Tony Blankley has an interesting (if not a bit too depressing) take on where we are right now in the war on terror. Basically he notes the fact we are at a tipping point with regards to the Nirvana-ites who do not see any real threat from Islamo Fascists and those who see the rising danger:

Rather, the great divide is between those, such as me, who believe that the rise of radical Islam poses an existential threat to Western Civilization; and those who believe it is a nuisance, if, episodically, a very dangerous nuisance.

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The episodic terrorist violence, so far killing far less people than die in car crashes or from lung cancer each year, does not justify re-ordering our social priorities. It does not justify any significant intrusions into civil liberties. It does not justify a major shift of tax revenues from social spending to war and homeland security programs. It certainly does not justify fighting wars on the other side of the world that kill and grievously wound painful numbers of American and European soldiers — and even greater numbers of local residents in the war zones.

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For those of us who support the great struggle against radical Islam, the world reality could not be plainer. The threat of radical Islam is not merely a few thousand terrorists using small explosives to kill a few dozen people at a time — usually in the faraway Middle East. Rather, it is an historic recrudescence of a violent, conquering old tradition of Islam that almost overwhelmed the world from the Seventh Century until as recently as the 17th century. It is radicalizing the minds of increasing numbers of the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims to be very aggressive culturally, as well as violent — from Africa to Indonesia, to Cairo to Ankara, to Paris, to Rotterdam to London to Falls Church, Va.

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And so the debate stands. Every political decision — from the Iraq war appropriation vote this week, to the Patriot Act, to the status of Guantanamo Prison, to NSA intercepts, to the presidential election — is seen through our conceptual squint of the threat or non-threat from radical Islam.

Neither side seems remotely capable of persuading the other of the accuracy of our respective foresights.

Tony is right. Welcome to the beginning of World War III. These same dynamics played out in World War II (and to some degree in every major war). The difference is the tolerance level for death and destruction. The Nirvana-ites are able to blissfully look past the death and destruction of Islamo Fascism and focus on their little dream worlds. Just as many did when Hitler started grabbing up major parts of Europe and rounding up his version of the infidels. Those already alarmed are simply more aware of the death and destruction, more empathic and less self absorbed, and so our alarm bells have gone off earlier. The Nirvana-ites need to feel the loss personally before it becomes reality. The rest of us do not need so much emphasis to want to stop the injustices.

Tony’s piece has a very down tone. He cannot understand, after years of being at this, why the positions have hardened. The Nirvana-ites will not let go of their dreams easily. They fear the reality that awaits. They become partially fanaticized in their efforts to wish reality was not as brutal and evil as it is. And they cannot fathom a force worse than their political opposition (because face it, that is the decision they have to come to). So are we at a stalemate?

Tony forgets one player in this repeat of history – the Islamo Fascists. Just like Hitler and Tojo had ample opportunities to stop their march and control their conquests, they failed at self control. The jihadists have a fantasy too. They see themselves as forcing their views on everyone so now they can be the top of the food chain. They cannot stop themselves. They must continue to consume and destroy to survive (and go to Allah has bloody heroes). So we will not stay at a stalemate position for long. Reality will intrude. The Islamo Fascists will go to far, so far even the Nirvana-ites will finally awake from their stupor, and the war will be waged seriously. The question is: how numb are the Nirvana-ites to death and suffering? How much damage will the Islamo-Fascists wage, and how far will they get, before the world finally wakes up all the way? The media, if it was doing its job, could help by simply reporting the complete set of facts. Primarily the ones where the terrorists are the bad guys and the successes we are having across Iraq show the alternative to the killings. But the media is chock full of Nirvana-ites who are simply too dazzled with their fat paychecks to feel the damage being done by the fanatics.

We are at the tipping point. It is just a matter of how long we sit here and let things run out of control.