A majority of Americans seemingly don't get it and that's scary. What Americans apparently don't understand is people around the world hate the United States and will use violence to cause death and destruction to its society.

Figuring out the intentions of nations is not an easy deal. While many countries, including Iraq, Iran and North Korea, desire to have American products such as clothing, food, music and movies, many carry deep resentment and hatred that is much more powerful than any desire to have American products.

Deep down, Americans tend to be peace-loving and that's what causes Americans to view other nations' situations with rose-colored glasses. Americans may seek peace, but it takes two to tango and the nations resenting us have no intention of peace.

Instead terrorists and nations, such as Iraq and North Korea, view America's peace-loving notions as a weakness and seek to use such feelings against Americans. Make no mistake, terrorists bought time in the 1990s to prepare for what occurred in 2001 and Iraq is trying to buy time today.

In a recent Time magazine poll, a majority of Americans indicated they did not favor preemptive strikes against nations that pose a threat to interests of the United States. Those polled essentially favored allowing attackers to inflict great death and damage to American interests and citizens, and then the U.S. could respond.

If such thinking is truly representative of the majority of Americans, then there are a whole bunch of Americans that need to wake up fast.

When the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the United States government and its citizens quickly mobilized to do whatever it took to bring the aggressors to their knees. There wasn't a groundswell of support for waiting for the next attack to take place before we acted.

When terrorists attacked New York City and Washington, D.C. on Sept. 11, 2001, the United States quickly mobilized to seek out those responsible for the attacks and those responsible for harboring the attackers. At the time there wasn't a groundswell of support for waiting for the next attack to take place before we acted.

While progress has been made, the war continues. It took nearly four years for the United States to win the war with Japan. It may take many more years than that to win the war on terrorism. Yet many Americans seemingly feel the war on terrorism is over, or have forgotten the loss of life caused by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001.

The difference between the Japanese attack on the United States in 1941 and the terrorist strikes on the U.S. in 2001 is that America knew who carried out the attacks in 1941. America has already taken out some of those responsible for the 2001 attacks, but nations who helped fund and plan the attacks have not been dealt with, nor have many other agents of the terrorists.

The landscape of the world changed on Sept. 11, 2001, and with the change needs to come a change in how and when the American military is used. Americans need to accept this change, or be prepared to see many more American civilians perish.

Using preemptive military strikes is not about the United States imposing its will on other nations. It is about providing security for American citizens and for insuring the survival of democratic governments worldwide.

If one happens upon a rabid, mad dog, it does not wait for the dog to strike. One takes out the dog. At this moment in time, the world has at least three rabid dogs - Al-Qaeda, Iraq and North Korea - if America does not strike first, grave consequences will follow.

When those dogs strike, and they will, those same Americans who weren't in favor of preemptive military action will be those asking why the United States didn't do anything to prevent the loss of lives. At least then, those Americans will realize what so many already do.

Neal Ronquist can be reached at 434-2201 or by e-mail at :mailto:neal.ronquist@austindailyherald.com