As the recent Cynic article “Caricatures of Controversy” illustrates, Islamic fascists and murders across the globe may have more allies in the United States than many think, and they might find them on the extreme American left. The “students against war” who put forth this article may not realize that they are in fact defending the war being waged by Islamic fundamentalists against the very values and liberties that they take advantage of, but seem less inclined to protect. The article claims that using the “specter of an irrational and violent Islam” champions of Western civilization are justifying “anti-immigration scapegoating and imperialist war.” Such language suggests that Islamic terrorism is but a figment of our imagination. Perhaps there is some Unholy Ghost at work here, but surely the intolerance and murder of Islamic fundamentalists has shown itself time and again. The death of thousands on September 11th, and in London and Madrid, was not just a nightmare. Nor are those who preach hate and violence in mosques from Cairo to Ramallah, Damascus to Riyadh, and Tehran to Islamabad, just pretending. And the spirit of those who burned embassies and threatened westerners in rage over the “blasphemous” portrayal of the Prophet Mohammad in Danish and French newspapers is the same that engulfed the World Trade Center with fire and spilled innocent blood on American soil on September 11th. Those who violently protest against the printing of these cartoons, and whose brothers in arms commit other crimes against humanity, can never be justified. The issue regarding the cartoons is not whether or not they are an inappropriate insult to Islam. In free societies, religions of all kinds are criticized and defamed every day (recently an Italian priest was sued for preaching that Jesus existed). The issue is the demonstration by the protestors that at least some percentage of Muslims will never be able to live in a society in which freedom of speech, secular government, and other Western values are guaranteed to all who abide by the law. The violence, which the Mohammad cartoons have sparked, should frighten all who hold the values and liberties of Western civilization dear. The number of Muslims who would commit acts of violence in the name of their faith, who wage war against the “impiety” of the West, is hard to count. The number of Muslims who support or sympathize with them is even more difficult to know. What is known, however, is the dedication and methods of Islamic fundamentalists. The Students Against War were right to recognize that an ideological war is now being waged around the globe. But what they fail to realize is that the assault they speak of is directed against the very society that protects their rights and liberties. The efforts to combat this assault by America and other Western nations are acts of self-defense, of the lives and values of millions. We should not appease those who do murder, preach hate and incite fear in the name of Islam. If these students are really against war, they should not defend those who declared it on the values of America and the West long before images of the Prophet Mohammad appeared in print. And we should never forget the destruction and loss of life that has touched America at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists, whose fury now rages elsewhere on the globe, but always threatens our home.