Voters can only hope that there will not be a return to last week's overly simplistic assertions from Sen. John Kerry and President George W. Bush that the war on terror will be won. Period.

The unfortunate realities of modern politics prevents candidates from telling the truth, especially if that truth takes more than a sound bite to explain.

Posturing for political advantage Kerry emphatically insisted that the war on terror will be won. Bush then responded with equal certitude, hoping to erase an earlier suggestion that the war on terror is different and declaring victory will not be possible - at least for a very long time.

It might be reasonable for Kerry and Bush to say that the current effort to defeat al-Qaida and to dismantle the sophisticated global terror network headed by Osama bin Laden prior to Sept. 11, 2001 will be largely successful. But to suggest that terrorism will never recur is to engage in wishful thinking.

The dustup came after Bush's comments on an NBC television interview that the war on terror might never be won. He later made a point at a campaign stop to declare, with no explanation, that the war on terror will be won. Kerry's attempt to leap on Bush's apparent contradiction was clearly more about politics than reality.

Most people realize that with the emergence of modern terrorism there will not be a declared victory, a peace treaty signing ceremony or a point at which the world is assured no more acts of politically motivated barbarism will occur. That genie is out of the bottle, and cannot be returned – at least for many, many years.

Even if the world's most notorious terrorist is captured or killed, it will take decades to defeat what columnist Thomas Friedman called "bin Ladinism," the terrorist mindset being nurtured by al-Qaida's leader and cultural and religious forces in parts of the Muslim world.

Defeating "bin Ladinism" will require the dismantling of al-Qaida, but also a change in economic, cultural and political conditions in the Middle East and other tumultuous parts of the world.

Middle East regimes create a breeding ground terror-inclined youth with their lack of political freedom, lack of economic opportunity and encouragement of resentment toward and misunderstanding of the West.

And even those who support the Iraq war will admit that this military action is producing no immediate benefits in terms of improving the view of America held by the average person in Iraq or other parts of the Middle East. With little effort, the continued violence in Iraq is being used as a terrorist-recruiting tool.

For anyone, Republican or Democrat, to say that the war on terror will be won, in the conventional sense, is wrong.

By quickly backpedaling on his truthful statement about the realities of the war on terror, Bush succumbed to politics. Kerry, too, was putting politics ahead of truth when he said the war on terror is "absolutely" winnable.

The war on terror, dubbed by some as World War IV, is not just about one man, it's not about an army, it's not about a enemy nation, not about a mindset - it is about all of them. And it will take a very long time for victory in that war.

- J.L.W.III