[pollyannaish]

You may be right. The difference is that the Japanese were primarily a nation, while Islam is primarily a philosophy/religion. (BTW, I'm not discounting the Japanese philosophy/religious overtones, just pointing out that it was primarily nationally based.)

As a result, this involves more people and many, many nations. I think that makes this a much more difficult fight.

But again, I think that in the end you may be right. Time will tell.

[WFTR]

You make good points. There are parallels, and there are differences. Both the parallels and the differences make the situation complicated.

I can't totally agree with the way some things are handled, but the differences have two causes. One source of difference with the president is that we are different people and no two people will agree on anything. The more frustrating source of difference is that the president must respond to the fact that too many people would rather put up with a loss of civil rights and civil liberties here in America than to take the strong action needed to defeat our enemies completely and thoroughly. Our nation can't win if too many of us are ambivalent about winning, and the president can't force people to have a will to win. The way some people act, I often think that they have no will to live in addition to having no will to win. I would like to see more stern articles taking Americans to task for a willingness to accept loss of freedom in exchange for the illusion of security and for half-baked notions of diversity and "fairness." Those articles would be justified. A hatchet job on Dr. Rice is not justified.

In any case, I can't think of anyone else whom I'd rather have in important positions of leadership in this country. I like the team that President Bush has assembled.

Bill