Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.

We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is—the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.

–George W. Bush, before the Israeli Knesset, May 15, 2008

Recall that primitive past when leaders would for a moment sheath their weapons, sit across from each other, and say, “Now here are some things that we want, and we know there are some things you want, so let’s see if we can settle this without knocking each other off.”

Thankfully, we moderns have moved past that—right back to 1938. We now know that if we talk, that proves we’re weak, and the terrorists will take the Sudetenland. The only point of discussing matters (“diplomacy” for wimps who are into pointless feel-goodism) is to “persuade” your rival that he is Hitler. And we already know that he is. Always. And we tell everybody. A lot. Preferably from a podium belonging to our enemy’s sworn enemy.

Think how inefficient we used to be at starting wars and winning foes. All that the time we wasted attending summits. Were it not for President Bush’s moral clarity, we might be hopelessly mired.