By Patrick J. Buchanan – November 27, 2001

Five days after declaring war on terrorism, the president urged Americans to be patient: “This crusade … is going to take awhile.” Immediately, the cry arose, “How could he be so cruelly insensitive!”

Bush was scourged and admonished that he had insulted the Islamic world. Did he not know the Crusades were wars of criminal Christian aggression marked by pillage and massacre? The president apologized, and no one has since embraced the dreaded term.