"Are we at war with radical Islam or not?"

Submitted by Mike (United States), Aug 17, 2009 at 16:10

That's really the question. During the Second World War were we at war with fascism or with Germany and Italy? The latter, as fascist regimes like Spain stayed out of our gunsights. During the Cold War, were we at war with communism or with the Soviet Union? The latter, as communist regimes like Yugoslavia also kept clear of the fray. So are we at war with radical Islam or with Al Qaida and the Taliban? I suggest the latter, since regimes like Saudi Arabia, while as Islamist as anyone else, takes pains to keep their Islamism at levels that we feel are annoying and evil but not threatening, so we're not at war with them.

Culture wars--they're something else again.

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