I tend toward the "1938ist" simply because we have not yet had an incident so massive, so horrifying, that it will convince the donks and other people on the short bus that Islam is out to kill us all or die trying.
Call 911 as equivalent to the "Panay" sinking. It was bad, but compare it to a when a city dies, in a moment. After all, there are 1000 million Muslims who cannot play well with others...
I would tend to agree with the 1938 analogy, we are trying to appease dictators and fascists, that has never really worked.
Not sure that the idea of history never repeating is true. While individual circumstances may vary, man's folly is quite predictable, we always want to play God. Napoleon and Hitler in Russia come to mind.
schu