Zenster: Which is why the war with Islam is an all or nothing proposition. Few people, and even fewer politicians, seem to realize this and it only fuels violent jihad.

I disagree. One of our Founding Fathers, John Adams, signed a document to the effect that America was NOT at war with Islam. It reads like this:

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

Another consequence of this treaty is that the United States is purely a secular nation, quite to the contrary of assertions made by certain members of the Christian Right.