So four of the terrorists responsible for the calculated and profoundly inhumane murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl have been tried and convicted by a Pakistani court: one was sentenced to death by hanging; the three others received prison terms of 25 years — which in Pakistan seems to be the equivalent of a life sentence. Seven more suspects remain at large. I don’t think, however, that any hosannas are warranted. While the Pearl family has stated that they are "grateful for the tireless efforts" by US and Pakistani authorities "to bring those guilty of Danny’s kidnapping and murder to justice," these convictions can never bring peace to them — or to any of us.

The Associated Press reports that the United Jihad Council, an organization of 15 militant groups, said the verdict "will definitely add to the hatred against America." Given what was done to Daniel Pearl — and the recent and growing acts of violence in Pakistan against not only Americans, but also other foreign "infidels" — it is difficult to imagine what this consortium of Muslim hatemongers has in mind in terms of adding to the hatred. What they did to Pearl epitomizes the lengths to which these scum are driven by their hatred of those who do not accept their religiously based xenophobia.

If any Americans still doubt that the "War on Terrorism" needs to be fought worldwide — not just by Americans or Israelis, but by all who do not wish to live either under a Taliban-like yoke or threats of violence — then the statement of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh should give them great pause. Saeed, who was sentenced to death for masterminding the atrocity of Pearl’s murder, said in a statement read by his lawyer, "We’ll see who will die first, me or the authorities who have arranged the death sentence for me. [Pakistani president] Musharraf should know that Almighty Allah is there and can get his revenge. Now the jihad [holy war] between Islam and non-Muslims is going on and everybody is showing whether he is in favor of Islam or in favor of the nonbelievers." Can there remain any doubt as to the true objective of this increasingly sweeping, radical-Islamic movement?

As recently reported in the Phoenix, the previously unknown group that claimed responsibility for Pearl’s death, the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty, made its position very clear in the scrolling text on its video of Pearl’s murder. First, the terrorists showed Pearl alive, speaking of his Jewishness and Zionist connections to Israel and then condemning US foreign policy toward Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere; the accompanying text read, "We assure Americans that they will never be safe on the Muslim land of Pakistan. And if our demands are not met this scene shall be repeated again and again."

Sadly and frighteningly, what is going on in the Middle East and Pakistan illustrates especially well the struggle between those who desire and those who oppose the freedoms of modern civilization. The acts of terrorism there are currently the most obvious examples of this worldwide jihad that is attacking not only "nonbelievers" (i.e., non-Muslims), but Muslim "nonbelievers" as well.

As many did in the early days of Nazism, we can fool ourselves into believing that we are dealing with rational people who have legitimate gripes, and that a "moral equivalence" exists somewhere within the situation. We can deceive ourselves into thinking that those who are not Jewish and do not support Israel or US policy toward Israel are not targets, and that if we would only recognize the plight of the Palestinians and get Israel into line, all will be well. But it is past the time when all Americans — of every faith or no religious faith, but especially Christians and Muslims — speak out loudly against what is evermore clearly a threat against all of "us" who are absolutely "nonbelievers."