"... this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." Mat24:14

   On Sept. 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln gathered his cabinet to tell them he was going to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. He said he had made a solemn vow to the Almighty that if GOD gave him victory at Antietam, Lincoln would issue the decree.
 
   Lincoln's colleagues were stunned. They were not used to his basing policy on promises made to the LORD. They asked him to repeat what he'd just said. Lincoln conceded that "this might seem strange," but "GOD had decided the question in favor of the slaves."

Gen16..11 And the Angel of the LORD said to her: "Behold, you with child, and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your affliction.

12 He shall be a wild man; his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren."

Jam4..1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with GOD? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of GOD.

"Americans are looking more favorably on old-fashioned virtues like caution, self-restraint, commitment and personal responsibility. They are in the midst of a fundamental shift in the cultural zeitgeist that is driving so many seemingly independent trends in crime, sex, drugs and alcohol in the same positive direction."

    As for Indonesia's friends overseas, it bears repeating that this gigantic new democracy of 220 million people dwarfs all other Islamic nations, especially the mostly repressive tiny kingdoms of the Arabian peninsula. Mr. Yudhoyono is the country's first president to be directly elected, and he deserves foreign support.
 
    That support will come mainly from the U.S., Australia, Japan and Britain, which also happen to be the "coalition of the willing" in Iraq. That's no accident. Indonesia's fight against Islamist terrorism is part of the same war being fought in Baghdad, London, Kandahar, Islamabad, New Delhi, Ankara, Madrid and all the other places where bombs have deliberately targeted civilians for death.
 

    Although Muslim spokesmen may condemn the killing of innocents—neglecting to make explicit who "qualifies" as innocent—few have spoken up to condemn and disown the Islamic doctrine of jihad. The reason may be that jihad, which means "to strive in the path of Allah," is so much a part of Islamic faith and history, it represents a permanent Muslim institution.
 
    The foundations of the institution are found in the Quran. Sura (chapter) 9 is devoted in its entirety to war proclamations. There we read that the Muslim faithful are to "slay the idolaters wherever you find them. . . . Fight against such as those who have been given the scripture as believe not in Allah. . . . Go forth, light-armed and heavyarmed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah. That is best for you, if ye but knew."
 
    From such verses in the Quran and in the "hadith" (i.e., words and deeds of Muhammad, recorded by pious transmitters), Muslim jurists and theologians formulated the Islamic institution of permanent jihad war against non-Muslims to bring the world under Islamic rule (Sharia law).
 
    "Even today, the study of the jihad is part of the curriculum of all the Islamic institutes," wrote Lebanese law professor Antoine Fattal in 1958. “In the universities of Al-Azhar, Najaf and Zaitoune, students are still taught that the holy war (jihad war) is a binding prescriptive decree, pronounced against the Infidels, which will only be revoked with the end of the world."

    Behind the scenes, they're telling Muslims not to cooperate with the FBI under any circumstances. One CD making rounds at mosques in Washington, D.C., warns the faithful: "There is no reason that anyone should ever, ever, ever talk to law enforcement as Muslims in the United States. The FBI is just a tool of whoever is wielding it. And right now it is very bad, it is very bad, it is very bad."

    "But the case of the Iraqi soccer team shows the real virtue of the Olympics. Precisely what Iraqis need right now is a sense of nationhood, and -- even -- a spirit of competitive pride. Call it nationalism, but intellectuals have perhaps overlooked the importance of that feeling of unity with one's countrymen, especially in a fragmented country like Iraq. The sight of Iraqis cheering in the streets of Baghdad, storming the field in Athens every time Iraq scores a goal, and swelling with pride at the thought of their team and their country, is, for the moment, a good thing."

    "Here's President Bush speaking this week: 'A free and peaceful Iraq and a free and peaceful Afghanistan will be powerful examples in a part of the world that is desperate for freedom. Free countries do not export terror. Free countries do not stifle the dreams of their citizens.' "
 
    "We thrill to see Olympic athletes strain across the ground or through the air and water to free themselves from limits set by nature on physical human effort. I for one am happy that America has strained to free many more people from man-made limits on personal freedom, most recently in Iraq."
 
    Write to henninger@wsj.com.

    It is asserted that Iraq was not supporting terrorists. Really? Documentation indicates that Iraq was training non-Iraqis at Salman Pak in terrorist techniques, including assassination and suicide bombing. In addition to Iraqis, trainees including Palestinians, Yemenis, Saudis, Lebanese, Egyptians and Sudanese.

Mr. Spertzel, head of the biological-weapons section of Unscom from 1994-99, just returned from Iraq, where he has been a member of the Iraq Survey Group (ISG).

    "In other words, while Saddam was playing hide-and-seek with the U.N. over whether he had WMDs, his stealthy little spooks were focusing their efforts on weapons specifically designed for use by terrorists."
 
George Melloan summarizes as follows:
 
    "In short, the invasion of Iraq shut off a potential threat to America (and the West). Poisons were far more likely to be used than nuclear weapons because they can be secretly deployed. So wiping out a source in Iraq was a large achievement."

    It's based on faulty, biased number-crunching that distorts the temperature record, say Canadian researchers Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick.
 
    As physics professor Richard Muller wrote in the MIT Technology Review, the two "uncovered a fundamental mathematical flaw in the computer program.
 
    Scientists Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, for example, took an exhaustive look at 240 climate studies over the past 1,000 years. They found, contrary to Mann, the 20th century was not unusually warm compared to other periods.

    Indeed, an international research group last month challenged the "hockey stick," saying the reconstruction may have underestimated past changes resulting from natural forces. For example, the earth's climate is heavily influenced by volcanic eruptions, solar flares and the position of the planet in space.

    Tuesday's exit polls showed that voters identified "moral values" ahead of jobs and the economy -- and even terrorism -- as the matter most on their minds. Some 80% of those most concerned about values voted for George W. Bush. Obviously, "value voters" helped President Bush win a second term. Mr. Bush had a lot to do with that, of course, in the positions he took and the rhetoric he used. But so did John Kerry.

    Mr. Kerry and John Edwards went to a fund-raiser at Radio City Music Hall that featured big-name movie stars and other artists. Mr. Kerry said that the performers conveyed "the heart and soul of America." Mr. Bush, capitalizing on Mr. Kerry's words, noted at campaign stops that, while his opponent thought that you can find "the heart and soul of America in Hollywood," it is really "found right here"...the very place Mr. Bush was in.

    Though established media outlets almost never talk about it, Bush's core support group has all along been the born-again Christians.
 
    They make up roughly 40% of the U.S. population.

    If the Bush-led conservative majority keeps its promises on a strong defense, on spreading peace-inducing freedom and democracy around the world, then the 2004 election outcome will represent a huge step in the right direction for this great country.

    Since the fall of the Taliban on Nov. 13, 2001, the Afghan people have traveled far.

    On the outskirts of Kabul at the Eman Zamen Public Mosque polling station, Said Mohammed told me, ''This election will bring lots of changes. The most important thing is that the president will be our president.'' He understands.

    It was late morning in a village in the mountains outside Kabul. Lena was in a women's polling center. She watched women come into the center in small groups of three to five. Once inside, protected from male eyes, they lifted their burkas and talked and laughed with excitement as one by one they cast their vote. After voting, one woman came over near Lena and leaned against the wall. She had a soft smile on her face. Through a translator, Lena told the woman, ''Today is a good day for your daughters.'' The woman's smile grew to a large grin and tears flowed down her cheeks.

    Australia has proved a particularly resolute ally in the war on terror. Its special forces saved many American lives during the Battle of Anaconda in Afghanistan. And when Spain and the Philippines cut and ran from Iraq earlier this year, it was Australia that was loudest in the denunciations.
 
    "It is perfectly clear that was a decision that was welcomed by the terrorists," Mr. Downer told me. "The ordinary American people shouldn't have to pay the full burden of a freer and fairer and more prosperous world. It should be shared -- other countries that share America's values should play their part."
 
    "From the Marshall Plan to the victory in the Cold War against totalitarianism to the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq, it's the people of America who have borne so much of the burden. . . . The rest of the world, instead of constantly sniping at the American people, should occasionally think about sending them a thank-you letter for the things that they've done to create freedom."