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If there was ever any doubt about the wide cultural divide between our society and the one we are facing in the war on terror, fast forward to Damascus, February, 2006. The riots, with their murderous results, that broke out in that city over the publication of a cartoon—yes a cartoon—that appeared in a Danish newspaper in September is another wake up call to Americans and those waging that war. We face an enemy very opposed to our values; an enemy with no tolerance for those who look, think, speak and worship differently; an enemy lacking the kind of civility that enables all men to live in peace.

Each of us, for our own reasons and because of our own backgrounds, find offenses throughout the world in which we live. It could be an art exhibition that includes the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary dripping with cow dung. It might be a headline in a newspaper calling President George W. Bush a liar. Even something as apparently innocent as a Town Hall draped in a sign that says God Bless America can bristle the senses of some.

The difference is that in the culture were are fighting to preserve, there is room for all, and that those who oppose what they see or hear or find offensive in some other way have a vehicle of protest that respects life and liberty.

It’s those values that our young men and women in the armed forces today are fighting to preserve. A flash point for just how important that fight is erupted on the streets of Damascus. God bless our troops.