Like fascism or Communism, Islamism galvanizes millions with its reductionist claims of Western liberal culpability for widely diverse Muslim gripes from Afghanistan to the West Bank.
There is NO such thing as "Islamism," or "Islamo-fascism". These are weasal words used by well-intentioned folks who for whatever reason refuse to call things by their proper names.
It is islam itself and the consequent worship of mohammed (the Perfect Man, an associate of allah) which is our enemy. Yes, it is an idea such as communism and fascism, but it is called islam.
The fact that a brilliant man such as VDH refuses to speak the truth, for whatever reason, tells me that we are destined for defeat.
"Stay the course" or any such formulation is absurd (and VDH is recommending stay the course, in effect).
Four things need to happen in our War on Jihad.
First, Americans, westerners, and moslems themselves need to be subjected to relentless propaganda of every variety, from the most primitive to the most sophisticated, to educate about the true nature of islamic jihad. It must be global and it must be daily.
Second, moslems must be restricted from western nations and dispelled where possible, but where they cannot be dispelled, their primitive and barbaric practices (such as honor killings, misogyny, the veil and all forms of sharia law) must be repressed.
Third, small, mobile, highly sophisticated and dedicated military units must travel the world engaging and destroying jihadis. We must be quite open about this. We must tell the world, if you harbor jihadis and do nothing about it, we will do it for you. We must tell the world, you will not even know what has hit you, because we will not let you know. We will simply do it.
Fourth, the American government must make a massive program to secure our infrastructure and to alter our energy use.
Great post, well done.