Islam, violence go hand in hand: Pell

TheWest.com (Australia) ^ | 9/19/2006 | Staff

[nathanbedford]

I think instead we will choose their death, wholesale, innocent and guilty. Root and branch, we will burn them to ash before we will accept slavery.

I'm afraid I do not believe that of 21st-century America. Even less can I believe it of of 22nd century America. But it doesn't really matter what I believe, it matters what the Muslims believe. It might not matter what the crazed fundamentalists believe because they cannot be deterred by knowledge of mutual destruction and because they are suicidal. But it really does matter what sane Muslims believe. They are the ones whom we must convince that we will "burn them to ash before or we will accept slavery." And, confronted with this knowledge, they might just tear out the terrorists "root and branch."

Of course, when the terrorist strike, if they are clever, they will do it when America is utterly isolated and internally riven and very very unlikely to go nuclear. At that point we will have lost our credibility and therefore our ability to deter terrorists and intimidate sane Muslims. The terrorists will try to strike not in 1945 but in 1938.