It's good to be reminded from time to time of the Islamofascist plot to poison our precious bodily fluids by making us eat halal turkeys. I also recommend her blog, Atlas Shrugs, where she strengthens her points by typing them in allcaps.

How can we sort out the nuclear bullies of the middle East?

A significant but manageable security threat was portrayed as an existential one to all of Western Civilization, for political purposes.

I think they went even further off the rails on this than even they initially intended, though.

first of all, the 911 attack was not to threaten USA in to defeat. It was an Afghan trap that French had informed Americans in 2001. Bush went ahead and to make the matter worse, two years later he went to Iraq. The only difference maker in the war is drone attacks by Americans. Russians had to back out of Afghan trap in 10 years whereas Americans are still going strong. The obvious difference maker is drone that has shielded Americans from excessive causalities. One can't say this about the economic side of the conflict.

It is a different matter that not many Al Qaeda attacks have materialized. A lull in terrorist attacks in 2011 doesn't mean that USA has won the war. Most of the Islamic terrorist attacks are perpetrated by people who follow the ideology of Al Qaeda than being the members of the group. What I find more bizarre is that people are giving credence to conspiracy theories and more Muslims find the American presence in A'stan as symbol of neo colonialism.

The al-Qaeda fiction was naked to see ten years ago but in a startling episode of groupthink, saying these people were a pack of nuts who could be handled by police action rather than a declaration of war was pretty much impossible. A few sensible people tried saying it. They found themselves lonely.

9/11, a demonstation of massive American incompetence, was treated instead as evidence of overpowering strength by a

The al-Qaeda fiction was naked to see ten years ago but in a startling episode of groupthink, saying these people were a pack of nuts who could be handled by police action rather than a declaration of war was pretty much impossible. A few sensible people tried saying it. They found themselves lonely.

9/11, a demonstation of massive American incompetence, was treated instead as evidence of overpowering strength by a

The al-Qaeda fiction was naked to see ten years ago but in a startling episode of groupthink, saying these people were a pack of nuts who could be handled by police action rather than a declaration of war was pretty much impossible. A few sensible people tried saying it. They found themselves lonely.

9/11, a demonstation of massive American incompetence, was treated instead as evidence of overpowering strength by a

I agree that a non-state actor like AQ is a minor threat compared to a relatively powerful, antagonistic state actor like say ...Pakistan. As the intelligent people have been saying since the beginning of this conflict: Poverty, inequality, lack of womens rights, and poor education are the true threats the globe faces...not islamic terrorists. Rather, terrorism is simply a symtom of the greater problem.
However, while we probably shouldn't have spent so much time, treasure and lives on soothing a symptom (rather than curing the disease); we certainly did feel threatened in hindsight. Ultimately, we as a country sought justice for our countrymen that were killed unjustly, and it is simply a reminder to the rest of the world that Americans have a habit of over-reacting to pain and loss. We are human afterall.

America has chosen to defile
The verses that a poet has written.
This act rouses divine wrath for the vile
Pride that ignores the source of religion.
This act attacks a soldier's memories
Of his dear, sweet wife who returns no more.
He asks his fearsome, warlike deities
To bring this land the deadly scourge of war.
The gods rage with fury at the insult
To one whose words oft show kindness and love.
Death and destruction become the result
As fire rains on this country from above.
Evil causes divine wrath, blood, and tears
In savage strife that continues for years.

September 7, 2001

On the early morning hours of September 7th, 2001, conservative christian members of the Defense Intelligence Agency tried to provoke a Green Beret, bard, mage into committing a small murder and going to prison. Instead, he went home, wrote a spell, cast a circle, lit his candles, summoned his gods of war, and cast his spell. He cast the spell on the morning and evening of September 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and on the morning of September 11th, 2001. It was not necessary to cast the spell on the evening of September 11th because on that morning, fire rained "on this country from above."

The war has continued for over ten years, and the Green Beret, bard, and mage has progressed through grandmage to archmage. Magic is science that has not yet been explained, and science is science that has been explained. Einstein always looked for a unified field theory, but everything can be defined in terms of waves, and these waves, including brainwaves, can interact with each other. If no one ever took a step beyond where science is on a given day, man would have no light bulbs, automobiles, or airplanes.
The role and mission of the United States Army Special Forces are to recruit, organize, train, and direct the natives of a country in unconventional warfare. Magic appears to be about as unconventional as it gets.

The US has suffered a decline in its fortunes, and China is emerging as the dominant superpower. Special Forces soldiers know that wars are not fought vacuum. When one country suffers defeat, another country gains, and the winning country need not fight to win. To win a war is competence, to win a war without fighting that war is genius.

The conservative christians tried to provoke the soldier, bard, and mage over his religion. They erroneously thought that he worshipped their devil, but he has never believed in their devil, the christian god of evil.

The third line from the bottom should be "are not fought in a vacuum."