Terrorist Events of the past 30 years = WW IV?

Some (first Eliot Cohen and James Woolsey , echoed by Doug Saunders) have proposed that the war on terror is World War 4, and they point to 9-11 as the Pearl Harbor event of that war, or to terrorism in the 90's. Mudville Gazette has another take. Its chronology would suggest that the war is 30 years old, beginning with the terrorism launched on Israel, following the 6-day War.

If so, perhaps this too follows: that radical Palestinians' war against Israel is yet another expression of radical Islam's war against the West. Israel is, after all, the closest liberal democracy (ie, having an equality of sexes and some degree of secularized government) and capitalistic economy.

UPDATE:
Daniel Pipes adds his thoughts to the topic.

Rick Rescorla

Last week's 2-year anniversary of 9-11 brought this incredible story of a 9-11 hero back to my attention. I remember hearing about him shortly after the event, but it is only now that I have acquainted myself with it more thoroughly. It turns out that Rick Rescorla has a track record, an equally amazing one at that, from Vietnam. You can read his story either at Mudville Gazette (a blog with other links and with some moving replies from some of Rescorla's men and his wife) or at the New Yorker .