Honest question. Not baiting at all. Do you believe it to be the fact?
As I see the issue the answer is yes. Obviously, there are shades of gray between the following options but our enemy will not stop until we convert or die.
We can choose a low intensity military and socioeconomic war that we are essentially in now that is a long term commitment. This type of war will not disturb the American civilian population in any significant way. The problem with this approach is sustainability from a political standpoint and the risk that the allies of our enemies both foreign and domestic will sabotage the effort over the long haul, as is being done now.
We can choose a high intensity short term warfare that will destroy our enemies will and ability to fight ANY type of war against us OR our allies. Something like what was done against Germany and Japan in WWII. When the mission is over our troops come home. The down side is the loss of many innocent lives. The upside is this type of action is it will be very effective at stopping further attacks upon us or our allies or interests. Additionally, our enemies foreign and domestic would not be able to mobilize effectively against us in the likely short time the activity would take. Further, this type of approach would reinforce the knowledge that peaceful dealings with the west are beneficial while warring actions are not. Because of our experience with the left and the democrats during Viet Nam, this is the approach I would have taken. IMHO this approach will ultimately save the most lives world wide.
We can choose a policy of "containment", and this is the direction I think we are heading because of the subversion of the first option which is in play. Our enemy has stated many times that they will convert us or destroy us. Thus they will continue to attack us and our allies while developing WMDs. They will use these weapons when they believe a chance for Islamic victory exists. While no one can predict the future, this enemy's political & religious nature and history indicates they will do exactly as they say. If the west doesn't surrender then a world wide chemical, biological, and nuclear war is the likely outcome of this strategy.
I think the fate of Western civilization is at stake, but from moral decay. Islam would simply be a force to take advantage of that decay, like the Visigoths.