We are therefore at war, whether we like it or not.
This is not just Osama bin Laden the terrorist and his Al Qaeda group, but rather Osama bin Laden the spiritual leader of hero of an estimated 10% of muslims worldwide.
That is over 100 million muslims worldwide who support Osama bin Laden!!!
If a leader in China had the support of 10% of the Chinese people and launched an attack on us with the magnitude of 11 September, we would be at war with China.
Why is it any different with Islam?
The answer is quite complex, and it has to do with conscience.
A war in which the enemy combatants are not linked by nationality poses new challenges not seen before. We can't just "nuke Damascus" and finish the war.
We have to think about the futures that are still possible today. One of them involves an escalation that ends in total war. Others end with some loss of life on both sides, but a gradual modernization of Islamic countries.
Right now the choice is ours. While it still is, we have undertaken to keep our options open.
It's instructive to think about why we used atomic weapons in our war on Japan. Even if we have regrets, one thing was clear: fewer casualties occurred because we did. Now is no different. We're civilized, and we're a moral people. And so we measure our responses in terms of actual benefit to humanity, not just our passion for revenge.
OBL wants total war on all fronts. Right now we've chosen to limit our engagement to known terrorists. A lot of innocent Arabs, South Asians, Southeast Asians, and South Pacific peoples have their lives in the ballance. We must not let OBL and his ilk steer us in a direction that leads to massive death and destruction. We still have a choice, and we're making it every day: right now we can still win fighting in the most humane way possible.
This is why the president has my confidence.
Not to mention full of $#it.