Dean Barnett writes on Hugh Hewitt's blog today:

The biggest disappointment of the past six years has been the White House’s ongoing inability to express the rationale for the so-called war on terror. For most of you reading this site, the rationale is obvious and well known: There exists an enormous segment of the Muslim world that seeks our destruction. Either we transform our malefactors, or the world’s fate will be unimaginably horrific.

This is a long war, and yet leading Republicans including the one in the White House have yet to articulate why it’s necessary.

He is right and it is a point often put forward here. The Bush approach to terror has always been reactive rather than proactive, laying out a vision and try and rally the nation behind it has never been an easy task for someone essentially lacking that vision. And yes, the notion of 'sacrifice' is totally absent: America got a tax cut during a time of war. But what is also part of the White House's inept messaging is the far more difficult acknowledgement that jihadism is religious and not political in nature. The danger of 'crusader' rhetoric and other politcally correct sentiments ensured that more than five years after 9/11 large segments of the western world are still oblivious of the real threat.

And I use 'western world' with very good reason, as in Europe this is an equally hard nut to crack. The Times today ran a passionate editorial following the sentencing of al-Qaeda operative Dhiren Barot. It is another textbook case of conversion, radicalization and sophistication. But above all one of serious warning:

The Barot case underlines the character of terrorism, its international tentacles, chameleon adaptability and ability to exploit Western fads and weaknesses. It should, and will, make more urgent the need to penetrate and disarm the mindset that kills in the name of a deity. It is a threat that no democratic society can ignore.

The time has come for Republicans and Democrats, Americans and Europeans to find common ground, recognize this lethal enemy and fight it relentlessly. If not, terrorists like Barot will succeed in executing their sickening plans on both sides of the ocean:

His expertise and professionalism in surveying the nine London hotels, three stations, synagogues, banks and Underground lines targeted for destruction is matched only by his sadism in contemplating how he could increase the panic and human suffering caused by exploding gas cylinders, napalm, nails and a radiation bomb.