The enemies of democracy, in Iraq and beyond, today suffered a devastating defeat.

We should not be surprised if, in the days ahead, the Islamic fascists, in their anger and frustration, strike out with a spate of random, mindless murders. But that’s all it will be – a violent fury signifying nothing and changing nothing.

From now on, no one can say that the terrorists are “resisting” occupation. No one can say that they are winning hearts and minds.

Iraqis have courageously defied the hostage takers and throat slitters to insist on their right to live free. They are revolutionaries and they are winning.

Most Americans stand with them, as we stood with those who fought Communism and Nazism, the enemies of democracy in the last century. We stand with freedom fighters everywhere for altruistic reasons – and for selfish reasons, too. We understand that tyranny is an infection. It spreads. And we are not immune. As we learned on 9/11, our oceans no longer insulate us.

Disappointingly, too many Europeans — and their American friends on the Left and parts of the Right, too – either do not appreciate the difference between tyranny and freedom or are indifferent as to which prevails in the world.