As I mentioned here, I’ll be posting some thoughts as I (slowly, given my available time) work my way through Norman Podhoretz new book, World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism.

Chapters 1 and 2 are an overview of how we got to 9/11. As was the case when reading Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower, it’s a pretty depressing and often maddening story. Just plumbing the depths of the incompetence and wrongheadedness of the Carter Administration would require volumes, but Podhoretz touches on the highlowpoints. For example:

In seizing the American hostages in 1979 and escaping retaliation, Khomeini inflicted great humiliation on the United States. But at the same time, he also exposed the foolishness of Jimmy Carter’s view of the world . . . In one fell swoop, the Ayatollah Khomeini made nonsense of Carter’s delusionary philosophy in the eyes of very large numbers of Americans, including many who had previously entertained it.

Chapter 3 centers of the emergence of The Bush Doctrine following the attacks of September 11, 2001 and compares it to the successful Truman Doctrine of containing Soviet expansion all over the world.

The farther I get into this book, the more keenly aware I am of how important this next presidential election is. It is hard to overstate how vital to our nation’s future it is that the Democrats do not win the White House. As much as I loathe Mr. McCain’s views on immigration and have concerns about Mr. Giuliani’s views on abortion, there is little question that they understand and are willing to fight World War IV. The alternative is appeasement and surrender under the Dems.