On this the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Andrew McCarthy says we continue to pretend a moderate, tolerant version of Islam exists which is allied with the West and an enemy of the al Qaeda extremists and their fellow travellers. He, too, wishes such an Islam existed, but believes that it does not, despite that fact that millions of Muslims live moderately, respecting the beliefs and traditions of others.

Some believe our real error following 9/11 was not that we overreacted, but that we used the language of total war without the methods required to prosecute and win such a war, which is exactly what we did following December 7, 1941.

Reuel Marc Gerecht responds to Fareed Zakaria's contention that we overreacted to the 9/11 attacks.

Ted Koppel believes our actions in response to 9/11 played right into Osama bin Laden's hands.

As for me, I believe President Bush missed some crucial opportunities that will loom ever larger in the pages of history as time passes. First, he should have asked Congress for a declaration of war against al Qaeda and the Taliban (nothing in the Constitution limits a war declaration only to nation states). This would have helped bind the Democrats to his course of action, and provided a legal framework within which to work. Second, he should have called for a national program to reduce our dependence on Mideast oil. Americans would have been ready, willing and able to make the sacrifices necessary to accomplish such a goal while the smoke was still rising from Ground Zero. Third, he should have asked Congress to reinstate the draft, or create some form of national service commitment. This would have avoided the situation which we now have of a relatively small slice of the American population bearing the greatest burden of our global military operations.

These are my observations, and I have held to them from the start. History will judge whether President Bush was right to to what he did. I only hope that a future President is not faced with an even larger crisis, exacerbated by the mistakes of his predecessors.