Are We at War?

Perception One: We’re at War

For the third time in history Islam – or, more precisely, its most radical element – has launched a war whose objective is the destruction of Western civilization.  Our survival is at stake, and despite its imperfections we believe that Western civilization is worth defending to the death.  Moreover, in the modern world – where a small number of people can so easily kill a large number of people – we cannot just play defense; sooner or later that strategy would bring another 9-11.  This conflict really is a clash of civilizations whose root cause is Islam’s incompatibility with the modern world.  So we must fight with everything we’ve got against the terrorist groups and against those governments on whose support they rely.  If the Cold War was “World War III,” this is World War IV.  We must win it, at whatever cost.

For the third time in history Islam – or, more precisely, its most radical element – has launched a war whose objective is the destruction of Western civilization.  Our survival is at stake, and despite its imperfections we believe that Western civilization is worth defending to the death.  Moreover, in the modern world – where a small number of people can so easily kill a large number of people – we cannot just play defense; sooner or later that strategy would bring another 9-11.  This conflict really is a clash of civilizations whose root cause is Islam’s incompatibility with the modern world.  So we must fight with everything we’ve got against the terrorist groups and against those governments on whose support they rely.  If the Cold War was “World War III,” this is World War IV.  We must win it, at whatever cost.

Perception Two: We’re Reaping What We’ve Sowed

There are quite a few people in the world who just don’t like the United States and some of our allies because of how we live and, more precisely, because of the policies we pursue in the Mideast and elsewhere in the world.  Alas, a small percentage of these people express their opposition through acts of violence.  While we sometimes share their opinion of our values and our policies, we cannot condone their methods.  Our objective must be to bring the level of political violence down to an acceptable level.  The only way to accomplish this will be to simultaneously adjust our values and our policies while protecting ourselves from these intermittent acts of violence; in doing so we must be careful never to allow the need for security to override our civil liberties.

There are quite a few people in the world who just don’t like the United States and some of our allies because of how we live and, more precisely, because of the policies we pursue in the Mideast and elsewhere in the world.  Alas, a small percentage of these people express their opposition through acts of violence.  While we sometimes share their opinion of our values and our policies, we cannot condone their methods.  Our objective must be to bring the level of political violence down to an acceptable level.  The only way to accomplish this will be to simultaneously adjust our values and our policies while protecting ourselves from these intermittent acts of violence; in doing so we must be careful never to allow the need for security to override our civil liberties.