[MNJohnnie]

I found it a little too "poetic" for my tastes, with too many factual distortions

Well Done! That is EXACTLY what was bothering me about it too. Thank you for clarifying for me just what it is about this article that so annoys me.

As a person with a History degree, I find it highly offensive when people who SHOULD know better try to use history to rationalize their current Political Opinions.

Islam did not exist when Rome was a Republic. Roman's foes did not have Jet airliners to use as weapons nor did they by pass the Roman Army to attack Roman Civilians. There off the top of my head are just a few of the items that make the man consumed with Fears argument completely intellectually indefensible.

[mike182d]

Islam did not exist when Rome was a Republic.

Nor as an empire, either. I caught that too. The West had fallen about a 100 years before Muhammed's exile into Medina and the subsequent explosion of Islam - no pun intended.

Unless he's referring to Byzantium, but I fail to see how the remaining Eastern Empire had fostered the rise of Islam as it was dominated by Christianity.