Very, very well put.
Thank you. I believe that I am Free Republic's most rabid anti-fundamentalist Islam critic. (And Islam, not just the culture, is at the core of this conflict, no matter what others may try to tell you.) Almost two years ago, I studied Islam with my homeschooled son. We read an English translation of the Koran and Hadith given to us by a smiling Santa Cruz Imam. We were shocked and horrified by the latter parts of the Koran as well as some of the more ludicrous aspects of the Hadiths. Never did we believe that the majority of Muslims would carry out such exhortations from the "voice of allah" or behave as they have been behaving since 9/11.
Since 9/11, Islam's ultimate goals and hatreds became more transparent to us. Our naivete, ignorance and optimism that it was just a small segment of Islam that actually followed this violent road were no less than many people who are deceived even today by the media and politicians into believing that true Islam is "the religion of peace." Hah! Not if it is carried out to the letter as is the case of the murder martyrs and judging from the massive support from the Muslim world for terrorist leaders/acts, the Palestinians and hatred towards the West that is encouraged by the corrupt, politically-cynical, power-hungry Islamic leaders.