What We Saw in London

Stephen J. Hadley is the national security adviser & Frances Fragos Townsend is the homeland security adviser, The New York Times, Published: July 23, 2005

THE British people suffered another attack this week, one that fortunately caused far less damage than the horrible events of July 7. But as they did earlier this month, the people of London responded bravely. Their courage over these harrowing few weeks reminds us that those who love freedom have prevailed against such evil before and can do so again.
The London attacks vividly demonstrated the challenge we face. As President Bush has said: "The terrorists need to be right only once. Free nations need to be right 100 percent of the time." We need all citizens, everyone who loves freedom, to join in the fight. And in this fight, the people the terrorists most want to dominate - the people of Islam - will be our most important allies.
Muslims are the prize the terrorists hope to claim. They are also the victims of the terrorists, for suicide attacks have likely killed and wounded more Muslims than people of any other faith. It is their religion that the terrorists invoke to justify these evil acts, and so Muslims themselves are in the best position to expose the terrorists' lies. They are increasingly doing exactly that, as the 500 Muslim leaders who signed a declaration condemning the July 7 bombings bravely showed.