Excerpt:
We suffer from willful blindness now more than ever. Former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy, who prosecuted the Blind Sheik, who masterminded the first attack on the World Trade Center, warned us of our error in his terror memoir by that name; as we continue our denial of the threat Americans face, McCarthy names names in his new book, The Grand Jihad, which debuted on the New York Times bestseller list this weekend. Andy, a fellow at the National Review Institute, talks with National Review Online's Kathryn Lopez about President Obama at war, the future of Islam, the dangers of intramural rancor, and much more.
KATHRYN JEAN LOPEZ: What do health-care reform and "the Grand Jihad" have in common?
ANDREW C. McCARTHY: They both enjoy the support of Islam and the Left. Obviously, I need to explain a few things about that — brevity may be the soul of wit, but I'm learning it can be used against you. In this context, by "Islam," I mean the Islamist movement — which, though very mainstream among the world's Muslims, is by no means representative of all Muslims. By "the Left," I mean the modern hard Left led by President Obama — I do not mean all people who would identify themselves as progressives or liberals. And when I say Islamists and leftists work together, I mean they have an alliance, not that they've merged. They've got some significant differences, but there are so many historical and present-day examples of collaboration, I'm surprised that there is any dispute about their alliance and their agreement on many big-picture issues.