Well, we are in it, not because we chose it, but because they did. Now it is our business, as Clausewitz said, to know our enemy. Just who are these people and what is their motive? Historically wars have been fought for political purposes with the object of forcing defined courses of action upon hostile groups. What then is their objective? I cannot believe that even they feel that the enforced conversion of the Western world to Islam is a practical objective. What then is their objective? It seems to be dead infidels. The true believer apparently achieves personal satisfaction and religious merit when he kills an infidel - man, woman or child. This killing achieves no political purpose, but it makes the killer feel good.

To fight this kind of an enemy calls for powerful philosophical leadership. We cannot just pick at them. (Remember Machiavelli's dictum that one must never do his enemy a minor injury.) But rather we must bring about a change of thought on their part. That is not easy. We must hope that it is not impossible, but we must reconcile ourselves to its difficulty. I must suppose that the underlying motive in this Holy War is simply envy - the root of all evil. We can punish it, but that will not eradicate it. Here is the consuming problem of the 21st century.