Unavoidable

How often have you heard someone from the left say, "I supported the war in Afghanistan but not Iraq." This article points out that the overthrow of Afghanistan enraged Moslums at least as much as Iraq. Also, the bombers from July were from Leeds, not Bagdad.

Glenn Reynolds quotes Australian prime minister John Howard's response to questions about links between the London bombings and the invasion of Iraq.

Both point out how difficult it is to retire from the war on terror. The radicals have lots of greivances against us, many of them pre-dating George Bush.

Even the radical member of Parliament, George Galloway found himself in trouble during his most recent campaign. A group of radical Muslems burst into his room and threatened him for participating in democracy. When we say that they hate our freedoms, democracy is high on the list. It has been singled out by bin Laden and others as an obomination.

Thomas Fiedman wrote a recent column pointing out that, while Islam has a long history of tolerating other religions, Islam has always had the power. Believers in other religions had to pay tribute and otherwise respect Islam.

The point is that radical Islam declared war on us independently of anything that George Bush or Tony Blair ever did to provoke them.