Not all Muslims are Islamacists, though all Islamacists are Muslims.
Every thinking Conservative should be OFFENDED by you and others of your ilk, who have no comprehension nor knowledge, yet feel it incumbent to spew irrational, ridiculuous, preposterous, and ill informed garbage on FR. The pre-emptive strike on Iraq was far from " immoral ".
Pipes is far from being anything similar to Potempkin and I seriously doubt that you even understand the implications of what you so emotionally and unthinkingly wrote.
The " ARAB STREET ", as well as the putative leaders of Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and even N. Korea see the USA quite differently than they did prior to the Afghanistan and Iraq " wars ". Even France, Germany, and little Belgum have backed off somewhat, with their stupid rhetoric.
Russia ? Why didn't you throw in England whilst you were at it, when talking about Afghanistan's history ? Both failed there; America hasn't.
I didn't compare Pipes to Potempkin the man, I compared him to the village. Naturally if you don't find his logic "un-conservative", the analogy wouldn't resonate with you.
I wasn't referring to our continued success in Afghanistan; I support the retaliatory effort there, that wasn't pre-emptive. Another name for pre-emptive is "prior restraint." Regarding a Christian culture and a Moslem culture, it's easy to see which one's morality approves of such tactics. Aside from the pragmatics of seeing Iraquis get their delayed justice, one concern I have over this precedent is how the policy will be applied in the future when the pendulum swings and a Demosocialist is elected.
I'll defer to your expertise what the consensus is on the "Arab Street", and hope a behavior change accompanies whatever shift in attitude you are sensing. Why should I care about the change of volume of the stupid rhetoric coming out of socialist Europe?
Pardon me if you think I offended you. I was discussing ideas and Pipes specifically, but I appreciate your emphatic defense of his prophetic article.