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I did. McCrystal sounds remarkably like Petraeus in 2006. I remain firm in my view that the "surge" was not ENTIRELY the result of a "change of heart," and that in fact the old fashioned methods of killing the enemy in phenomenal numbers played an important role in ensuring the success of the surge. But it is undeniable that in any "insurgency," the winner is the one that has the majority of the population on its side.

Now: either those who say Islam is incompatible with western liberty are right, or the Founders are right, because the Founders (who certainly knew Muslims, though very few) argued that liberty is the "natural" condition of all men given by their Creator (even if He isn't the one they happen to worship: it still doesn't change the fundamentals of the equation). So for those who continue to say that western democracy can never work with Islamic societies, they must be prepared to conclude that the Founders' most basic premise---that "all" men are endowed by their Creator with certain natural rights---is wrong.