Contest of Wills

Austin Bay has a great column up. Required reading. Excerpt:

Thug arrogance is an all-too common feature of the world's hard corners, where the criminals have dominated for so long they are certain their iron wills and unmitigated violence will eventually cow all opponents. Scholarly strategists describe war as a clash of wills. The world's Mohammad Bogys have a lot of willpower -- and all too often it only breaks when Free World troops jam a rifle barrel into the cold amazement of their eyes.

These thugs can be beaten. All it takes is a refusal to give in. Our refusal and the refusal of the Iraqi people. So far, the Iraqi people have been consistently taking steps in the right direction, they as a whole haven't always performed as well as we might wish, but they have been getting stronger, more resolute. After the tyranny of Saddam Hussein this is no small miracle. Unfortunately, American will power has proved somewhat fickle. Nearly half the country supports a candidate for President who has made his desire for withdrawal from Iraq obvious and has shown no support for Democracy in that nation. Even many who were initially for the Iraq war have given up, claiming that Democracy is unrealistic and impossible in that nation. Don't give up on Iraq. Democracy can succeed there and will, if our will proves stronger than that of the thugs who would rule that nation.