Flush with victory in Iraq, Bush sets his sights on defending the White House in 2004

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush last week became the first American president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to declare victory in a foreign war. FDR named May 8, 1945, V-E Day for victory in Europe, and Aug. 14, 1945, V-J Day for victory over Japan. Bush proclaimed May 1, 2003, V-I Day, in grand fashion from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln steaming home from action.

The staging was grand, with sailors surrounding their commander in chief on the deck of the giant ship in the fading sunlight off the California coast. His speech was also grand. This was not just the declaration of the end of the hostilities in Iraq; it was the re-declaration of what is coming to be known as the Bush Doctrine -- the use of America's overwhelming strength in a preemptive manner to promote the cause of liberty and peace in the world.

The president speaks clearly in these matters. He did not want the leaders of North Korea, Iran, Libya, Syria or other nations he considers rogue states to believe that he was calling it quits in his effort to rid the world of evil and tyranny.