I am quite curious why you are implying Islam as simply a ‘perceived enemy’ as if you might see it as not. Care to respond please?
Bush believed, for one, that it would be possible for the West to make friends or have a lasting detente, at the least, with influential and powerful elements within the Islamic world, sufficiently powerful to keep terrorism tamped down. The current activities in Afghanistan appear to be based on a similar theory. To declare this impossible right now seems premature to me, even though it does not look like an optimistic prospect. The Moose would respect a GOP president more than a Rat president, I believe, and in two years we may see the election of Haley Barbour or Sarah Palin or a similar figure.