Truth, Force, Democracy at Home and Principal

Michael Scheuer is a former senior CIA officer who has written "Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror." In today's San Francisco Chronicle he writes: "The war being waged against America by Osama bin Laden and his allies is not aimed at destroying our liberties or society. The war is motivated by intense Muslim hatred for U.S. polices, such as the protection of Arab tyrannies, like Saudi Arabia; unqualified support for Israel; and the U.S. military presence in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Arabian Peninsula. To fail to recognize this reality is to ensure America's defeat."

"America, John Quincy Adams wrote, 'is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.' To do more than set a democratic example by her voice and behavior, Adams warned, would see America's 'fundamental maxims ... insensibly change from liberty to force. ... She might become the dictatress of the world. She would no longer be the ruler of her own spirit.'