When historians write about the demise of the great American country they will list things that caused our demise, and at the top of the list will be political correctness and the failure to recocognize that the decay starts within not from without. Unfortunately, we have begun the slippery slope to the demise of the free enterprise system with the congressional elite spending money like a drunken sailor to keep their princely positions in Washington, and if 2010 does nto bring a conservative majority to Washington we will leave this earth much worse than we inherited for our children and grandchildren. GOD help us!

Agreed. The rot comes from within. As has been documented by CIA specialists, the Bush II administration's attack against Iraq was predicted (correctly) to increase the threat of terror against the U.S. Former CIA Director, George Tenet testified in Congress before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq that such invasion would likely forment anti-American sentiment in the middle east, and would thereby augment the threat to the safety of Americans at home and abroad. The top CIA analysis tracking the Bin Laden network wrote that based on the Bush II administration's policies, Bush was Bin Laden's only indispensible ally, that as predicated the Iraq war created a real work training ground for terrorist, and that the Bush war radicalized significant portions of the otherwise moderate elements within the Arab world -- all to the detriment of the safety of U.S. citizens and stability in the national and international arena. Jihadis taken prisoner by British intelligence have convincingly stated that it was the spectacle of Bush's invasion of Iraq, and the destruction of Iraqi cities and the deaths of women and children that motivated them to "to something". While there is absolutely no question that the actions of these terrorists are monsterous and deplorable and should be most severely punished, at the same time, such actions are predictable. This all raises the question as to what the real priorities of the U.S. government truly are.

God help us is right! God bless America!

"James" would have us believe nothing much happened in the world, especially the US, before George Bush became president. He probably doesn't believe it was Islamic radicals who attacked the WTC buildings, twice, nor the Beirut bombings nor the attack on the Cole etc etc etc.

"James" ignores or doesn't know that Islamic radicals hate the USA, regardless of whether George Bush or any other person is president. They hate all non-Islamic people and nations. And they will continue their lunacy until they are stopped.

TMarsh --

I complete agree with you that the Jihadi lunacy must be stopped. But you have badly missed the mark.

No sane person disputes that Jihadist radicals staged the attacks on 9/11 and other prior and subsequent attacks against innocent civilians, including Americans. (Not sure how you would have inferred otherwise.)

The question is, given the reality of the Jihadist threat, what can America's political leaders do to REDUCE, if not elminate, the threat? Well, one thing our leaders can do is to stop engaging in conduct that predictably INCREASES the threat.

As very briefly noted above, the highest ranking officials within the U.S. State Department and within American intelligence agencies KNEW that the invasion of Iraq would INCREASE the threat of Jihadist violence -- which is exactly what happened. What I provide is a mere cursory sampling. Extensive documentation is available if one wishes to learn more on the topic.

What I find most odd about your response is that you would construe a completely uncontroversial observation -- based on America's own State Department and intelligence agencies' assessments -- as a disbelief in the fact that Jihadis (including bin Laden) are responsible for 9/11, as well as other terrorist atrocities. Frankly, I am at a loss as to how you could have reached that conclusion.

In any event, as stated reasonable people would certainly agree that the lunacy of Islamic radicals will continue until they are stopped (to quote your useful formulation). It doesn't take a genius to figure out that among a number of ways of stopping them, one very easy way is for our political leaders to stop acting in ways that radicalize the moderate elements within the Muslim world.

Finally, as many have observed, aside from occasional broadly stated propaganda statements, Islamic radicals do not so much "hate the USA" as they hate certain policies of the U.S. government in the Middle East and elsewhere. This non-controversial (indeed, commonsense) point was stated in a lengthy and detailed 2004 Pentagon report, which concluded: "Muslims do not 'hate our freedom', but rather they hate our policies." This Pentagon report noted that the "American occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq has not led to democracy there, but only more chaos and suffering." Not surprising, the specter of the occupation contributed substantially to the radicalizing of otherwise apolitical, moderate Muslims, who have now become engaged in the Jihadist crusade. That crusade -- which has been greatly amplified by the U.S. invasion of Iraq -- poses a considerable threat to the safety of people throughout the Muslim and non-Muslim world, including the U.S.