‘And she was a smart lady. It doesn’t hurt to listen to smart people once in a while, Ben. There ain’t a lot of them around. And very few folks willing to hear the truth.’

‘The truth?’ Ben said.

‘The politicians know it, when they’re standing up and trying to persuade us over and over that Islam’s really this touchy-feely ol’ religion of peace that has nothing to do with terrorism. Half of them are only saying that because they’re shit scared they’ll spark off a freakin’ bloodbath right on their home soil. The other half are saying it because they’re in bed with the Saudis, doing deals over oil and fighter jets. Meanwhile, most people in the West still have no idea what kind of an enemy we’re up against. An enemy single-mindedly devoted to destroy the whole world in order to achieve our complete submission.’

Ben flicked ash and took another sip of wine. ‘I don’t know about that, Tyler.’

‘You don’t work for the Pentagon, then. It’s been thirteen years since they assigned intelligence analysts to write a report examining what’s driving educated young Islamic men, and even some women, to commit acts of suicide and murder. Their reluctant conclusion? That the single source of these people’s motivation was the Qur’an itself. It’s not a book of religion. It’s a goddamn hate-filled recruiting pamphlet for a culture of conquest that openly glorifies violence against the infidel, and has no higher calling than that of the suicide bomber.’

‘Have you read the book?’ Ben asked him.

‘Sure I have, in three different translations as well as the original Arabic, and the hadiths and sunnah that go with it. And it oughtta scare the crap out of every freedom-loving, God-fearing tolerant Westerner who isn’t walking around with their eyes shut. Certainly scares the crap outta me.’

‘It doesn’t help that we invaded their countries, bombed and killed their people,’ Ben said. ‘While America led the way as usual.’

Roth looked at him. ‘Uh, says the guy who was there and took part?’

Ben replied, ‘I did what I did. I don’t have to be happy about it.’

‘Give me a break, man. We didn’t declare war on them. It’s the sole purpose and mission of Islam in its purest form to declare war on us and remove us from existence. “When you clash with the unbelieving infidels in battle, smite their necks until you overpower them, killing and wounding many of them. Thus you are commanded by Allah to continue carrying out jihad against the unbelieving infidels until they submit to Islam.” Chapter 47, verse 4.’

‘So are you just going to sit there quoting the Qur’an all night?’