“If you ever have a player who’s afraid of losing, take him out.” A legendary baseball manager in my hometown uttered that advice to a protégé about 40 years ago. The statement, seemingly simple, actually embodies a much deeper philosophy of commitment, success, and leadership in everyday life.

That advice can be applied also to the nation’s morale and the War on Terrorism, being waged, for now, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The losers in our society say we can’t win in the Mideast. They say President Bush duped Americans into thinking Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. They say we have entered a “quagmire” in Iraq, like we did in Vietnam. They said the same thing before U.S. troops liberated Afghanistan.

The losers are the same people who refuse to recognize the simple fact that terrorism is nothing new. Islamic terrorists have been at war with the United States for about 30 years. Observers of recent history remember that the long string of terrorism began with the hijacking of airlines, the taking of hostages, and the slaughter of innocent victims in the 1970s.

Then it progressed, among other events, into the bombing of U.S. military barracks, U.S. embassies, the USS Cole, and the World Trade Center. Then came Sept. 11. All along, our nation wasn’t at war with the terrorists.

Americans woke up when Al Qaeda terrorists flew airliners into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. Only a few years later, the losers lulled themselves into a false sense of security, closed their eyes, and went back to sleep. They’re still asleep today.

Now, according to some national surveys, the losers are infecting others with their disease. More Americans are beginning to doubt themselves and to lose their will to fight.

Some leaders, however, are slapping the nation with some cold facts. One of them, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Thomas McInerney, a military analyst for Fox News Channel, spoke at a luncheon sponsored by the John Locke Foundation in early April. Some of his revelations were:

• Syria got $300 million from Saddam Hussein to hide Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction;
• The recent outbreak of hostilities is the “last gasp by the radical Islamists to ensure that we do not get a successful turnover in Iraq and Iraq becoming a growing democracy”;
• Iran is sponsoring and funding Muqtada al-Sadr in the recent fighting in Iraq;
• Terrorist organizations, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, are an arm of Iran and Syria;
• Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and North Korea form a “web of terror” that supports terrorism. “If these web of terror nations did not support terrorism, terrorism withers,” he said. Libya and Afghanistan are no longer on the list.
• Al-Sadr, too, remembers Vietnam. One of his objectives is to sow discord in the United States so we will lose our resolve.

I believe Gen. McInerney and the president.

For some Americans, losing is a way of life. To them, America, likewise, is always a loser. They made Vietnam a self-fulfilling prophecy. Now they want to do the same in Iraq.

If the losers are allowed to endure, sure enough, we will allow freedom to be held hostage again. Our nation eventually not only could surrender, it could succumb. The enemy this time has entered our backyard and prepares to torch our home.