The worst thing about the Western treatment of terrorism is that it has has accepted its terms. And those terms are that terrorists are just militant civilians, no different from any of us; perhaps better….. Everything, including the Libyan operation and what used to be called the War on Terror, is indefinite. – Wretchard
I actually think that this in part “cold war” hangover. Between WWII and 1989, due to Nuclear Weapons, a consensus developed that it was better to fight a series of perpetual, continuous “low intensity conflicts” over decisive all-out war. Now with the “War on Terror” we have the “War on Nobody – War on Everybody”. If there is no single enemy, then the enemy is everywhere. We have to fight everywhere, including on Mainstreet, USA.
American leaders have not faced, or been willing to face the possible fact that all-out war is the only way to end this war. Subtract Iran and Syria from the equation, while committing to a policy of no-holds-bar energy development in the USA, and the “Islamic” problem will fade back into 7th century backwaters. We don’t have to kill every Muslim, or subdue every radical Islamic state to stop the Islamic terrorism, just as when faced with a dozen bad guys in a back alley, you don’t need to beat the entire gang. Just take down the leader decisively, and maybe his #2, and the rest will find something more useful to do. When the Persians, Arabs, and rest of the Muslims figure out that #1 Israel is not a negotiable item, and they won’t be driven into the sea, and #2, messing with the USA will destroy everything and anything that had meaning in your life, they’ll start focusing on THEIR lives and THEIR governments. They can join American prosperity and freedom, or allow Mullah’s and religious thought policy keep them in chains and starvation. They will certainly, however, leave the USA alone.
America has declared enemies arrayed against us who are killing Americans, and have committed to kill many more. We need to fight to win. Screw Afghanistan and Iraq; redeploy our military resources to the war front, and let them win and come home. Take out Iran – HARD – “back to the stone age” hard, bounce Syria around a little bit, take out Pakistan’s nukes in any way we need to, and negotiate the rest.
Now, before folks call me nuts, understand that Iran can’t be negotiated with, can’t be influenced, can’t be dissuaded from their myth of world domination in the name of Islam. One could argue that North Korea is a nuclear capable threat, but the norks are a regional power with apparently limited ambitions. They are a manageable threat. Same applies to Pakistan for the moment.
Iran is a threat forever, to the USA today, to our kids and grandkids. There may be some fine Persian people, but none of them are influencing national and military policy in Iran. It’s a monolith there. I have no doubt, no doubt at all, if Iran achieves a nuclear weapon it will use it if for no other reason that to establish Middle East hegemony. With the extensive international terrorism network, I cannot believe that Iran would not hit the USA with a “fingerprintless” nuclear weapon. If one detonates in Los Angeles, and Iran claims to have 150 more deployed across the USA, what would the President’s military decision be? Or, perhaps they don’t detonate it – they just name the location, demonstrating their capability to fulfill their threat. Iran is building nukes it fully intends to deploy and use.
Even with the former USSR, there were at least had sane people on the other side of the table who appreciated life and death, understood the cost of all-out war, and understood the impact that aggressive actions towards America would have on the USSR, when the USA responded.
Yes, the Saudi’s are over-stuffed PITA’s, the Pakis are the lifeline of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, Egypt may be a problem, Libya is like an annoying butt-pimple, Russian and China are over-the-horizon threats, Chavez in Venezuela needs to be dealt with eventually, and the norks are the norks, but this pales in comparison to what the Iranians have meant to Islamic radicalism and treats to America.
If we don’t play the game to win, i.e. if we don’t define the enemy and prosecute the war fully to victory, then yes, our liberty will be lost one law at a time. One more thing – after we destroy Iran, we don’t rebuild it. Europe can pick up that tab. Russian can do it, but not the USA. Let the Iranian’s starve. The world can observe watch the cost of war against the USA. If we have to take on the Saudi’s for example, every damn oil field remains property of the USA forever.
That’s war 7th century Islamic style. That’s war that the Muslims will understand.
