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(Page 3 of 16)

Nine-eleven and events that followed 9/11established -- not sure of the order of importance -- (1) radical Islam's hatred of our country that is a "state hatred" equivalent to racism or "race-based hatred;" (2) the intelligence of the radical Islamists in learning and then capitalizing on (a) vulnerabilities to terrorism in the U.S., public transportation being a particularly serious vulnerability, (b) prevailing biases in mainstream print and TV reporting in the U.S., (c) manipulating 'political correctness' to advance terrorist capabilities in the U.S. and the world, (d) rapid response to information about U.S. intelligence-gathering capabilities in both "hot" and "cold" wars -- including the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns -- most of which is provided by the mainstream media and explained as "letting America know what it's government is doing" and at least some of which undoubtedly impaired our ability to succeed militarily in those campaigns.

In the years since 9/11, the stateless Al Qaeda organization has achieved support from Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, probably Egypt, and other continental African countries. One unifying hypothesis for this support that almost never appears in the media is pure racism against Jews. It is rampant in Islam. Hitler was by no means the only leader who wished every Jew to be gone from the planet.

To your idee fixe points that appear to me to be assertions without evidence: the notion that President Bush was primarily concerned with amending the legacy of his father not pursuing Saddam to Baghdad is spurious on its face. The coalition put together by George Herbert Walker Bush would never have agreed to such a move, and, if pursued, that action would have resulted in mass defections from the coalition and left the U.S. virtually alone and as a true "aggressor" in dismantling Saddam's regime. This notion also discounts the nobler stated purpose of President Bush that regime change in Iraq was necessary for U.S. security, elimination of a state supporting terrorism, and highly beneficial to foster democracy in the Middle East.

As for "neoconservative Jews" (sounds racist to me) wanting to "correct the mistakes of World War II," I am mystified by the use of the latter phrase as if it explains anything. Which "mistakes" of World War II? And, what is your source for such a belief? Please don't use "everybody knows what I'm talking about" as a response.

And we are to believe that "die-hard conservatives" (sounds like ad hominem arguing to me) have no more character, intelligence, love of country, love of freedom, love of life than to put our military in harm's way to "prove that America could project its military might any time and anywhere we chose?" From whence came this brilliant insight? What speeches, documents, analysis?

And now for your "So What Should We Do?" Well, one thing we can't do is place an impenetrable "force field" over the Middle East such that the region functions like a quarantined file in a computer -- it's there, but it can't hurt anything. And the problem with Islam isn't that it's a 1400-year old civil war, it's that the teachings of Islam are fundamentally flawed, contradict generally accepted human values, and are poorly understood by most of its followers. The latter follow radical leaders as mindlessly as your idee fixe SDS people who "don't [sic] mind slaughtering a few people" in order to achieve what the radical leaders define as the goals of Islam. So-called "moderate" Islamist leaders are simply people who understand the foregoing and have chosen to be rational in practicing their faith in a rational world.

Your description of the Middle East as a "cauldron of ethnic hatreds" (is that code for anti-Semitism?) is correct, but President Bush and other world leaders have a vision that your "ain't gonna happen" is not necessarily true. They believe that a sea change of life can occur in the Middle East because so much of the rest of world is already in or moving toward more rational governance. The pathway to this change is establishment of democracy a la Iraqi, prevention of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, establishment of a true Palestinian state, true democracy in Lebanon, and a domino effect in other Mid-Eastern states and in Africa. Such a pathway will require adoption of the strategy and achievement by maximum diplomatic efforts together with as little military force under political control as consistent with the objective.

So, call me crazy, but I prefer to believe that our leaders -- including many in the Congress from both parties -- can distinguish national interests from narrow partisan interests and when the stakes are as high as they are in today's world, will act more to preserve and protect national interests. The President should use his "bully pulpit" to continue to articulate a strategy that recognizes the impossibility of "containment" in dealing with radical Islam. Containment "Ain't gonna happen."

The awful specter of a "forceful rejection of Republicans in 2008" pales in comparison to a world of increasing radical Islamic domination (think Cindy Sheehan in a burqa) and its concomitant amoral methods for extending that domination that result in unrestrained anti-Semitism and other unconscionable insults to personal freedom.

Our collective failure in Iraq to date is analogous to the story about the Country Redneck and the Championship Skeet Shooter going Quail hunting. Most people's assumption would be that the Sheet Shooter would clean house. Doesn't work that way in the story as often reflected in real life. The Story goes like this:

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