EDITORIAL - The battle lines continue to form in what could culminate in a conflict that would make the cumulative destruction of all previous World Wars look like the aftermath of a skirmish between rival street gangs. But while the rest of the world anxiously watches the events in Israel and Lebanon unfold, there are those among the ranks of The Fifth Column who believe – or so it would seem – that their personal interests are far more important than the threat posed by radical ideologues dedicated to the domination and/or destruction of the world.

This grossly self-absorbed mindset emanates from, among other things, the narcissism of the "Me Generation." It has been nurtured by the entitlement mentality promoted by the "Nanny State" and has resulted in an entire age group being infected with a self-importance derived from a politically correct educational system that places more significance on a student achieving an elevated level of self-esteem than on actual academic knowledge. Because of this, the idea of civic responsibility and the importance of societal cohesiveness in times of strife are foreign to those who dwell within this self-destructive ideology.

Further, one of the principle doctrines of The Fifth Column is that they accept as true the notion that anything and everything America does, both domestically and internationally – especially if emanating from the Bush Administration, is inferior to what the global community could institute or achieve.

How else could so many within their ranks be actively working to undermine the Bush Administration at a time when the immediate decisions being made by the president could very well affect the fate of the entire world?

Last week, the whiniest man on the face of the planet, Joseph Wilson, took the stage with his wife, former CIA analyst Valerie Plame. They announced that they had filed a lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney, Presidential Advisor Karl Rove, former Vice Presidential Chief of Staff "Scooter" Libby and others for their role in exposing Ms. Plame's undercover CIA status. They did so as Hezbollah committed itself to an all out war against Israel, the United States and the free world, setting the Middle East afire.

Pay no attention to the fact that during an investigation into the Plame matter a federal prosecutor failed to find one noteworthy piece of evidence to bolster the assertion that Cheney, Rove or Libby had anything to do with facilitating columnist Robert Novak with Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA covert operative. Ignore the fact that Robert Novak has said time and time again that his source was someone other than Cheney, Rove or Libby. Disregard the unarguable fact that Plame was serving as a CIA analyst and hadn’t been a covert operative for years at the time the story was printed. Evidently, it is more important to Wilson and Plame to file their frivolous lawsuit, to maintain the fires of the "hate-Bush" movement within The Fifth Column, than it is to stand cohesively with their country, allowing the president to focus fully on the critical issues at hand.

The infiltration of The Fifth Column goes further than the simple act of two disgruntled political has-beens filing a nuisance lawsuit against an administration faced with the possibility of an escalating global conflict.

In a letter to the president, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) expressed his concern about the affect of The Fifth Column inside the Central Intelligence Agency.

In the letter he stated he has long been, "concerned that a strong and well-positioned group within the agency intentionally undermined the administration and its policies," and that the dissident faction had taken over the CIA. The congressman alluded to the idea that this "dissident faction" had been quite successful in politicizing the agency suggesting that they were responsible for the alarming number of instances of leaked classified information currently surfacing in the mainstream media.

Even on Capitol Hill, the affects of The Fifth Column can bee seen.

Recently, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) approached House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in an effort to get her to attach her name to a joint resolution supporting Israel in their battle against Hezbollah and Hamas, two internationally recognized terrorist groups. Pelosi’s response was that unless it included politically correct language asking that both sides concern themselves with limiting civilian casualties she could not sign on. Of course, by including such language Pelosi would have had the United States House of Representatives recognizing Hezbollah and Hamas as legitimate entities worthy of seats at a negotiating table rather than the terrorist organizations that they are.

The Fifth Column in the United States, political correctness at the ready, has been demanding that the rest of the country view the world, its crises and its conflicts, through the rose-colored and warped glasses of moral relativism, even to the point of lending terrorist organizations legitimacy on the world stage. The tragedy in this avenue of thinking is that sooner or later, the appeasement mentality of this "can't we all just get along" crowd will result in all out heads being on the chopping block, literally.

Actions that allow for terrorist entities to take a seat at any negotiating table legitimize their existence. Negotiating ceasefires with radical Islamist groups whose own tenets demand that they misinform, deceive and lie to their enemies only serves to allow them to re-arm and re-group in preparation for future battles. As long as The Fifth Column in this country refuses to admit that there is evil in the world and that it doesn’t discriminate between the politically correct and the infidel we will never be rid of the conflicts, such as the one we are witnessing in the Middle East today.

Just as Nancy Pelosi has no business demanding that verbiage be added to a resolution that would recognize terrorists as legitimate entities, the CIA has no business creating policy – foreign or otherwise – for the people of the United States. And just as our nation has no more time for the narcissistic stylings of Joe Wilson and Val Plame, so too do we have no more time to waste on The Fifth Column, their ignorance and their arrogance.