President Obama, on his recent trip to Turkey, went out of his way to emphasize that the United States was not at war with Islam. Aside from the fact that President Bush repeatedly said the same thing, I have to agree with Jihad Watch: what is the point of that statement? Large numbers of Muslims have declared they are at war with us. Why does suppressing that fact improve matters?

As Jihad Watch puts it: "In saying this, Obama is declaring that he is not going to engage those Muslims on that level -- in other words, he is dismissing the importance of understanding the belief-system and goals of the enemy. Can the U.S. defeat an enemy it is not prepared to name or understand?