As usual,Tom Friedman makes some

As usual,Tom Friedman makes some cogent points about Arab denial and hatred of the west in the NYT this morning. Friedman worries that even after our unqualified military success, educated, worldly Arabs still deny Osama — or any Muslim — could have pulled off the 9/11 attacks.

VodkaPundit needs to ask — does it really matter if they believe us, so long as they fear us? Will future Talibans in any country give the kind of support al Qaeda got in Stanland, knowing that we can make them dead or on the lam in three months flat?

It would be nice if the Arab street started dealing with, well, reality. It would certainly make the world safer — including for Arabs.

But so long as they fear us, that’s a pretty good second choice. And so long as the Arab world, to paraphrase Ralph Peters, fails to cope with modernity, we’ll have to settle for that second choice.

The coffee must be kicking in.