SURPRISED? MAYBE WE HAD BETTER WAKE UP HERE

I don't know if you've noticed, but the Israeli army is having a rather tough time with Hezbollah. In story after story you read that the Israeli army doesn't seem to be the awesome, feared fighting machine it once was, and that Hezbollah is showing no fear of the Israelis and putting up a stalwart fight. Some reports I've read even say that Hezbollah is winning this confrontation - this war - and that it will soon be the Israelis who are looking for a cease fire; a cease fire they can use to regroup and consider their options.

Israel, at the urging of the world community, sowed the seeds for this current situation when they withdrew from Southern Lebanon years ago. The Israelis responded to world opinion (usually a mistake) by pulling back without any agreement from either the terrorists in Hezbollah or in Lebanon. The idea behind the pullback was that maybe, just maybe, Hezbollah and Lebanon would be content to honor the international border between the two countries and leave Israel in peace.

Fat chance.

Instead, Hezbollah remained loyal to the Islamic dream of a Middle East with no Israel. They used the time to build its fortifications in Southern Lebanon, moving the bulk of them underground. They used this time to build their military capability and to stash rockets and arms -- most of which were supplied by Iran with no small amount of help from Syria.

When Iran and Hezbollah felt that the military buildup and the entrenchment was sufficient, they launched their provocations against Israel, knowing that Israel would respond.

Muslims around the world are cheering Hezbollah on. Not only Muslims, but a goodly number of anti-Semitics in this country who suffer from that strange form of dementia that causes one to blame every evil in their personal life and in the world on "those Jews."

I hope the rest of us are paying attention here, and I fear we are not. This is much more than a battle between Israel and Hezbollah. This is one front, one battle in World War III, the war between the West and radical Islam.

Israel tried to do the right thing. They withdrew. They sought peace. They asked nothing more to be left alone. The Islamists in Hezbollah and their supporters and enablers in Lebanon, Syria and Iran saw this as a sign of weakness. Israel is tired. Israel doesn't want to fight any more. Israel is weak. Israel can be defeated.

These Islamic murderers see the same weakness in the United States. Oh, to be sure, for a while they feared George Bush. In George Bush they saw an American leader who understood their intentions and who was bent on their destruction. Soon after Bush showed his resolve by invading Afghanistan you saw Muslim leaders starting to backtrack. They were starting to retreat back into their holes ... until, that is, the American left stepped forward.

For American liberals, for the Nancy Pelosis, Ted Kennedys and Howard Deans of this world, the hatred of George Bush and the bitterness of the 2000 election just couldn't be overcome. It mattered not that the president understood the danger presented by Islam, and was prepared to fight. It only mattered that George Bush defeated their Damien, their precious Al Gore, and that Democratic honor had to be assuaged. Bush had to be demonized.

As the Democrats intensified their attacks on George Bush over the war in Iraq, the Muslims started to see the weakness they were looking for. Another Western weakness ripe for exploitation.

Right now Israel is paying the price for appeasement. Some in Israel thought that there might be a better way .. .a way to live in peace with radical Islam. They now know better.

Do we?

Now ... before you move on, read this Ann Coulter column. Once you have you'll realize that we are, indeed, in a world war against radical Islam. It's time for some folks to decide which side they want to support.