Civil war

In a crystallising post over at One Hand Clapping Donald Sensing suggests that the current terror war is actually a Muslim civil war. It's the al Qaeda view of Islam versus the more moderate and, let's face it, peace compatible view of Islam.

...the Muslim world is faced with defining what Islam really is. If al Qaeda is not in fact the keeper of the true faith, then the rest of the Muslims must unite to destroy al Qaeda just to ensure the survival of Islam itself. They need to understand that the present crisis is not primarily that of Islamists against the West, it is the Islamists against everybody who does not toe their line.

It seems that the key to this war on terror is to persuade the moderates that this is actually the case, though I suspect that further atrocities in Islamic countries will leave little doubt. However, recognising a position and actually admitting to it are very different things and I think we have a long period of denial ahead of us.