Amazingly, it has already been two years since Sept. 11, 2001. It sure doesn’t seem like that long ago.

Following the attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, the president told the world to pick sides: You’re either with us, or you’re against us.

Since then, we’ve joined our closest allies — Britain, Australia, Spain, Poland, Israel and Italy, to name a few — in hunting terrorists, toppling tyrannical regimes and liberating more than 50 million people. Every nation has made a clear choice — governments in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have even been valuable allies in the fight against terror. Other governments have chosen to oppose coalition efforts — the Palestinian government and France are two of the most obvious.

Rescue workers have cleared the rubble from the World Trade Center site, but the memories of the people who were unnecessarily killed that fateful morning will never be forgotten. Every day there are reminders all around us of the tragedy that occurred — our resolve to fight this war on terrorism should be no weaker now than it was Sept. 12, 2001.

Similarly, we should be no more forgiving toward nations that fail to condemn terrorism. France is not just a scapegoat because it opposed the war in Iraq. Its stubbornness and lack of commitment to fighting terrorism goes much further.

France is already raising objections to U.N. involvement in the aftermath in Iraq. This is despite the fact that the United Nations itself has been attacked in Iraq, as well as Americans, Englishmen, Poles and Iraqi citizens working to establish a democratic government. If France were truly committed to fighting terrorism, it would support putting U.N. troops with police training in Iraq to assist with the reconstruction efforts.

Unfortunately, France’s complicity in the war on terror goes much further than Iraq. Before giving into pressure from other European Union countries, France objected to putting Hamas and Islamic Jihad on a terrorist-organization list that would then freeze their assets.

These two organizations send people into crowded markets, public buses and schools and blow up innocent men, women and children. They kill Americans, Israelis and anyone else in the vicinity.

France has made its position clear on the war on terrorism. Thankfully, so have President Bush and the American people. The United States continues to show resolve in fighting terrorism.

Is everything working well in Iraq? Certainly not. Afghanistan? No. But these countries have seen terrorist leaders removed from power, and efforts are on-going to make both these countries a safer place to live, rather than havens for terrorists.

The talk that Iraq is in complete chaos is over-hyped. North of Tikrit is almost all under control, as is the area south of Baghdad. The central area of the country is where most problems still occur, and they will likely exist for some time because it is extremely difficult to have control of every single individual in a nation of more than 20 million.

The war in Iraq, the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians and the global war on terrorism will not end overnight, nor should we expect them to end tomorrow.

We should not forget why we are fighting. We were attacked.

We also should not forget who is fighting, American soldiers. These are the finest and best-trained soldiers the world has ever seen. They are also our peers. At least 55 UW-Madison students have been called to active duty. Students who were in your classes last year, like Sgt. Joe Atkins, Spc. Jeremy Blade, Spc. Autumn Horton, Sgt. James Ewing and Spc. Laura Naylor, just to name a few, are now defending our freedom and way of life.

Knowing some of those men and women who are on the battlefield, just like knowing someone who died on 9/11, certainly makes this war feel even closer to home, but this should only bring us pride in the job our troops are doing and the courage they are showing.

The war against terrorism will not end anytime soon. There are still too many terrorist organizations and individuals, as well as terrorist-sponsoring governments remaining, but the progress we have made in two short years is impressive.

As a nation we must continue to show resolve and not forget those who died two years ago, or what happens when we take a laissez-faire approach to terrorism.

Matt Modell ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism and political science.