Evil?

"Ever since World War II, we have been driven by a passionate desire to understand how mass genocide, terror states, and global war came about--and how we can prevent them in the future. ... Just as with fascism, most contemporaries found it nearly impossible to believe that the Gulag Achipelago was what it was. And just as with fascism, we studied it so that the next time we would see evil early enough to prevent it from threatening us again. ... Yet, they are with us again, and we are acting as we did in the last century. The world is simmering in the familar rhetoric and actions of movements and regimes--from Hezbollah and al Qaeda to the Iranian Khomeniests and the Saudi Wahhabis--who swear to destroy us and others like us. ... Why are we failing to see the mounting power of evil enemies? ... No doubt there are many reasons. One is the deep-seated belief that all people are basically the same, and all are basically good. Most human history, and above all the history of the last century points in the opposite direction. But it is unpleasant to accept the fact that many people are evil. ... This is not merely a philosophical issue, for to accept the threat to us means--short of a policy of national suicide--acting against it. As it did in the 20th century, it means war. ... None of the democracies adequately prepared for war before it was unleashed on them in the 1940s. None was prepared for the terror assault of the 21st century. ... This time, ignorance cannot be claimed as an excuse. If we are defeated, it will because of failure of will, not a lack of understanding. As, indeed, was almost the case with our near-defeat in the 1940s", my emphasis, Michael Ledeen (ML) at the WSJ, 7 June 2008.

ML's got this knocked. Many Westerners, possibly a majority have no knowledge of the third world which contains tens of millions hostile to us. Get over it.