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The original article states:
If we are incapable of understanding these realities and acting accordingly, within the life time of everyone who reads these words, we will see our cherished way of like cease to exist and chaos become our lot. The Clash of Civilizations is now reaching out and touching all of us. May God grant us the wisdom and the courage to meet the challenge.

And aquila48 responds:
I'm afraid things will have to get much worse here before there is a critical mass that will heed these words.

John speaking:

I'm reaching the point where I _almost_ believe that America - and The West - is going to LOSE this conflict. NOT because we can't win it, certainly not. But because, as a nation, we no longer have cognizance of what we face, nor, having realized that, do we have the collective will, the "stomach" to win.

I wonder if the "average American" has any _concept_ of what kind of a struggle we are involved in, and how long it might last?

Of course, most Freepers are tuned into this reality, but the overwhelming majority of Americans are _not_. The country remains divided, possibly irreconciliably so. And so divided, the so-called "War on Terrorism" (which we of this forum _know_ to be a misnomer) cannot be won, and further, the REAL war we're engaged in cannot be won, either.

If the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were not enough to "solidify" Americans to the cause, what kind of attack _would_?

Some speculate that it will take a nuclear or biological attack on our soil to re-create the national unity that will be necessary in order to prevail, to create the unity displayed by Americans in World War II.

But I sense that - even in the wake of a monstrous attack (aside: was not the 9/11 attack "monstrous"? Then why do so many Americans seem to have forgotten it already, as something they saw on tv a few years ago?) - as Americans, we may have become too divided, too weak, too "multicultural", to win a struggle that will require the sacrifices, hardship, near-universal military service, and perseverance on a scale that will _surpass_ those sacrifices made by the generations before us that triumphed in 1945.

Simply stated, America as a nation and a culture, may have lost its sense of self-preservation, our will to fight for what we know and believe in. Could that be because - as a "diverse nation" - we no longer believe in the same things?.

I don't write this lightly. Indeed, we have the greatest military power ever amassed in history, staffed by skilled, capable, and dedicated soldiers. But although armies may win battles, they cannot overcome cultural struggles and changes of national heart. Do we still have the collective "heart" to win? Do we have the [national] collective identity to comprehend and define the struggle ahead of us?

At this point, I would say no. At least, not yet.

In another thread a few weeks back, [I think] Freeper Jim Noble posted that, in his view, it would take "100 Divisions" of miltary might to win the coming struggle. Others frothed at the notion, but I believe Jim is right - if nothing more, by sensing the magnitude of the threat we (and the rest of the West) face.

It will take an America that is willing to give - by conscription and draft if need be - 100 Divisions, along with commensurate treasure and personal sacrifices to win the War with Islam. Before it's over, it will touch every American family in the ways that WW2 did: the lost family members, the maimed, the rationing. We will have to endure the uncertainty of a victory that seems unattainable, but maintain the will to press on regardless because we know in our hearts our cause is right, self-certain that the enemy and evil (yes, "evil") we face must be vanquished from the earth if we are to have peace once more.

It may take 50 years of protracted struggle to bring Islam to heel; it could take more.

Is America ready for this? Certainly _not_ the America in which morale and purpose caves with the publication of some staged photos from an Iraqi prison.

It was a completely different nation that won World War II. Sadly, that "America" no longer exists.

What will it take to unify the America that is _today_, to instill within us the will to win?

Cheers!
- John