A lengthy campaign

This war will not be like the war against Iraq a decade ago, with a decisive liberation of territory and a swift conclusion. It will not look like the air war above Kosovo ... , where no ground troops were used and not a single American was lost in combat.

Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success.

-- President Bush in his Sept. 20, 2001, address to a joint session of Congress and the American people

The U.S.-led effort to bring a stable government and a sense of security to Iraq is, as the president promised nearly five years ago, "a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen."

Moreover, many of the military operations in Iraq are "covert operations, secret even in success." The world learned of one of those operations when U.S. forces announced they had tracked down the al-Qaida leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and had killed him. Most of the civilized world applauded as they watched a dramatic strike, visible on TV.

But, as many editorial cartoonists have portrayed, the evil monster we know as al-Qaida has many heads. Cutting off one gives rise to the prominence of another. And the supply of terrorists willing to take up where their fallen comrades leave off appears endless.

Missing from the equation is the will of those being killed by unceasing acts of terrorism: the Iraqi people themselves. Until they assist both Iraqi and coalition forces in ferreting out those who menace their countrymen, it will be more and more difficult to put an end to the brutality.

Also missing is a strong show of condemnation of Islamic radicalism from a religious faith that professes to be peace-loving and to uphold the dignity of human life.

President Bush's forecast of a long war against terrorism is as apt today as it was in 2001. The death of al-Zarqawi is a major victory along the path to freedom from tyranny for the people of Iraq.