[redpoll]

>>>Islam isn’t the problem, it is just a symptom. We lived without a qualm with Islam for hundreds of years. The issue is moral cowardice in the west. Period.<<<

I agree with your premise, but some of the specifics I’m going to call into question. Islam was on the march through eastern Europe until they were finally stopped at the Battle of Vienna in 1653, and then it took hundreds of years to push Islam back to Turkey - leaving in their wake death and destruction in the Balkans and a brutal war for independence in Greece in the 19th century. The Americans had to fight the Barbary pirates in the early 19th century, too. We’ve always had a struggle with Islam ever since the Arabs swept across north Africa into Spain. The only lull took place in the mid-20th century, when the Ottomans were finally defeated and the West’s technology overwhelmed the Middle East.

Yes, I agree that the weakness of the West is seen as an opening for Islamic forces to try their hand at more attacks, but those attacks have been consistent at least since the Battle of Tours.

[JasonC]

We won all those battles easily, since early modern times and the invention of the compass and gun-based warships.

The new factor in the present equation is purely internal weakness within the west. Both politically and demographically. All of it self inflicted.

Islam hasn't been even close to politically united since the Mongols smashed the Abassid caliphate in the 13th century. Their ideology is singularly unattractive, particularly so since the west adopted religious toleration and the enlightenment and modern free economies. As enemies go, they are utterly pathetic compared to powers we have seen off in living memory. No healthy civilization would fear them in the slightest.

[forkinsocket]

Yes, Islaam has been attacking everyone else for a very long time. But the issue is that the mujahideen are simply no match for any advanced country. Or at least they wouldn’t be a match for any country who dealt with them the way they need to be dealt with. They get this far because many don’t have the will &/or the mindset to fight them.

Most people are the cause of their own problems. That includes Muslims, Israel, America, etc.