Last week the world was “stunned” by the pope’s remarks concerning radical Islam. At least the media reports would have you believe that. It seems ironic to me that the pope points out that violence is not an appropriate way to advance faith and muslims in many parts of the world react violently, proving his point about their violent tendencies. I’m not the first to point this out, but it seems to have been widely missed in the mainstream media.

I see a similar irony in the interpretation of the National Intelligence Estimate this week which shows that the war in Iraq has been used as a successful recruiting tool for Islamic militants. So as I understand it, some believe we should cease hostilities and withdraw because doing so will undermine the recruiting effort of Islamic militants. I wonder what the Islamic militants might do with their new-found free time? Maybe they would focus their rage on cartoonists.