Three years, and the pain of September 11th hasn't dulled one bit. A bright, clear, utterly normal September morning transformed in an instant. Thousands of people laughed and argued, ate and drank, went off to work as on thousands of other normal mornings... and were gone. No, not gone... that's too neat and tidy. They were murdered. The scenes from the World Trade Center were the worst for me. My grandparents worked there when the towers were new. I've looked at Manhattan, 105 floors below me. All I have to do is close my eyes, anytime, to see the people who were faced with death by fire, and chose death by falling... what a terrible choice to have to make. They will fall for the rest of my life. In a way, it will always be September the 11th.

President Bush swore that we would oppose not just al-Qaeda, but global terrorism itself, and the nations that harbor, succor and supply terrorist groups. That was a tall order, but no more so than determining that we would put an end to the Soviet Union, stop the advances of both the Nazis and the Japanese Empire, preserve the Union at all costs, or beat the mighty British Empire. The outcome of those oaths and dedications all appear foregone now, with the hindsight perspective history lends us... but Presidents Reagan, Roosevelt, Lincoln and Washington had neither assurance nor hope of success at the time. Nor do we. Once again, America is faced with the choice of succeeding or failing, and there is no in-between. Failure really isn't an option.

Three years, and where are we now? For a while we were all united. We swore that we would never forgive, never forget. But people deal with monumental events in different ways. For some, the pain of that day has faded. They were eager to return to the feeling of safety, false as it was, that they had on September 10th. The fact that we haven't been attacked at home in three years feeds into that false sense of security. Perhaps it was just a fluke, just a one-time occurrence. A lot of people seem to, or would like to, believe that. It would make things easier. But it's not the truth.

The enemy is still out there, though damaged and somewhat disorganised. Although three years have seen major successes in routing, arresting and killing the leadership of al-Qaeda, those are only the first battles of what was always seen as a decades-long struggle. Al-Qaeda, as their name implies, is only "the base." Al-Qaeda was meant to form a link between terrorist groups with various names, supporting different nominal causes in many countries. But al-Qaeda is just a name, and it's too easy to depersonalise the enemy that way. The enemies are the Islamic fundamentalists responsible for murdering innocent people around the world, and the countries that help them. Who bombed a Bali nightclub in October 2002? Islamic fundamentalists. Who bombed an Indonesian hotel in August 2003? Islamic fundamentalists. Who bombed a Kenya hotel in November 2003, synagogues in Tunisa and Turkey and a French oil tanker in Yemen? Islamic fundamentalists. Islamic terrorists bombed the train station in Madrid in March 2004. Islamic terrorists have been setting off bombs in Iraq almost daily, kidnapping and beheading people, coming in from Iran, Syria and who knows where else to try to make us abandon the Iraqi people. Islamic terrorists have been murdering blacks in the Darfur region of Sudan. Now Islamic terrorists have committed terrible acts in Russia. Terrorists holding hundreds of captives at a school in Beslan shot children in the back, raped young girls, and even repeatedly stabbed an 18-month-old baby during three days of horror. Because of Beslan, Vladimir Putin has sworn to fight terrorism, wherever it can be found, before they can strike again -- in essence, he has adopted the Bush Doctrine. Welcome to the fight, Mr. Putin, though we all wish it had been under different circumstances.

Most terrorists come from countries ruled by repressive totalitarian governments, where people have no hope for a better future. Hopelessness becomes frustration, frustration becomes hate, and hate becomes rage. Organised, funded terror groups like al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hizballah, Al-Aqsa and hundreds of others are experts at turning frustration into rage, then action. Democracy and freedom, on the other hand, give people hope, defusing frustration. Afghanistan and Iraq are becoming democracies with fair elections, rights for minorities and women, and economic freedom, despite the activities of terrorists that don't want to lose prime recruiting grounds. The governments of Pakistan and Libya no longer support terrorists or give them safe haven. Pakistan, in particular, has become a serious ally in the war on terror. One way or the other, Iran and Saudi Arabia are already moving towards democracy -- public pressure in both countries, as well as external pressure from ourselves and our allies, demand it. If they don't, the governments of both countries will face popular revolt in the coming decade. Funding for terrorist groups is being shut down, training camps are being destroyed, and members of terrorist cells at home and abroad are being arrested or killed. Slowly but surely, organised global terrorism will lose its grip... but only if we fight it.

We can talk about the pain of 9/11, but pain must become purpose. We have to renew our determination to continue as we have begun, until the job is truly finished. Despite all the ceremonies and candle-lighting, speeches and testimonials, the only fitting memorial to the victims of 9/11 and all the other terrorist attacks is to do our best to destroy terrorism at its root.