I hope you're right. Time will tell if the American people will stay the course. The history of recent decades is not too encouraging, unfortunately. As a people, we tend to have short historical memories, and be easily distracted by "the latest thing" - - -which is no longer the events of 9/11/01. Our enemies are aware of that tendency, and are poised to take full advantage of it whenever possible.
Following is the full text of the Malaysian Prime Minister's recent speech:
http://www.yourish.com/archives/2003/mahathir.html Speech by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the opening of the 10th Session of the Islamic Summit
Conference on Oct 16, 2003
This speech is a suitable introduction to the following link to an interesting analysis of the prospects of Islam, especially given that it was written in 1936 when the main European focus of attention was on the rising tide of European and Asian totalitarian states founded on militantly secular or pagan religious principles, rather than on the seemingly improbable revival if Islam.
(Note: it's author, Hillaire Belloc and the Malaysian prime minister would probably agree on few things except, as a careful reading will show, on a belief in the pervasive influence of Jews. They also, for different reasons -- adherence to different world-conquering visions, in particular -- find that influence repugnant. Still, those of us who see the impact as mostly a positive factor in world history can learn from both of these pieces.)
Belloc usefully notes how heavily Islamic military, diplomatic, and economic pressure from the south and east influenced European history from the final fall of Byzantium in 1453 to the end of the 17th century, and how its recession in the following two centuries set the stage for Europe's self-destructive global wars in the 20th century, which have themselves set the stage for the "next acts" in coming decades. It then concludes with some speculations on the potential for Islam to resume its expanive development. Pretty good foresight for an analyst almost 70 years ago, in the midst of the runup to round two of the global war!
The Great and Enduring Heresy of Mohammed
http://www.ewtn.com/library/HOMELIBR/HERESY4.TXT thank you very much for your thoughtful reply.
I especially appreciate the link to Belloc, a very interesting man and influencial thinker.
I'll spend some time with it.
best regards,
D-