Cultural (lack of) confidence

From Mark Steyn:

Afghanistan is supposed to be "the good war," the one even the French supported, albeit notionally and mostly retrospectively. Karzai is kept alive by a bodyguard of foreigners. The fragile Afghan state is protected by American, British, Canadian, Australian, Italian and other troops, hundreds of whom have died. You cannot ask Americans or Britons to expend blood and treasure to build a society in which a man can be executed for his choice of religion. You cannot tell a Canadian soldier serving in Kandahar that he, as a Christian, must sacrifice his life to create a Muslim state in which his faith is a capital offense.

As always, we come back to the words of Osama bin Laden: "When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse." That's really the only issue: The Islamists know our side have tanks and planes, but they have will and faith, and they reckon in a long struggle that's the better bet.

Where are the voices of those who always worry (needlessly, for the most part) about a Christian theocracy taking root in America? The sound of the crickets chirping is deafening. Guess it goes back to the revelation most publishers had after the Mohammed cartoons: you can gleefully criticize a religion that preaches turning the other cheek, but those religions that teach the masses to kill the infidel, well, there it's best to keep quiet, eh?

UPDATE: Note that the court did not release him because they recognize his right to change his faith. Rather, they declined to kill him because they believe (and want you to believe) his is insane. This is pure fundamentalist Islam - the belief a person would leave the Umma only because they are 1) evil, deserving of death, or 2) crazy. Tolerant lot, aren't they?