On September 20, 2001, President Bush addressed the nation, stating that “enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our country.” Indeed, they did.  But did Congress, as is its constitutional imperative, declare war on those who declared war on us?  No, it did not.  And we’ve had trouble with this war on Islamic jihadists ever since.

The president continued, noting that Americans were wondering that night, “How will we fight and win this war?’’ His response was that he would “direct every resource at our command,” including “every necessary weapon of war, to the destruction and to the defeat of the global terror network.”

If only.

One thing the president should have done immediately after 9-11 was set the tone that he wasn’t just serious, but dead serious.  He should have immediately and publicly rescinded the executive order banning assassinations of heads of state.

That wouldn’t have meant that he *would* order any such assassinations, but that he *might.* And as former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer once remarked, a “single bullet” from a U.S. sharp-shooter in Baghdad might have prevented this entire Mesopotamian mess.  Had Saddam been buried with an American bullet between his eyes instead of a rope around his neck, what effect do you think that might have had on the leaders of Syria and Iran?

And speaking of setting the right tone, do you remember the president’s answer that night to the question “What is expected of us?” He replied simply: “I ask you to live your lives and hug your children.”

In other words…nothing.  No “skin” in the game.  Business as usual.

The American people have been asked to sacrifice nary a thing in support of this war - other than some personal liberties, such as being able to carry a tube of toothpaste onto an airplane.  Not only have the American people continued to get both their guns AND their butter, but a generous serving of pork on the side.  While soldiers are fighting and dying in the Middle East, Congress unapologetically keeps using federal taxpayer dollars for bike paths and museums.

Is it any wonder that so few Americans still take this threat to our nation seriously?  Why should they?  It’s not affecting THEM.  And after all, all the president ever asked them to do was hug their kids, right?

Here’s another seriously wrong message we sent the enemy almost from Day One, as described by the Center for Grassroots Oversight…

“On the first night of the Afghan war, an unmanned Predator drone identifies a convoy of vehicles fleeing Kabul. Mullah Omar, head of the Taliban, is determined to be inside this convoy. The CIA is in control of the Predator attack drone and wants to use it to kill Omar, but they have to ask for permission from military commanders who are based in Florida. General Tommy Franks decides not to fire any missiles or launch an air strike against the building in which Omar takes shelter.

“Eventually fighters attack and destroy the building, but by then Omar and his associates have moved on. One anonymous senior official later says of this failure to kill Omar, ‘It’s not a (deleted)-up, it’s an outrage.’ According to one senior military officer, ‘political correctness’ and/or slow bureaucratic procedures are to blame.  It is later revealed that this is part of a pattern of delays that will hinder many attacks on al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders.”

Exactly.  Like the politically-driven delay in clearing out Fallujah, which clearly gave the enemy plenty of time to clear out of Fallujah before we finally went into Fallujah to clear it out.

The problem isn’t so much that President Bush declared war on the jihadists in the vacuum of congressional failure to do so.  It’s that once declared we’ve once again asked our military to fight a politically correct war with one hand tied behind their backs.

Either use “every resource at our command” and “every necessary weapon of war” to effect “the destruction and the defeat of the global terror network” or yes, bring our troops home.  That means that if the surge is working, let the surge keep working…no matter what Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and MoveOn.org say.  This is no time to go wobbly.

Copyright 2007 Chuck Muth

Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a non-profit public policy advocacy organization in Washington, D.C.  The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citizen Outreach.