Winston Churchill delivered some pretty fine speeches in his day.

This came to mind earlier this week when London suffered its worst attack since World War II.

Terrorist bombs on three subway trains and on a double-decker bus killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds of others.

On July 14, 1941, Churchill delivered the famous "You do your worst - and we will do our best" speech. The speech, essentially, was a tribute to the rescuers of London. (That was us and the allies, after the Germans dropped tens of thousands of bombs on London and other cities in England.)

Interestingly, the Churchill Center - which bills itself as "the international focus for study of Winston Churchill, his life and times" - edited the speech slightly to remove references to 1941 and the contemporary wartime players.

In this form, it seems as if the speech could be given today with regard to the terrorist events of Sept. 11, Madrid and now London.

Funny how strikingly appropriate these words from 1941 resonate today

See for yourself.

"We have to ask ourselves this question: Will the bombing attacks come back again? We have proceeded on the assumption that they will. Many new arrangements are being contrived as a result of the hard experience through which we have passed and the many mistakes which no doubt we have made - for success is the result of making many mistakes and learning from experience. If the lull is to end, if the storm is to renew itself, we will be ready, will will not flinch, we can take it again.

"We ask no favors of the enemy. We seek from them no compunction. On the contrary, if tonight our people were asked to cast their vote whether a convention should be entered into to stop the bombing of cities, the overwhelming majority would cry, 'No, we will mete out to them the measure, and more than the measure, that they have meted out to us.' The people with one voice would say: 'You have committed every crime under the sun. Where you have been the least resisted there you have been the most brutal. It was you who began the indiscriminate bombing. We will have no truce or parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst - and we will do our best.' Perhaps it may be our turn soon; perhaps it may be our turn now.

"We live in a terrible epoch of the human story, but we believe there is a broad and sure justice running through its theme. It is time that the enemy should be made to suffer in their own homelands something of the torment they have let loose upon their neighbors and upon the world. We believe it to be in our power to keep this process going, on a steadily rising tide, month after month, year after year, until they are either extirpated by us or, better still, torn to pieces by their own people.

"It is for this reason that I must ask you to be prepared for vehement counter-action by the enemy. Our methods of dealing with them have steadily improved. They no longer relish their trips to our shores. I do not know why they do not come, but it is certainly not because they have begun to love us more. It may be because they are saving up, but even if that be so, the very fact that they have to save up should give us confidence by revealing the truth of our steady advance to superiority. But all engaged in our defense forces must prepare themselves for further assaults. Your organization, your vigilance, your devotion to duty, your zeal for the cause must be raised to the highest intensity.

"We do not expect to hit without being hit back, and we intend with every week that passes to hit harder. Prepare yourselves, then, my friends and comrades, for this renewal of your exertions. We shall never turn from our purpose, however somber the road, however grievous the cost, because we know that out of this time of trial and tribulation will be born a new freedom and glory for all mankind."

Those last couple lines sound a lot like what W says when he talks about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He talks about how peaceful democratic governments in Iraq and Afghanistan will have the potential to spread and bring peace to the Middle East.

The idea is that if you give people hope and freedom they will eschew extremism.

That certainly is a noble cause. A worthy goal. I sincerely hope it's possible.

I have to wonder, sometimes, if there can ever truly be peace in the Middle East.

I am afraid, no matter what anyone does, there are a certain number of extremists who will only stop blowing stuff up when the whole world lives under their rules. [[In-content Ad]]