But there are others -- even conservatives such as The Wall Street Journal's John Fund and National Review editor Rich Lowry -- who dismiss the notion of naming the enemy. As Lowry recently wrote online, "I hate to say it, but I don't think it's too important what we call our enemy. Yes, 'the war on terror' is flawed, but everyone knows what we're talking about. ... My view is the whole naming debate is 'much ado,' and although it's very interesting, its contribution to actually winning this war will be nil."
Maybe that depends on the definition of "winning." And who's "everyone," anyway? And is there agreement on what constitutes an "enemy"? Notice how, in a reporter's summation of a recent presidential speech on the terrorist enemy, The Washington Post saw fit to set off the word "evil" with a pair of quotation marks: "In his speech," the reporter wrote, "Bush said terrorist leaders' statements have made plain their goals, which he called the present-day equivalent of the `evil' aims of Vladimir Lenin and Adolf Hitler."
Maybe this just goes to show that one man's Hitler is another man's Fuehrer. But being vague about the enemy and non-judgmental about evil is not what we should be five years after Sept. 11.
This brings us to the one small bright spot to mark off the anniversary week of Sept. 11 -- an anniversary blackened by the decision to allow Mohammed Khatami, former president of Iran, the pre-eminent state sponsor of terrorism, into the United States. Khatami, who supports Hezbollah and the destruction of Israel, will be speaking on the eve of Sept. 11 at Harvard on -- get this -- "Ethics of Tolerance in the Age of Violence." Bring your own airsickness bag.
But here's that bright spot: Denouncing the Khatami visit, GOP Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts ordered state agencies to refuse to provide assistance during the Khatami visit -- which means no pomp and motorcade for the Iranian stooge. As Romney put it, "State taxpayers should not be providing special treatment to an individual who supports violent jihad and the destruction of Israel." How simple, how true.
Five years later, somebody gets it.