[vanmorrison]

Having read "The Rage and the Pride", I found I agreed with many of Fallaci's observations and projections. Her blistering diatribes against the Europeans were entertaining. But, really, as an American, I find that she is basically just articulating what would be the viewpoint of the average American if the average American knew all of the recent sordid history of Europe in detail, as Fallaci does. And that's fine. But her arguments against malevolent Moslemism ultimately break down because of her own incoherent political philosophy, with non-descriptions such as "anti-fascist leftist" and "Atheistic Christian". She has value, though, as a hyper-critic of the skanky Europeans

[Steve_Seattle]

Atheistic Christian

You hit on the weakness of Fallaci's argument, and this weakness is both intellectual and moral. It is weak because there is no such thing as an atheist Christian, and a society full of "atheist Christians" will not have the moral fortitude or intellectual clarity to stave off a threat posed by a militant enemy grounded in self-righteous certainties about its historical mission. This is why America and not Europe is in the forefront of the war on terror - in America, there is still a sizeable body of real Christians who realize what is at stake, whose thinking has not been rendered sloppy and self-destructive by a reflexive distrust or even hatred of our own culture.