It has been an eventful summer. Not in this country – America’s summer was mostly placid, with more worries about heat waves and baseball than politics and survival. Around the world, a different story is unfolding.

Israel fights a two-front war against terrorists in Lebanon and Palestine. Iraq remains a chaotic mess. Britain and Canada have uncovered and foiled major terrorist plots that would have killed thousands of people if successful.

A war is going on, a war for the hearts and minds of billions. This war is not about terrorism: terrorism is just one of many ways the war manifests itself. This war is not a clash of civilizations, not a battle between religions, nations or individuals. This war is about the rise of fundamentalist Islam.

We can pretend this does not concern us, we can argue that it has nothing to do with us. Many of us are unaffected by the war – its burden falls on our soldiers and reservists, or on the citizens of other nations. With the horrific exception of September 11, the United States is mostly untouched by Islamic terrorism. While this is unquestionably a good thing, it allows us to forget about the broader conflict, and this conflict has become exceedingly broad.

Today, violent Islamic fundamentalism exists throughout the Muslim world. From Jemaah Islamiyah, the perpetrator of nightclub bombings in Indonesia, to Hamas, the terrorist group now in control of the Palestinian government, these groups are growing in power and authority. Significantly, their goals and orientations differ. Hezbollah seeks an Islamic state in Lebanon, and its primary target is Israel, not the United States, while Al Qaeda seeks to take over the Islamic world and focuses its efforts on the United States, according to an August 13 opinion in the Boston Globe.

Perhaps most distressing is the rise of militant Islam in the west. Last summer England saw that in the July 7 suicide bombings, killing 52 people and injuring thousands; the perpetrators were British citizens. Muslim cleric Omar Brooks marked the anniversary of this attack by praising the suicide bombers and joking that September 11 “changed the lives” of the people inside the buildings, according to the London Times. In June, a terrorist cell in Ontario, Canada was arrested before it could carry out its attacks. It is only a matter of time before American Muslims carry out an attack.

How do we confront the specter of militant Islamic fundamentalism? The current president has sought to do so with military action, and imposing democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan. This strategy has backfired – nation building was never given the attention or resources it required, and the two countries we occupy are stronger bastions of terrorism than democracy. Military force alone will not win this conflict. Opponents of these invasions urge our withdrawal.

Unfortunately, leaving Iraq, or Afghanistan, will not diminish the anger felt towards us. New battlefields will emerge, and the attacks will continue. Should our country retreat from any dealings with Muslim nations, the fundamentalists will turn their guns upon other nations and peoples. At present, a Jihadist could fight in Chechnya, the Philippines, Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq and Afghanistan, among others. Moreover, that Jihadist would hardly forgive the United States for its occupation of Iraq or support of Israel, even if such policies were revoked.

We are in a war of ideas. The fundamentalist argument is clear and concise: they have their unwavering true version of Islam, and it demands the Muslim world must be purified of depraved western influences and restored to its former grandeur. The United States has not articulated an effective counter argument, perhaps out of the belief that the fundamentalists lack popular support. We cannot dismiss the fundamentalist argument, because it is credible and even appealing to many Muslims.

Two years ago, when the 9/11 Commission released its report, it recommended the following: “We should offer an example of moral leadership in the world, committed to treat people humanely, abide by the rule of law, and be generous and caring to our neighbors.” This is the message we must send to the Muslim world and to Muslims in the West, and this must be followed by action.

There are a number of concrete steps that can be taken to defeat Islamic terrorism. Because torture is antithetical to any moral leadership we might convey, torture as government policy must be terminated, and the sites where it has occurred must be shut down.

The experiment in Iraq has failed, and a phased withdrawal should occur, so our forces can be redirected to other conflicts, like the one in Afghanistan. Should military intervention occur in the future, it must be supported with troops, money and dedicated nation