Zev is right, and so are you, oj. Frankly, I never have cared what Andrew Sullivan and Billy Kristol think. They truly do wear the mark of cowardice as Chafets suggests.

Defeating the Nazis was an easy war? There are no easy wars. Some are more necessary than others and this may be the toughest we've faced ... not just because of military casualties but civilian as well. Those with cold feet had better face reality and steel themselves for the long haul. The media needs to be investigated by Congress for sedition in a time of war. Where's the outrage? Lets have Congress do something worthwhile to support the nation.

Melissa -- Way to go. The first is an opportunist, and his opportunity to continue passing for a conservative is to redefine Kerry as conservative. The second thinks way to much for his own good and seems to believe that the second hand in a clock matters when measuring evoving history.

oj - I agree with you precisely that it will be "as easy" as WWII or the Cold War (and "as hard" as well). But that doesn't make me feel good. This time, nuclear weapons will be used before it's over, and it won't be us who use them first.

Well said, Orrin. Have a cigar.

pj:

It always has been.

Well, I'm not sure that defeating militant Islam will be as "easy" as defeating Nazism or Communism was...

In the first place, oj, you profess not to believe that America even needed to do anything about the Nazis or Communist Russia, and haven't you also said that the US might be better advised to do nothing about militant Islam, either ?

If the last is true, I also believe that it might be in America's long-term best interest to develop a new fuel infrastructure, whether it's bio-diesel, petroleum from rape seeds or oil shale, hydrogen from wind or solar power, or simply promoting and incentivizing hybrid vehicle purchase.
Then, we can quit messing around in the Middle East, and cut the House of Saud loose. Let France, Japan, and China directly intervene, if they deem it necessary, instead of free-riding on the US' imposed stability.

Secondly, the Nazis and Communists were geographically based organizations, the governing powers of physical nations.
Militant Islamicists live undercover all over the world, and are a philosophical movement, far less vulnerable to military defeat.

Although it's certainly possible to reduce al-Qaeda and other similar groups to low-level terror activity, and simply live with it, as Israel does, and the UK did, actually defeating Islamic terror will involve changing Muslim societies all over the world.

Possible, but very, very complex and difficult, and it's going to take a long, long time.

Simply containing the Islamic world, and waiting them out, as the West did with the USSR, doesn't seem likely to work in this case.

Michael:

We didn't, but now we're in it.

Beer?

In Heaven There is No Beer Polka

In Heaven there is no beer
That's why we drink it here
And When we're gone from here
All our friends will be drinking all our beer

In Heaven there is no wine
Lets drink til we feel fine
And When it comes our time
All our friends will be drinking all our wine

In Heaven there is no drink
At least thats what we think
And When we go ca-plink
All our friends will be drinking all our drink

In Heaven there is no beer
That's why we drink it here
And When we're gone from here
All our friends will be drinking all our beer

In Heaven there is no beer
Let's stay and Drink it here
And When our friends aren't here
We will be drinking all their beer

I believe in the power of religion.

It was not easy to tame Christianity. It won't be any easier to tame Islam.

Let's hope it remains as untamed, rather than pitching tyhem straight down the secular pit.

the islamicists are in fact geographically based -- every arab government (and the iranian govt) is backing them. clean out the existing governments of the middle east and a golden age of peace will ensue.

I'll take the secular pit over the results of untamed religion.

Although your mileage may differ--perhaps you prefer a swan dive off the 132nd floor to making up your own mind.

Jeff:

Yet you live here instead of there.

argos:

You are right, but you skipped ten steps, and that's where the hard parts lie.

I cannot agree with argos.

Arabs hate us because we are not Arabs, in addition to our religion.

Non-Arab Muslims hate us because of our religion.

Muslims are murdering non-Muslims on every border -- Phillipines, Malaysia, Sinkiang, Indonesia, Nigeria, you name it.

I don't care if they hate us, as long as they do it quietly and in their own countries.

I'd prefer to be hated by most of them and ashamed to be admired.

But they keep lashing out.

From their point of view, of course, it is us attacking them. They are delusional, but delusions are facts of a kind.