stable democracy in Iraq greatly increases the chances that the Al-Qaeda terrorists may still provide some direction, funding and training, but the execution of a global threat to Americans and others are diminished under the Iraqi regime change.  The world needs to understand that kind of evil, and there is no excuse for that kind of evil.

Maybe that argument is too simple.  I concur with Mr. Cavuto, "there is no nice way to say or to sugarcoat this: Those who wish us ill have no problem doing horrific things. So we should have no problem showing the world their horrific acts."

So if you cannot handle images like the murder of Nick Berg or Paul Johnson, keep watching your friendly, think-for-you, network news.  Most likely you do not have to worry, the networks will not remind you of planes ramming into buildings and showing the gruesome fallout any time soon.  They certainly will not show you our fellow American citizens being decapitated. They will, however, show you the few American soldiers who abused Iraqi prisoners---over and over.

They will do this to shape our world view, to emasculate our culture and to help elect a new president who would rather dine with Jacques Chirac and win his approval than defend American interests overseas.  Most news organizations fear an American public who may support a Texas cowboy who snubs his nose at world opinion to defend his fellow citizens here and abroad.  The left-wing media will portray our president in as unflattering terminology as possible, and as you probably noticed in most cases the ones who resort to name calling are not very intelligent themselves. Unfortunately, their love of country is blinded by their ideology. In many ways some of these news organizations and people are dominated by a bias, perhaps outright hatred against American foreign policy.  In fact, they may have more in common with Al-Qaeda than their fellow American citizens.   

I do not think Mr. Cavuto, was painting his journalist colleagues in such a broad stroke, and certainly the face of evil he referred to was the terrorists themselves.  But to merely think Al-Qaeda is the only danger is wishful thinking.  The ultimate worry is not Al-Qaeda but a diffuse, global militant Islamic ideology that predates Al-Qaeda's creation, which becomes locally organized and constantly recruits from a base of new volunteers. Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, clearly comprehends this: "We blame everything on Al-Qaeda, but what happened is more dangerous than bin Laden or Al-Qaeda. . . . The issue is ideology, it's not an issue of organizations." Even the elusive Bin Laden agrees that his own presence is unnecessary for increasing acts of violence. "Regardless if Osama is killed or survives," he said of himself, "the awakening has started."

If the average citizen of the Middle East could look at the world around them, they would clearly witness the benefits of a free market in everyone's life. They would discover what some of our own American citizens have forgotten: Freedom really does improve the lives of everyone.  The economic evidence is overwhelming. But so is the practical.  Every man and woman, as we were reminded by Thomas Jefferson in our own Declaration of Independence, is endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.  Human rights throughout the Middle East region have been trampled upon for centuries, and in many cases are non-existent. 

It is also okay to acknowledge that it is in our best interest, as well as the residents of the Middle East to have a stable supply and a low price of oil.  The liberal horde driving around in SUV's with "No Blood for Oil" bumper stickers should at a minimum have their vehicles confiscated or at least be forced to bunk with Michael Moore for eternity.  It is likewise in everyone's best interest to promote the peaceful settlement of regional and international disputes.  There is little doubt the quality of life is demonstrably better in the free market economies of the world than in socialistic and totalitarian regimes.

As a democracy emerges in Iraq, and other parts of the region, the citizens of the Middle East will discover that liberty benefits everybody and terrorism limits all of us.  It paralyzes our options as individuals and as a country.  It also hurts the countries in the Middle East.  If terrorists can drive all the foreign expatriate technicians and others out of the country, they will not be able to pump the oil the way they are doing it today.  If that happens they will also be unable to keep their economy up and running.  But do not think that merely hurts the people of the Middle East.  It will hurt the entire global community.  A democracy in the Middle East may be far fetched to many, but it may be the only hope outside of a total religious war, which we must avoid.  Al-Qaeda has made this world a more dangerous place. They want us destroyed. They want us removed from planet Earth.  They want all of us dead.

As Mr. Cavuto astutely stated, and I firmly concur: "The least we could do is return the favor."