A new generation takes up the fight in the long war

Washington Times:

President Bush yesterday told members of the U.S. Military Academy's graduating class that they are fighting a generation-long war against Islamic radicalism and said he has prepared them the same way President Truman prepared for the long Cold War.
The 861 men and women belong to the first class to have entered West Point after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and Mr. Bush told them the fight is "still in the early stages."
"The war began on my watch -- but it's going to end on your watch," he said. "Your generation will bring us victory in the war on terror."
The president repeated the Bush doctrine of military intervention, which he laid out at West Point's graduation ceremony in 2002.
"America will not wait to be attacked again. We will confront threats before they fully materialize," he said yesterday.
Mr. Bush said that, just as Mr. Truman prepared the military to fight the Cold War, the West Point graduates have benefited from studies geared to fight a new enemy.
This year's class has had training in identifying improvised explosive devices, the deadly makeshift bombs responsible for the deaths of many U.S. troops in Iraq, and has received training from members of the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions. West Point also has created a new minor in terrorism studies and expanded its Arabic-language training.
The president said the current war effort mirrors that of Mr. Truman's in some key ways:
• The United States has made allies out of former foes Iraq and Afghanistan, just as it did after World War II with Japan and Germany.
• Nations around the world have banded to form new international alliances, such as the Proliferation Security Initiative, which is made up of more than 70 nations and is designed to deny terrorists weapons of mass destruction.
• The federal government has reorganized itself to fight terrorism, particularly with the Department of Homeland Security, the same way it was reorganized at the start of the Cold War.

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