Clear, concise, well referenced, and eye opening. If you can’t comprehend why this is, and has been a religious war (not to mention World War III, or IV depending on how you count), try this article on for size.

The American Thinker: We are already in a Religious War

Given the enthusiasm the Muslim culture has for those who die in battle with infidels (and the rewards promised in the afterlife to those who make that sacrifice), one would think that Islamists around the world would be enthusiastically trumpeting the deaths of those dying in American or Israeli battles. I can easily imagine them spouting something along the lines of “Drop all the bombs you want! We embrace death. Our martyrs go straight to Paradise, and more will line up to take their place.” Certainly the thought of an unending supply of willing victims would unnerve me, especially since the Russian experience during WWII shows that a nation that has enough cannon fodder can defeat a better trained, better equipped army.

Yet that’s not what the Islamists do. Instead, they bemoan – and make causes célèbres of – the civilian dead, whether in Lebanon, on the beaches, or on the streets. Since Islamic precepts indicate that they should be embracing and celebrating these deaths, not bewailing them, the Islamists’ public declarations of outrage can be aimed only at our sensibilities, not theirs. And our all-American naval gazing, which forces us to deny that there is a religious element to this war, prevents us from understanding events through the Islamic lens. Instead, it sees us agonizing over these deaths through our guilt-ridden Western perspective. Each death, therefore, is not only a numerical loss to the opposition, but a disabling blow to ourselves as well.