch has been passed
To a new generation of Americans.
Let every nation know
Whether it wishes us well or ill
That we shall pay any price - bear any burden
Meet any hardship - support any friend
Oppose any foe to assure the survival
And the success of liberty
Now the trumpet summons us again
Not as a call to bear arms
- though embattled we are
But a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle
A struggle against the common enemies of man Tyranny - Poverty - Disease - and War itself
In the long history of the world
Only a few generations have been granted
The role of defending freedom
In the hour of maximum danger
I do not shrink from this responsibility
I welcome it
The Energy - the Faith - the Devotion
Which we bring to this endeavor
Will light our country
And all who serve it
And the glow from that fire
Can truly light the world
And so my fellow Americans
Ask not what your country can do for you
Ask what you can do for your country
My fellow citizens of the world - ask not
What America can do for you - but what together
We can do for the freedom of man
With a good conscience our only sure reward
With history the final judge of our deeds
Let us go forth to lead the land we love - asking His blessing
And his help - but knowing that here on earth
God's work must truly be our own.
Inaugural Address - January 20, 1961
excellent post