In his bid for reelection, George W. Bush deserves the support of conservatives.

In his bid for reelection, George W. Bush deserves the support of conservatives. His presidency has not turned out as anyone expected. The country was struck hard early in his term. He rose to the occasion. The terrorists had to be hunted down, and our defenses had to be strengthened: On these points there was a consensus. Bush took a fateful, and necessary, further step: The political culture of the Middle East had to be changed as well, lest it incubate more terrorist....

... Bush has overseen progress on all three fronts. Afghanistan is no longer a secure base for terrorists. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan seem to be responding, ever so slowly and inadequately, to American pressure to side with us in the war on terrorism. The Pakistani nuclear bazaar has been shut down. Libya has agreed to dismantle its nuclear program. Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq is no longer a threat to our interests in the region, and the country has begun to take its first halting steps toward decent self-government. Law enforcement has gotten new tools with which to investigate and deter terrorist plots. Bush has reduced the gravest threat we face, that of terrorists with weapons of mass destruction.

There have been mistakes along the way. Bush relied on flawed intelligence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. When the error became apparent, he did not admit it forthrightly and explain to the American public why regime change was nonetheless necessary. Bush allowed bickering between departments of his administration to complicate post-war operations. He backed off in Fallujah in April, with grave consequences. Bush's diplomacy toward Europe has lacked vigor and far-sightedness. If Bush understands that continued European integration would deprive us of many of the allies we still have, he has shown no evidence of it. The ideological component of the war on terrorism should be stronger.

Yet Bush has shown evidence of being able to learn from his mistakes. We have made political strides in Iraq, the most visible one being the handover of power to a friendly government. Military progress has taken place in Najaf, and may soon in Fallujah. Most important, Bush has resisted considerable pressure to abandon Iraq to the killers. And the soundness of his strategy would outweigh tactical errors much larger than any he has made.

We remain convinced that President Bush's most important foreign-policy decision--the decision to invade Iraq--was the right one. The status quo, in which the U.S. kept troops stationed in Saudi Arabia, enforced the no-fly zone, and tried to fight foreign efforts to weaken sanctions on Saddam, was unsustainable. The regime would sooner or later have emerged from sanctions to wreak havoc. Its record included gassing the Kurds, provoking a war with us, and attempting to assassinate one of our former presidents. Its reigning ideology was both expansionist and anti-American. Finally, its elimination created the opportunity to begin to change the region in ways favorable to America's long-term security.

The Clinton administration dealt with gathering threats by deferring confrontation--by kicking the can down the road. That was its pattern in North Korea and Iraq, and it is still John Kerry's position on Iran. President Bush has preferred to address threats now, even at some risk. The situation in North Korea remains perilous. But Bush has had more success than the critics expected at assembling a coalition, including China, to constrain Pyongyang, and at prodding the Europeans to wake up to the Iranian threat.

Contrast this approach to that of the challenger. In his foreign policy, as in his cultural politics, Kerry is one of the most liberal men a major party has ever nominated. He is deeply suspicious of American power. And his approach to the Iraq war has not been notably public-spirited.