The Clash of Civilizations (Required Reading; Volume ii)

Tony Blankley has recently written a compelling book about the war on terror titled The West's Last Chance, Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations? I must comment on the thoughts contained therein, but I also must implore you to take the time to pick up a copy and read it. Our future might depend on what you take away from this book.

Mr. Blankley basically puts all his cards on the table in his writing. He does not take sides politically, nor does he embrace a particular political ideology with regards to the war on terror. He does, however, make a very clear and somewhat chilling argument for confronting the very real threat to our security as a nation and, in fact, the security of the entire free world. He realizes that radical Islamists are a very real and dangerous enemy. He realizes that we need to confront the enemy and that the first step in this confrontation is to draw the battle lines. This war is as much political and cultural as it is a war of armies with weapons. It is not conventional, and the lack of convention is what has lulled Americans to sleep with regard to the war we are waging. Both our political leaders and each and every citizen must heed the threat every day, or else we are doomed to be overrun, in much the same way the majority of Europe was overrun by the Nazis.

This book is not an attack on Muslims. It is a call for a declaration of war versus radical Islam and the Islamist fundamentalists who are strong in their convictions to end Western civilization as we know it. The arguments are clear and any free-thinking American should be able to see and fear the potential results of our failure to fight and ultimately win this war.

"Acknowledging reality is a necessary step in winning the war. We are not likely to win this
war until we have formally declared it and defined it. Our first step in winning the war is to
declare it on the Islamist insurgency."

A quote that to me says it all. We must be willing to declare this war for what it is. We must then be willing to fight it on all fronts; military, political, and cultural. We must not fight a religious war, but also must not be afraid to define a radical fringe of a religion as the enemy that we are facing. And we must be willing to follow through with every battle, regardless of cost, until we can truly claim victory in a very large (and likely long) war.

Mr. Blankley sees it as a world war. He may have even referred to it as WWIII. I view the Cold War as WWIII. It was won by facing down what Ronald Reagan called "the Evil Empire." Defining that evil and confronting it was the key to winning that war. The war on terror is WWIV in my estimation. My hope is that we can see through our complacency, define the war, declare the war, and fight on to victory. Mr. Blankley's assessment helped me to more fully realize the dangers we face. Hopefully you will read this book and feel the way I did, then demand that our leaders define and engage in the battle that will come, whether we are prepared and willing to fight it or not.