9/11 + 18

18 years after the war began, Trump appears to be looking for an out that doesn't include winning.  If we've spent 18 years fighting and haven't won, then maybe we should just quit.  Throw in the towel.  Have a meeting with the Taliban and threaten them with furious retaliation if they start hosting al Qaeda again.  Oh, that'll work just great.

 

Like his predecessors, Trump is unwilling to identify the enemy.  If you can't say what you are fighting, you can't win.  We've been fighting symptoms - Islamic terrorists - for years but haven't even thought to address the disease: Islam.  Islam is not a religion of peace.  Read a biography of Muhammad and there is no way you can view him as a peacemaker.  He was a warlord and conqueror.  The religion he founded calls for the subjugation of all non-Muslims and views martyrdom - death in the cause of Islam - as the most praiseworthy thing a Muslim can do.  Is it any wonder so many are willing to blow themselves up or fly planes into buildings?  This isn't some crazy misinterpretation.  This is the religion.

 

The only way to win is to wipe out Islam.  That is an impossibility in the world today.  The West cannot do that.  In fact, the West is happily allowing Islam to migrate and takeover.  Charles Martel stopped the invasion of the Muslims into France but modern French leaders are inviting them in and paying welfare to have them.  This will not end well.

 

I said Trump's new plan wouldn't work and it hasn't.  Like his predecessors, he will not do what it would take to win.  The argument used to be that we fight over there so they don't show up here.  Well, they are showing up here because we've rolled out the red carpet to show how tolerant we are.  Fighting there just creates pressure for them to migrate to the West (see Syria).

 

"There is no substitute for victory."  Douglas MacArthur

 

Is it time to admit that we lost?  Is it time to cut and run?  So it seems.  But maybe we can spin it to look like a win.  Or at least a tie!

9/11 + 16 Years

In the wake of Pearl Harbor, the United States went to war with Imperialist Japan and Nazi Germany.  The Japanese utilized suicide bombers on planes, though they targeted American warships, not buildings.  We defeated them in 4 years.  The Nazis were vastly better at slaughtering Jews than the Islamic terrorists have thus far proven to be.  We defeated them in 4 years.  How is it that random bands of terrorists have proven more tenacious than two great powers from the 20th Century?

 

It is not the terrorists who are more formidable but the United States that is dramatically less formidable.  Japan had trended toward militarism, totalitarianism, and expansionism in the early 20th Century.  It had many similarities with the fascism of Italy and Germany, thus the natural alliance as the Axis Powers.  When the US defeated Japan, militarism was forcibly purged and a new constitution was imposed upon them.  The toxic ideas that had created Imperial Japan were ripped out by the victors.  This same process happened in Germany.  Nazis were rounded up and tried for war crimes.  The ideology that had justified the Holocaust was, to the best of our ability, eradicated.  The ideologies of the victorious powers were imprinted upon the losing powers.  Sadly, half of Europe suffered Communism as a result but no one was allowed to keep fascism in any of its forms.

 

Today, the ideology in question is Islam.  Islam is a fascist belief system.  Does it believe in totalitarianism?  Of course, the goal has been a global caliphate since the days of Mohammed.  Demand for violent action?  Yes, that global caliphate isn't going to form itself.  Are gender roles defined and enforced?  Can you say honor killing?  Yeah, we've got that.  Does it seek to purge decadence?  Clearly.  Believers frequently kill their own family members who have become decadent.  Hatred for Jews?  Absolutely.  However, unlike Italian Fascism, German Nazism, and Japanese Imperialism, Islam is a religion.

 

The 1st Amendment guarantees Freedom of Religion.  So long as Islam is given a pass as a religion, the ideology will just continue to produce more terrorists.  Does that mean we must bomb all Islamic countries?  No.  But we should have a version of Radio Free Europe to try to change the beliefs.  How many of these suicidal terrorists are doing it for the glory of Islam and the promise of 72 virgins in paradise?  That belief has to be countered.

The Brand New Doomed Afghan Strategy

President Trump has outlined a plan for further extending America's longest war without providing a means for us to win without Afghan support.  The US didn't care a whit what the random Japanese thought about the war and did not make a plan that depended upon them supporting US troops.  The US did not work with the German government to defeat the Nazis.  In both of those cases - which took considerably less than 15 years - we flattened the enemies cities, invaded their territory with no local support, and imposed a new system of government on them while purging the proponents of the ideology that brought about the war.  Nazism was outlawed and Nazis were hunted like the criminals they are.  Imperialist policies were squeezed from the fabric of Japan to the point that their military has been purely defensive in nature since WWII.

 

What is the equivalent of Nazism in Afghanistan?  Islam.  Islam calls upon its followers to subdue or kill infidels.  Unlike Nazism, Islam is a religion and thus purging it is disallowed by American attitudes toward religious freedom, even a religion that calls upon its adherents to slay all Jews.  Dying while killing infidels is a guaranteed path to paradise.  If one is unwilling to practice forced conversion - which is what Muslims have done to conquered lands over the centuries - then the next best option is to install a dictator who will oppress the people.  A Hosni Mubarak or a Muammar Gaddafi are far preferable to the Mullahs of Iran or the anarchy of Afghanistan.

 

Trump's plan, though an improvement on Obama's, is no more likely to succeed.  If you don't fight the ideas that inspire the terrorists, you aren't fighting to win.  Even Turkey, the best example of a Westernized Islamic country, has suffered backsliding and is likely to de-Westernize in the coming years.  Islam is not compatible with Western values and never will be.  All these politicians who proclaim that Islam is a religion of peace and the terrorists and their ilk have been misinterpreting it for 14 centuries are delusional.  I'm willing to bet that Osama bin Laden the lifelong Muslim had a stronger understanding of Islam than George W. Bush the Methodist.

 

Winning requires tactics that no one will implement.  Therefore, we will not win.  We can only contain and suppress.

The Second English Civil War has Begun?

There are reports that a clean-shaven white man drove a van into a crowd of Muslims who had just left evening prayers in London.  There are two probable explanations.  First, the man is not Muslim and had decided to get 'payback' for the multiple attacks in recent weeks.  Second, the man is Muslim and viewed the Muslims from this particular mosque as hypocrites.  The first of those two options is more likely.  If so, what does that portend?

The British government has been hapless in addressing the long-standing and growing issue of domestic Islamic terrorism.  Worse, in the wake of every attack, the politicians defend Islam with claims that it is a religion of peace.  Those claims have worn thin.  The attacks are increasing in frequency and each new attacker proves to be a known wolf whom the government had investigated and set free.  One of the June 3rd attackers - Khuram Shazad Butt - had appeared on a documentary last year called The Jihadis Next Door but he was somehow still on the loose to inflict death and mayhem.  The government has demonstrated not only an inability to protect the citizens but an unwillingness to do so because recognizing the cause would be politically incorrect.

 

Islamic-based attacks in England this year:

March 22: 5 killed, 29 injured

May 22: 22 killed, 119 injured

June 3: 8 killed, 48 injured

 

Islamic-based attacks in European countries this year:

England: 3 attacks, 35 killed, 196 injured

France: 7 attacks, 4 killed, 6 injured

Germany: 3 attacks, 2 killed, 1 injured

Italy: 2 attacks, 4 injured

Russia: 4 attacks, 20 killed, 50 injured

Sweden:1 attack, 5 killed, 14 injured

 

With all that in mind, some idiot decided to take matters into his own hands and start killing Muslims in retaliation.  More such idiots will appear with each new terrorist attack.  The utter failure of a feckless government to address the problem, even deny the source of the problem, has left a desperate population with no recourse.

 

Islam and Western values are not compatible but to admit that would be to also admit the goal of multiculturalism is a failure.  The dream of multiculturalism is a belief that many cannot let go even as it destroys their culture and kills them.

9/11 +15

It is now fifteen years since the 9/11 attacks that triggered our recent flurry of Middle Eastern engagements and, if anything, we have lost ground.

After the 9/11 attacks, the country was on guard.  In the rest of the Bush Administration, 25 people were killed in Muslim attacks and 14 were injured.  During the Obama Administration, 114 people have been killed and 373 injured in Muslim attacks.  This only counts attacks on American soil.  The success rate of the enemy on our turf has gone up.  Homeland Security failure!  Worse off.

Afghanistan was the host of al Qaeda and the Taliban were toppled during the Afghan War.  Rebuilding efforts have been mostly for naught.  The continued presence of US troops makes the region less hospitable to al Qaeda and its ilk but a lasting victory is not established.  Better off.

The anti-American Saddam was toppled during the Iraq War and had become a relatively stable pro-American democracy thereafter.  However, US troops were completely withdrawn in 2011 and ISIS and Iran filled the power vacuum shortly thereafter.  The successes of ISIS have resulted in US re-engagement in the region.  Trade Saddam for ISIS?  In 2010, we had clearly been better off but as of now, we might be at status quo ante bellum.  Break even.

 

In 2011, Libya was involved in a Civil War and the United States opted for the non-Gaddafi side.  Libya has become a failed state and a breeding ground for terrorist groups, including a branch of al Qaeda.  The bill for this came due in Benghazi, 4 years ago today.  Worse off.

Egypt's stable, though repressive, pro-American regime was toppled and replaced by the Muslim Brotherhood.  This was in turn toppled and made way for a new stable, though repressive, not so pro-American regime.  Worse off.

Yemen's pro-American government has been toppled and Yemen is another failed state with both al Qaeda and ISIS affiliates.  Worse off.

 

The US became entangled in the Syrian civil war thanks to a red line.  The red line put US standing and reliability on the block.  Failure to do anything when the red line was crossed has hugely diminished US prestige in the world.  Russia, Iran, and Turkey have all moved into Syria and attacked the US-backed rebels.  Worse off.

 

Seeing the writing on the wall, Israel, America's staunchest ally in the region for decades, has recently had a high level meeting with Russia.  With American power waning, Israel needs to make arrangements should the decline continue.  Worse off.

 

Turkey has gone from a secular democracy to an Islamist state.  President Erdogan has viewed democracy as a tram that one takes until you reach your stop.  He reached his stop and gotten off.  Like Israel's Netanyahu, Erdogan has also made pilgrimage to Russia.  Though a member of NATO, Turkey is looking to improve bi-lateral relations with NATO's traditional enemy.  Worse off.

 

Iran was anti-American at the start and remains so.  The Iran Nuclear Deal, which has gifted hundreds of millions or billions of dollars to the Iranian regime, is a catastrophe that only gets worse.  Sanctions have been lifted and Iran is cheating on the deal, cozying up to Russia, and expanding its influence in the Middle East.  Much worse off.

 

As it stands, we are losing the war.  We may win skirmishes with various terror affiliates but such affiliates are popping up faster than we are stomping them.  Worse still, every candidate for the Presidency will continue to lose the war.  Trump, Johnson, and Stein would all wash their hands of the region (Trump talks about crushing ISIS but has little interest in the larger war).  Hillary helped formulate our current losing strategy and is likely to stay the course.  However, she is probably the most hawkish of the bunch and had disagreed with Obama on some policies where he proved more dovish.

 

Like the Cold War, we will eventually win this one.  However, it is going to take another 9/11-like attack against us (or a nuclear one against anyone) before we adopt the unconditional surrender posture that served us so well in WWII.

Killing Terrorism

Seen on Facebook:

With guns, you can kill terrorists, with education you can kill terrorism.

Malala Yousafzai

 

Wow, that sounds deep.  For those not in the know, Malala is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.  She had been outspoken in favor of education rights in 2008, which she was only 11.  By the time she was 15, she had become famous among Westerners but infamous among Taliban-supporters.  Living in Pakistan made her a target.  She was shot in the face in 2012 but survived to continue to call for education rights.  She is a truly extraordinary person and I wish her well.  However, her claim is demonstrably false.

Khalid Sheik Muhammad - one of the major figures in the 9/11 attack - has a BS in Mechanical Engineering (earned in North Carolina!).  Osama Bin Laden had at least a couple years of college where he studied civil engineering or public administration.  Muhammad Atta - who flew into the twin towers - had a degree in architecture.  Ayman al-Zawahiri - current leader of al-Qaeda - is a surgeon. Omar Abdel Rahman (the blind sheikh who instigated the 1993 bombing of the twin towers) is a Doctor of Theology. Nidal Hasan - the Fort Hood Shooter - has a BS in Biochemistry and an MD.  Syed Farook - the San Bernadino shooter - had a bachelor's degree in environmental health.  His wife, Tashfeen Malik, had a pharmacology degree.  Omar Mateen - the Orlando shooter - had an associates degree in Criminal Justice, of all things.

 

These are not uneducated bumpkins with no better options than to kill themselves and others in the name of Allah.  Each could have had a bright future by Western standards.  Maybe they didn't get the education that Malala thinks would kill terrorism.  The only education that is going to do that is to teach them that Islam is an evil religion.  Indeed, every Islamic terrorist can give a solid argument for their actions by quoting the Koran or the Hadith.  It should be noted that the Koran is the word of Allah while the Hadith is Muhammad's interpretation of the Koran.  Of course, it is utterly unthinkable that one could teach against Islam in Muslim countries.  To do so is to court imprisonment or death.

 

The Religion of Peace website has an instructive graphic: Ramadan Bombathon 2016.  It shows how many people have been killed in the name of religion or by Islamaphobes.  So far, Islam is in the lead with 220 attacks and 1573 deaths.  All other religions combined come in a distant second of 0 attacks and 0 deaths.  Islamophobes also had 0 attacks for 0 deaths.  Huh.

 

All right, so we've tossed education as a way to stop terrorism.  What other alternatives might we have?  Sadly, the only way to stop people willing to detonate themselves is to kill them before they get the chance.  Oh, but that is SO politically incorrect as to be hate speech.  Terrorism must become so counterproductive that the terrorists abandon it.  But it is part of their religion.  That's a really tough nut to crack.  First, much like we did with Communism, we should contain Islam.  Where it spreads, rape, murder, and explosions follow.  Yes, containment.  Conversion.  Oh, that is really, really politically incorrect!  Unlike Fascism, Nazism, Communism, and other evil ideologies, Islam is integrated into a religion.  This makes it a particularly nasty ideology when coming against Western tolerance of religious belief.  Abridge the 1st Amendment freedom of religion or suffer more Fort Hoods, Orlandos, and San Bernardinos?  There are many reasons why the War on Terror has been so hard to win.

 

Of course, my prescriptions are irrelevant.  No Western nation will implement them.  Islam is most likely going to find Russia or China as their main foe.  These countries are not constrained by Western values and will pulverize Muslim countries when given enough cause to do so.  Whether Clinton or Trump wins, the US is going to mostly leave the Middle East to stew, perhaps offering some bombing to satisfy the hawks.

Here is David Wood also blasting the "Education prevents terrorism" myth.  He provides excellent sourcing for why Islam is the cause of terrorism.

Blind Spot

General David Petraeus, the former CIA head and the commander who turned a failed war in Iraq into a success, has written an editorial in which he suggests we institute Sharia with regards to speech about Islam.  Oh, he doesn't put it that way but speaking out against Islam or Muslims will only compound the threat.  Keep quiet in the corner and maybe they will leave us alone.

Petraeus repeatedly gives examples where Muslims were beneficial in defeating terrorists.  Do we dare risk losing these allies by speaking ill of their religion?  Does General Petraeus realize we allied with Communist Russia to defeat the Nazis.  Does that mean we should not have spoken ill of communism in the wake of that joint victory?  Should we not have questioned the validity of communism because they helped us defeat another totalitarian system?  What will the communists think if we speak out against gulags, mass starvations, oppression, and invading countries?  It didn't play out that way, fortunately for everyone on earth.

 

Despite years in the Middle East, Petraeus still doesn't understand Islam:

Again, none of this is to deny or diminish the reality that we are at war with Islamist extremism — a fanatical ideology based on a twisted interpretation of Islam.

 

No, it is not a twisted interpretation.  Why has the same "twisted interpretation" been implemented again and again since the death of Muhammad?  Because it is what the Koran says.  The only times that Islam is quiescent is when it has been defeated in war.  Islam is a totalitarian belief system that calls upon the followers to conquer non-Muslims.  There is nothing bigoted in non-Muslims disliking Islam.  Islam cannot be reformed and will forever be at war with non-Muslims.  If not for its religious aspects, it would be viewed as no different from Italian Fascism, German Nazism, Japanese Imperialism, or Soviet Communism.  Because it is a religion, it is politically incorrect to treat it based on its tenets.

 

General Petraeus is a smart man and a competent general.  However, as his fall from grace demonstrates, he has blind spots and sometimes spotty judgment.  Here is another of his bad judgments.  Wow, I actually prefer Donald Trump on this issue.

Holy War

Europe finds itself in another religious war despite having largely abandoned religion.  The aggressors have not abandoned religion.  In fact, the Muslims responsible are embracing their religion as practiced by Muhammad.  Muhammad was not a man of peace.  He did not call for turning the other cheek.  Islam means submission and Muslim means 'one who submits.'  There is nothing about peace despite American Presidents' comments to the contrary.  Those who have not submitted to Allah are, by definition, infidels.  Infidels must been subjugated and become dhimmis (2nd class citizens) who pay the jizyah (annual tax on non-Muslims) or be killed.  However, in our politically correct, multi-cultural world, such things cannot be said of any religion, with the possible exceptions of Judaism or Christianity.  I would love to see a movie like Spotlight (Academy Award for Best Picture) that looked at Islam.  No one would dare make that film.  Why is it fine to expose the failings of Christianity but not Islam?

 

Europe has opened the floodgates to rapists, bombers, and holy warriors who, oddly enough, share a common religion.  Even as the evidence mounts that this has been a misguided policy, the governments still insist on prosecuting those who warned of this very outcome.  Yes, those who warned of the danger have been ignored.  Theo Van Gogh was murdered for speaking out against Islam 12 years ago.  Geert Wilders has sounded the alarm and was barred from entering the UK as an 'undesirable person.'  Wilders identifies Islam for what it demonstrably is, and that is unacceptable among the politically correct multiculturalists.  Despite repeated attacks from Spain to England to Germany to France to Sweden, Europe still wants to hold the door open for more Muslim immigrants.  Who said that insanity was doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result?

 

Today's bombings in Brussels, preceded by Allahu Akbar, are also unlikely to change the path of the European Union.  The EU is treating the situation as a police matter, not a war.  How do you fight criminals who seek to die in the process of committing their crimes?  Suicide bomber is a strategy of war, not crime.  Europe has so long sheltered beneath US protection that they have forgotten that war is hell (William T Sherman) and only the dead have seen the end of war (Plato).  Unless and until the Europeans admit that they are under siege by Jihadis, the situation will only get worse.

Why the Terrorists are Winning

Just read an interesting article about an atheist professor who gladly criticizes Christianity, Judaism, Mormonism, but steps gingerly around Islam.  Why?  Fear of reprisals.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/atheist-okay-disparage-christians-islam-limits-because-fear

With previous enemies, the United States has been only too happy to demean and dehumanize them.  Watch some of the Disney cartoons that were anti-axis.  The Japanese were depicted in a way that is now considered extremely racist.  There was no fear of upsetting Hitler, Mussolini, or Emperor Hirohito.  They were the enemy.  In war, it is often necessary to dehumanize the enemy lest the horror of what is being done cripple the war effort.  There is a reason that Muslims say that Jews are descended from pigs and America is the Great Satan.

I am not proposing that we start some propaganda campaign that vilifies all Muslims but we sure as heck should not be afraid to merely point out some obvious issues.  As the article notes, Muslim bakeries also refused to make a cake for a gay wedding but there was no firestorm of protest.  Why not?  Fear.  You want to see a real War on Women?  Go to a Muslim country and take a look at the Burqas and that women can't leave the house unescorted by a male relative.  Driving a car?  Certainly not in Saudi Arabia.  Gay rights?  Ha!  ISIS tosses gays from tall buildings to their death.  Iran publicly hangs gays from cranes.  But George W. Bush kept telling us that Islam is a religion of peace.

 

Arabic is the fastest growing language group in the United States.  Tens of thousands of Syrians are coming to America thanks to Obama's brilliant Middle East strategy.  This only serves to give the professor growing cause to be fearful.  Several of the crazed gunmen in recent years were legal Muslim immigrants.  The Boston Marathon Bombers were Muslim immigrants who were on welfare!  We were supporting them with tax dollars while they were planning to kills us!  The Chattanooga shooter was a legal Muslim immigrant.  More than a dozen others have been arrested before they were able to carry out plots against America.  This after we created a Department of Homeland Security.

 

In cases like these, deport the rest of the family.  If this is the sort of fruit that these immigrants are bearing, that family tree needs to be uprooted and sent packing.  Of course, that won't happen until the problem gets much, much worse.

 

The US has not seen the sort of assassinations of critics of Islam that have occurred in Europe, Africa, and Asia.  Professor Zuckerman is overly cautious.  However, it is only a matter of time before it arrives on our shores, all the more likely thanks to our suicidal immigration laws.  In the long game, Islam is stealing a march (as Wellington said of Napoleon).  Why kill us now if they can demographically overwhelm us in several decades?  Europe is well on the way to being Eurostan.

Path to Defeat

Fourteen years after Pearl Harbor, World War II had been over for a decade.  The Germans (the western half of them) and the Japanese were no longer a threat.  Both were on a path to becoming powerful economies and much freer countries.

Fourteen years after 9/11, the War on Terror is still going though it is mostly a loss.  The costly victory of Iraq has been flushed away and now an Islamic State has arisen.  The United States has approved a treaty that isn't a treaty with Iran that will remove sanctions and free billions of dollars in assets to a leading state-sponsor of terrorism.  Does no one remember how well a far less generous nuclear deal with North Korea turned out?  Europe is being flooded with waves of Muslim refugees who, strangely enough, are 70% adult males.  Isn't it usually the women and children who flee while the men stay and fight?  Millions of 'refugees' will soon be scattered throughout Europe and a percentage of those will prove to be ISIS agents out to cause mayhem.  Heck, ISIS announced exactly that intention back in February.  Our Middle Eastern allies, such as they were, in Iraq, Yemen, and Egypt have toppled or are in crisis.  Libya, thanks to our intervention, went from a nominally stable dictatorship that was no longer a threat to a failed state crawling with Islamic fighters allied with al Qaeda.  In short, the situation is much worse than when the war began.  But Osama bin Laden is dead!  Our current strategy is an obvious loser.  It was weak under Bush and positively catastrophic under Obama.

 

During the Civil War, it took Lincoln years to find the right general.  On paper, Grant didn't look as good as many of the generals who had preceded him but he proved to be the right man for the time.  In the Cold War, it wasn't until Reagan that the right strategy was found against the Soviets.  Once implemented, the Evil Empire collapsed surprisingly quickly.  Obama may think the War on Terror has come to an end but the other side has not surrendered.  They are ascendant.  Will the next president be the right one to turn this war around?  Not if she's Hillary.  Hillary is one of the architects of the Libyan disaster.  I've not heard any nominee correctly identify our enemy.  Bush refused to do so and Obama had the Apology Tour during his first year in office.

 

Islam has been at war with the West for more than a thousand years.  During that period, it has had its high points and low points but it never lost sight of the goal: subjugation of the world under an Islamic Caliphate.  Thanks to the fecklessness of the West and a new strategy of stateless soldiers, Islam is making inroads.  Everything we have done since 9/11 has had no impact on the enemy's resolve.

 

I fear it will require a radioactive smoking crater in place of a US city for us to finally take the enemy at their word and fight to victory.

War should be Hell

I recently watched the Band of Brothers miniseries from HBO.  It came out a week before 9/11 and I saw a couple of episodes back then.  It is an interesting show, more because of the contrast it provides with war today.  The people who fought World War II have long been called The Greatest Generation and yet much of what they did would be considered war crimes under today's rules.  World War II was fought to victory.  We didn't have ceasefire agreements and peace talks.  We fought until Germany and Japan surrendered unconditionally.  How did that work out?  Germany is the economic powerhouse of Europe and Japan has held that position in East Asia.  Both are peaceful countries that haven't seen war since 1945.  Gee, why don't we fight wars that way anymore?

First, we had another nuclear power on the scene.  When the USSR became a nuclear power, it became necessary to prevent another total war.  Thus, we held back in Korea and Vietnam, settling for a draw in the first and a loss in the second.  With the fall of the Soviet Union, US power was supreme and yet, despite multiple conflicts, we still fought as if we feared escalation.  Iraq cannot escalate.  Afghanistan cannot escalate.  There is no reason to fight a war of half measures.  Or is there?  In WWII, we flattened cities in Germany, Italy, and Japan.  We bombed occupied ally cities.  Civilian deaths were high.  Such a strategy would be considered barbaric today.  Pinpoint bombing has made war much more tolerable for civilians.  Moreover, a reluctance to risk civilian casualties has provided enemies with a perfect shield; hide among civilians and Westerners won't shoot.

 

General Sherman said that 'War is Hell.'  War should be Hell.  War should be made as intolerable as possible so that it will end more quickly.  All our civility has done is make it impossible to win wars.  You want to end Islamic terrorism?  Start flattening cities.  Entire populations must be thoroughly convinced to abandon the current path.  Moreover, any country that has any of this Islamofascist nonsense must be told in no uncertain terms to clean it up or the bombers will start appearing in their skies.  If we fought WWII the way we are fighting the current War on Terror, we would have lost on both fronts.

 

Of course, it may be too late.  Russia is on the rise.  Is a new Soviet Empire being reborn?  China is working on a navy to rival ours.  The window of a single superpower is closing.  In fact, it is closed for the foreseeable future since President Obama wants nothing more than to withdraw the US from the world.  The consequences of that withdrawal are blooming.