This is a few days late, but I think it needs to come up. Maybe it's that I've been unusually emotional the past few days...

Did anyone notice how America's European allies have quickly and unconditionally come to our aid? I mean, god, NATO was fast off the bat when they declared that an attack on the US qualified as an attack against all. Ironic, isn't it? That we thought that the first invocation of the NATO charter would be when the Soviets stormed across the Fulda Gap, that America would need to be forced into fighting for Central Europe?

Other countries condemned the terrorism while not offering anything to help the situation. Other nations hesitated in offering aid to the war against terrorism due to the threat of further attacks by al Qaeda. Not NATO. The NATO governments, despite the very real threat of further devastation against all, despite the fact that not one of them had been injured, despite their often large disputes with the US, mobilized their police forces to find the bad guys.

NATO sent E-3s to cover our skies as our own forces went to defend liberty. Those guys have our back - they're heroes as much as the Navy and Air Force aircrew that are striking Afghanistan.

That's what I call honor. The NATO nations are recognizing that there is something beyond cold self-interest in this war against terrorism. They're acting without the call for WTO concessions or aid or whatever - only because they know that a close neighbor who saved their ass a few times might need a little help themselves.

I feel very bad that we once questioned our committments to Europe when it turned out that America needed the help itself.