A bit intellectually dishonest to pretend, when we lived through an era of the Soviet bloc clearly having imperialistic ambitions plus massive nuclear weapons capability, that the prospect a communist country on the American continent wasn't a threat to the USA and consequently the democratic system.

Similarly Al Quaeda clearly aren't going win any arguments with reasonably sophisticated electorate. That's why they had to kill Benazir Bhutto. As far as they're concerned its all to play for whilst these countries are in their present state.

Just being quiescent whilst our country's enemies labour to bring about our downfall, didn't work with Hitler. And it won't work nowadays.

You may not feel like facing up to the responsibility of defending our way of life. I understand that, I was brought up as a Quaker - believing that the requirements Jesus gave us with the Sermon on the Mount (Check it out Matthew 6) are non negotiable. Its a sensual and a reasonable response what is an existence filled with grim alternatives.

However given the massive sacrifices that ordinary people have made to give us our freedoms, its an evasion of reality,and as I said intellectually dishonest.