I'm just less impressed by his fear of radical Islamic extremism. Those comments are almost exactly like old Cold War talk about the Soviet Union. Radical Islamic extremism seems to fall a good deal short of the old Soviet Union in its worldly power. And I personally haven't seen any great movement to destroy everything we stand for and believe in; at least not what I stand for and believe in. I don't know about the beliefs you stand for.
Video of the interview is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDDixe_N5sE.
"We are beset and assaulted by a great force of evil, that of radical Islamic extremism, people who want to destroy everything we stand for and believe in."
Later -- "to find out how best to defend our nation and defeat our enemies. ... that isn't just militarily, militarily is easy, or probably the most straightforward part of the challenge we face. We face a challenge today around the world, America's prestige and standing have never been lower. There has never been a greater threat from radical Islamic extremism as we know. So there has to be not just military, but intelligence, diplomatic, economic, and hearts and minds. Right now my friends, some would argue that, through use of the Internet, Al Jazeera, many other ways, that the forces of evil are making greater gains than we are. We are going to have to do whatever we can particularly through modern technology to win people over to our beliefs, our faiths, our values, and our ideals. And my friends, we can't do that
if we are abusing prisoners, We can't do that if we have places like Guantanamo Bay that have become a symbol of abuse of people. We can't do that if we are doing renditions and taking people to other countries where God only knows what is
being done to them. We cannot torture prisoners, no matter what and how immediate the problem is. We have to maintain our moral superiority as a nation, and we do that because we are better than our enemies. And if we act so that people
don't know the difference we are going to have great difficulties in the struggle that I am describing to you."
