My original post from last November apparently got archived.  My direct link I had bookmarked no longer works.  I had intended to bump it every few days or week or so to avoid this, but I guess I didn't pay close enough attention

So I am going to try to reconstruct it.  With the new events of the last couple weeks, these are some things we really should not lose track of.

3 Touchstones, 3 Conjectures
by Joe Katzman at November 15, 2005 03:36 AM

(Originally published Sept. 8, 2004)

Some essays are so good that they become touchstones for discussion throughout the blogosphere. Recent updates to one of the items on this list, plus Iran's ambitions and atomic weapons program, make these essays more timely than ever.

Steven Den Beste's straightforward, point form explanation of the Global War on Terror's strategy, aims and rationale in 2003 is one of the all-time touchstones. In Novmber 2005, Tigerhawk updated it. Den Beste's assessment: "excellent."

American Digest's "The First Terrorist War" clearly explains of the stakes we face - avoiding the Islamic War by winning the Terrorist War - and much else besides (Hat Tip: reader John Simutis for finding it again); this ties nicely into...

Wretchard's famous and chilling "3 Conjectures":
Conjecture 1: Terrorism has lowered the nuclear threshold
Conjecture 2: Attaining WMDs will destroy Islam
Conjecture 3: The War on Terror is the 'Golden Hour' -- the final chance

Belmont Club also has an important postscript that sums it all up so very well:

www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn05.html

And here's a fairly concise version of how the cartoon brouhaha got started and the various apologists that showed up.  It's really not about sensitivity, it's about how you use democracy against itself and how stupid we can be about it.