Pres. Bush, speaking from Crawford on his 320-odd day of vacation time since taking office, spoke about the release of a video by Osama bin Laden's number two man. I know Bush has used similar terms before but something about his phrasing made a clear connection in my mind.

Essentially he said something about the spread of this "dark" brand of Islam, exporting it to nations all around the world. He could have been talking about cold war communism. He didn't quite talk about the "domino effect" but that was clearly what he was getting at.

This has been the subtext all along with US involvement in the Middle East. Since the collapse of the USSR, the US has been trying to find a coherent global enemy to fight. Finding just the right branch of Islam to demonize has worked a bit but obviously we needed a beefier target. The occupation of Iraq has put this particular militant form of Islam on steroids, causing it to grow by leaps and bounds. Three years ago I doubt Al Qaida was anywhere near as strong as it is today.

This is all to the good in the eyes of the Neocons who need a strong enemy as a stalking horse for their military and capitalist plans. This was played out all through the cold war until the Soviet system collapsed.