You are absolutely correct, and have said it as plainly, as starkly, and as presciently as it can be stated. And because the "answer" is plain, stark, and hard, this is precisely why Bush _cannot_ state it.
There really _aren't_ any other choices.
I _am not_ one of those "bomb them back into the stone age" advocates. There are plenty of quickgun posters in here who immediately pop into any "Islam thread" with "nuke 'em" or "kill them all". Yahoos.
Of course, we can't kill them all. And we can't destroy Islam with nukes alone.
We can't win this struggle by merely toppling regimes, either. We are in the process of "discovering this" right now in Iraq and Afghanistan. The old solutions won't work, when the "regime" that must be toppled is Allah's.
Since we can't, our only other realistic option is your second one, as stated above. That is: our only possible "victory" can be to "de-Islamicize" the Muslim world, in the same way we "de-Nazified" Germany after World War II.
Of course, that will take tens of millions of soldiers, and the forced occupation of EVERY Islamic state for at least 50-80 years, in order to purge Islam from the hearts of those who are now held in its thrall. And today's West is not up to the task. Not yet, anyway.
The future looks hard, indeed.
- John
It wouldn't take Christ two seconds to purge hearts, so perhaps we need to be fasting and praying that He will do just that in miraculous ways. What we need here is a miracle, for we battle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities in unseen places. Our weapons are not carnal weapons, but they are powerful for the tearing down of strongholds. We have to put on the whole armor of God, and the main offensive weapon we have is the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. So, let's suit up and get our Gospel shoes on along with the rest of the armor!