As the world watches the liberation of the Iraqi people and the last remnants of the Saddam regime flee from justice one cannot help but admire the international policy of President George W. Bush. The horrific events of 9-11 have turned a mild-mannered president into an iron-willed Commander-in-Chief and a great enemy of tyranny and terror.

The Bush wars of liberation and retaliation have been remarkably successful. In a year and a half not just one, but two, terror regimes have been relegated to the dustbin of history. Despite the opposition of "old Europe", various totalitarian regimes and the United Nations, the Bush doctrine has liberated millions from the clutches of fear and systematic oppression of the worst kind. Additionally, the international terror movement of Al-Quaida has been relentlessly pursued across the globe resulting in the death or capture of many in its senior leadership. Thousands of its foot soldiers have been killed or arrested, and scores of terror plots successfully prevented.

The Bush doctrine is a policy of pre-emption over deterrence, of killing ones enemy before he kills you. At its core it is the pro-active preservation of Western civilization against those who seek its destruction. This radical change in American doctrine stands in stark contrast to the military and political doctrines of the post-Vietnam era.

The years of President Reagan and Bush the elder were dominated by what is now known as the Powell doctrine. Undoubtedly influenced by the Vietnam syndrome, the Powell doctrine may be defined as the use of overwhelming military force to achieve only limited, easily defined objectives. Even then, it must be used rarely and with extreme sensitivity to the status quo and world opinion.

After the Beirut bombings of the U.S. embassy and the marine barracks Colin Powell argued, forcefully and successfully, against any retaliation against Hezbollah or the terror training camps that bred those who carried it out. There was no defined or attainable objective argued Powell. To this day no action has been taken against those responsible.

The first Gulf War also exemplified the Powell doctrine. The full might of the U.S. military certainly had its effect. The clearly stated goal of Kuwaiti liberation was easily obtained. But as the American military turned its full fury to the destruction of the fleeing Republican Guard it was Powell who feared the spectacle of Saddams elite troops being slaughtered in the sand. Fear of the Arab Street spared the pillar upon which the Baath regime rested.

This was an unfortunate move as events were soon to prove. In a matter of weeks, with the survival of Saddams regime in serious peril, these same damaged but intact Republican Guard troops savagely put down the revolt by Kurds, Shiites and mutinous troops. As a result, tens of thousands were killed and over a million fled as refugees. Nothing stood between the tanks of Gen. Schwarzkopf and Baghdad but the Powell doctrine. The defined limited objective had already been completed and there was no room for innovation or risk.

The Clinton doctrine that followed was even more bizarre and counterproductive. It consisted primarily of symbolic military strikes and grandiose speeches. The military highlights of the Clinton doctrine were limited to expelling the Serbs from Kosovo and the barbecuing of the Branch Davidians in Waco. The philosophy was to take no risks and risk no casualties.

A decade of defiance by Iraq, violations of the Gulf War cease fire, and the attempted assassination of former President Bush resulted in only pinprick strikes and the destruction of empty buildings. Osama bin Laden suffered no worse despite the massive embassy bombings in Africa, the U.S. Cole bombing and the targeting of U.S. troop barracks in Saudi Arabia. The destruction of a few of his tents in Afghanistan was the terror chiefs only punishment for waging jihad upon the American people.

What is now unfolding is a far cry from the military doctrines of the past. The events of 9-11 have awakened the sleeping giant.

The list of grievous acts against Americans and American targets is long, and the list of those responsible reads as a "whos who" of the worlds terrorists, thugs and despots. The terror states of Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya and North Korea have provided funds, arms, training, logistics, and sanctuary to a myriad of religious and secular ideological terrorists. The result has been a trail of dead Americans, hostages, destroyed embassies, assassinated diplomats, hijacked airplanes, bombed buildings and devastated lives.