User blog comment:Eastward Expansion/What do you think the Future will bring? (Book Review part 1)/@comment-257949-20100729200457

I think that the US will eventually back down from the War on Terror, after a few token victories (deaths of Osama bin Laden and whoever succeeds him as the World's Most Wanted) but, overall, having achieved very little. Perhaps this will be because of the public growing more and more concerned about budget and eventually deciding that trying to stop every little outbreak is futile. Kind of a 'global Vietnam', in that it will be a defeat but, in as little as a few decades, would probably seem meaningless on a historico-political basis.

Regrettably, though, it may create a stigma of Islam being 'backward' and 'dangerous' for a while. I would hate to see this happen, but hopefully if the Middle East finds a new way to grow economically - a Dubai miracle on a regional level - this stereotype will fade away fast.