Brooks' column is worth reading, I wonder if the following sentence were inserted in order to appease his editors:

We should by now have become used to the death cult that is thriving at the fringes of the Muslim world.

First of all, the problem here isn't a "death cult," but rather a murder cult. A death cult might merely encourage suicides or a veneration of the macabre, which might be ghastly, but it wouldn't be a threat to us.

Let us say what we mean, Mr. Brooks. The problem isn't a fascination with "death" generally, but a nearly-sexual lusting for our deaths, and even our children's deaths, in particular.

Second of all-- for exactly how long do we have to pay lip service to the cretinously "tolerant" lie that this is something at the "fringes" of Muslim society?

Timothy McVeigh and his fellow murderers were at the fringes of American society. They were a collection of poorly-educated no-account criminals, some of whom (the Nichols guy) are quite plainly insane.

The Islamist murder-cult is not at the "fringes" of Muslim society; it is largely at its heart, and, where it is not actually the core of the society, it is powerfully influential on the society.

Islamist murderers are given technical training by respected Muslim engineers and chemists teaching at the most prestigious Muslim university.

Islamist murderers are recruited in the most revered Muslim mosques, often by the top imams of the faith.

Islamist murderers are knowingly assisted in their financial activities by the most senior men at Muslim-controlled banks.

Islamist murderers are praised and/or defended on Muslim-controlled television and in Muslim-controlled newspapers, often by the most respected commentators in the Muslim world.

Islamist murderers proudly declare their "achievements" to throngs who cheer them, and the coffins of Islamist "martyrs" are swarmed by adoring admirers who jostle and surge just to lay a hand on their caskets.

And Islamist murderers have their first training in extremist religious schools, where they are taught every hour on the hour that there is no viciousness that cannot be justified by the will of Allah.

I do not say that all foreign Muslims are guilty of aiding and abetting Islamist murderers. Obviously, that's not true.

But I for one tire of the politically-correct lie that that all these problems are caused by "a few bad apples" operating "at the fringes" with only little or no support from the populaces at large. Those supporting terrorism -- either with money or favors or merely prayers and kind words -- may or may not control Muslim societies, but they've certainly permeated it, from bottom to top (and especially at the top), and are too powerful to dislodge from their positions of influence even by governments willing to attempt doing so.

Were the Nazis, too, a "fringe" movement? Did the "Nazis invade Germany," forcing their vile creed on an innocent and resistant people?

I do not know the exact fraction of the Islamic world that actually supports these monsters. But it cannot possibly be lower than 20%, and it might be as high as 40% -- or higher.

Look at the ratings for the pro-terrorist cable "news" networks. Those people aren't being forced to watch vile apologism on behalf of monsters. They're choosing to do so.

The Nazis were history's most prolific psychopaths (thusfar), but I do note this: the Nazis made efforts to conceal the extent of their mass-butcheries from the populace they ruled. I am not one of those German apologists who believe the German people were essentially innocent and "duped" by Hitler -- most at the very least suspected the extent of the Holocaust, and what they knew from their own firsthand witnessing is enough to brand nearly the entirety of the 1930's-1940's German public as accomplices to genocide.

When they load up the trains with innocent civilians and "evacuate" them to never be seen or heard from again, one can hardly claim moral innocence simply because he didn't know the train's physical destination.

But compare the Nazis to the Islamist murder-cult on this point: The Islamist murder-cultists don't attempt to conceal their savagery from the public they live amongst; rather, they proudly announce the full dimensions of their crimes, and are furthermore adulated by many in response.

If we reject excusing the bulk of the German populace for the crimes committed by the Nazis, how on earth can we continue insisting that it's merely "a few lunatics" responsible for Islamist savagery? As ghastly a thought it is to minimize German viciousness during the Nazi era to any extent, at least the the German people would have be disgusted were they to know the full extent of Hitler's psychopathic program.

Apparently Islamist murderers have little to fear on that score.

When a psychopathic movement does not even feel the least need to conceal its butchery from the society supporting it, but rather trumpets that savagery in videotaped murder-pageants, I think we've crossed the line where we can honestly speak of "fringe elements" and "a few rogue actors."

Progress? The Saudis say they'll no longer allow "fanatics" to teach children. The Saudis say a lot of things, but at least lying about wanting to remove murder-preachers from children's education is a start. Concealing one's crimes at least displays some shame about them.

It does not change the fact, however, that such teachers are at the moment teaching very young children to kill and die in support of lunatic barbarism.