Earlier in this thread, it was suggested that both G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney are "big picture" type of leadership guys.
So be it.
The only thing wrong is that in the time following the September 11th attacks, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, and certainly all their advisors, were looking at the -wrong- "picture".
As most of our "leaders" still do.
They figured they could go in with military power, overthrow or kill a leader or two, throw out the existing government and replace it with a new one ("elected" or not), and come out of that with something resembling "stability".
We're seeing how well that worked out, eh?
What neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Cheney (nor the rest of the power elites) could (or can) understand is that in dar el islam, whoever happens to be "sitting in the seat" at the moment isn't really the "leader" of those nations, and that the concept of "nations" (at least as -we- regard them) itself doesn't matter all that much.
The "leader" of those "nations" has been dead for 1400 years.
The "governments" over which they are ruled are inconsequential -- the true "operating system" of islamic nations was laid down in a book written by that guy who died 1400 years ago. There is no chance that they can be changed, because the book is recognized by the people who live in those nations as "un-changeable". It is what it is.
The countries have borders, but for all practical purposes, how life is going to be conducted in one nation of dar el islam doesn't vary much from the rest. That, too, is what it is.
And it's going to STAY that way, and grow worse, until The West wakes up and understands that if we wish to fundamentally (carefully chosen word) change dar el islam into a "dar" that resembles that of Western freedom, we're going to have to get rid of that book and free those populations from the thrall of that guy who has held them in his grip for fourteen centuries.
"That's impossible", you'll reply.
Very well. You're probably right.
But if that's the case, we'd better prepare ourselves for what's comin' down the pike.
Something that those "big picture" guys missed completely...
Hint: it's called "submission".