[Rummyfan]

The journalist Youssef Ibrahim has recently argued that we are rapidly approaching a point at which the West will simply refuse to have any contact with the Islamic world, which will cause them to sink further into corruption, penury and surreality. That is actually not the worst possible outcome. If an Islamic group gets and uses an atomic bomb terrible things are going to happen. The nuttier parts of the Muslim world simply have to be made accountable by sane people across civilizations before these things happen.

We are trying to get their attention through our efforts in Iraq. But I fear their 'culture' is just too far gone into madness and frankly cockamanie theories (Read: the Evil Zionists did it!) to draw them back. Add the insularity and harshness of Islam, a cult one joins but can never leave, and you have the recipe for cultural disaster. If the nuclear option is unleashed, woe betide the Islamic civilization.

[Monti Cello]

The nuttier parts of the Muslim world simply have to be made accountable by sane people across civilizations before these things happen.

This seems analagous to bad-dog neighborhood situation.

You've got some neighbors whose dog got out of their fence and bit one of your kids. The neighbors say, 'we're good people, and that dog is a nice dog, and if your kids hadn't been making noise near the fence well this would never have happened. Deal with it.'

You tell the cops but the chief is beholden to your neighbor, so he tells you it's no big deal, and maybe you should keep your kids quiet in the yard.

You reply to your neighbor 'You claim to be good people, but your reaction to this situation makes me suspect otherwise, and I have noticed you training that dog to act violently. Now, I have a big shotgun and I'm gonna be on the porch. And if that dog starts toward the fence I'm taking it down, which you do a week later, and the neighbors start moaning and complaining at you, and the cops are seeing what they can do to have you arrested. Then another mean dog shows up at the neighbors' and comes over the fence and bites another kid. So you shoot that dog, but another shows up in a couple of days. At what point do you kick your neighbor's ass and accept it's not a dog problem but a neighbor problem?

If the Middle East can't keep their home-bred whackos suppressed to the point that they are a menace to the civilized world, then something's gotta be done. We aren't by nature a hateful people, but we are a very practical bunch of people. Our message to the Middle East is, personal issues aside, we are eventually going to hold you accountable for your dogs, as a simple practical matter, and if one of my kids really gets badly hurt the response is going to be very practical and very personal and it's not going to stop with your dogs.