A good interview with Paul Berman today at Salon, comparing and contrasting Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Ladin to Hitler and Stalin. These are not new comparisons--read a book a couple of years ago talking about Fascism and comparing it to some Modern Islamic movements. The comparisons hold for Stalinism and some other versions of communism. All three movements actively reject liberalism (in the broader sense of the word). All three have a mythology that explains the future and the world around them.
He says that Bush is right in his diagnosis of the problem, but he's been unable to articulate his point of view. He goes to bat for our efforts in Afghanistan, saying, "In Afghanistan, everybody sneers at the achievements of the United States and its allies because we see the warlords in the provinces, we see the extreme suffering, we see all the things that haven't been done. But what has been done has really been quite magnificent. A hideous tyranny was overthrown, a new government was established in more or less the way that any liberal democrat would advise: Afghans were consulted from around the country, more or less democratic councils led to the forming of a new government with a new leader for Afghanistan who is not a warlord or a corrupt figure or a friendly religious fanatic but who is in fact a man of modern liberal democratic ideals."
Anyway I highly recommend this article to everyone--go read it--Salon's a bit of a hassle, but this is worth it.
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