Excellent. Steyn's short take on The Arab Street should be required reading for every living soul. It raises for me the question I've asked here before: what exactly do the Islamists hope to gain by physically attacking America? They cannot win, they cannot gain any real concession.

Post 9/11, we've deposed two governments, hacked al Quada financing to bits, jailed or killed thousands of its followers, shamed them by dragging one of the Arab world's fearless leaders out of a ridiculous hole in the ground, intimidated Libya and perhaps now North Korea into thinking about rejoining the rational world, and generally put terrorists on the defensive.

And they've gained what, exactly? Some decidedly minor changes in the way Americans live? A temporary rift between the US and France? What, after 9/11, does Osama bin Laden have to smile about?

They must realize, don't they, that an escalation of hostilities will go extremely badly for them and their aspirations.