LISTENING TO THE ENEMY, AND UNDERSTANDING HIS MESSAGE

We hear a lot from the left on the need to understand our enemies.

But the leftists are not listening, and they do not understand.

When I watched Senator Joe Lieberman's remarks during last night's "debate," I realized that what distinguishes Senator Lieberman from Senator Reid, is that Lieberman is actually paying attention.

Senator Lieberman knows what Al Qaeda's leaders are saying, and he takes them seriously.

It does no good to pretend that Al Qaeda is not serious about destroying the United States and bringing down Western Civilization. They have openly announced those aims. And it does not matter if you don't happen to believe they can do it. They do believe they can do it, or they will die trying. And they have shown time and time again that nothing except dying trying will stop them.

We have to respond to the enemy as we find him, not as we wish him to be.

Karen Armstrong, Karen Hughes, and John Esposito have painted a lovely picture of a lovely, loving religion, which they identify with Islam. They have even found support for their vision of an Islamic religion of peace in their reading of the Koran. The only thing is, it doesn't really matter what kind of Islam Karen Armstrong, Karen Hughes, and John Esposito believe in. What matters is what kind of Islam hundreds of millions of real Muslims actually believe in.

The Muslim extremists who have launched nearly 9,000 terror attacks since September Eleventh believe their religion commands them to wage terroristic war against all infidels. They are not going to be persuaded otherwise by the sugar-coated homilies of Karen Armstrong, Karen Hughes, and John Esposito.

The West will have to respond to the jihadists as they are, not as we wish they might be, sooner or later.