Tomorrow is 9/11, and we will be going to the Pentagon to mourn Barbara Olson, who was murdered in the American Airlines plane that crashed into the building.  In her final moments Barbara managed to get on a telephone and talk to her husband, who went on to serve as one of the most distinguished legal officials in American history.  I do not know exactly what they said to each other, but I do know that Barbara was trying to get enough information to be able to fight against her assassins.  And I know that her spirit motivates our fighting men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan today.

If you want a sense of how tough our guys our, read this account of a recent fight in Afghanistan.  It will make you proud (and it will reinforce your understanding of just how badly this war is reported by the big papers, networks, and “news” agencies.

Barbara Olson was a fantastic force of nature, and as luck would have it she was one of three Barbaras–Olson, Ledeen, Comstock–whose only real difference was the color of their hair.  They were so close that they always knew what they were all thinking, and most of their conversations had to do with “how do we get it done?”  Their husbands all knew–know still–that the Lord had blessed them with women of real virtue, the rarest women of all.

As Judge Bork said at her funeral, Barbara Olson will always be young, and so she is.  The rest of us are aging, but Barbara, our Barbara, is always laughing and smiling at us from her pictures and her books, and she will not let us stop fighting our common enemies.

We are blessed with two children who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, with a third enroute.  He will be commissioned next May 10, in Houston, Texas.  All our kids are inspired by Barbara;  the two older ones made their commitments within days of her murder.  And boy, have they avenged her.

She’s smiling still.