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Saturday, June 14, 2014

How Do We React?

Hey All -- Doing the blog out of order this weekend -- gotta catch up on some work, so duty calls.

This week, we have seen a terrorist gang threaten to topple a government that we left in place in Iraq.  After all the lives given up, after all of the blood spilled, and after all of the damage sustained in this backwards, tribal, and bitterly divided country, this is the fruit of our labor - a country thought to have been liberated from a bloodthirsty dictator and utter lawlessness is now only falling to fanaticism and death-worship.  Frustrating.  Agonizing.  Infuriating!

This follows on the very heels of five other gangsters being released from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for one soldier captured by the Taliban, who may have actually been more than willing to join them.  Clearly, there is an anti-American element in the Middle East that has been gaining more and more strength, and the possibility of another attack against the United States looms large.

So what's the right way to respond here?  Another war?  Another surge?  Sending in more men and women to face an even more dangerous environment?

No.  How about this instead:

(1)  Increase CIA presence in that region.  If we want to shut down likely terrorist camps to train more American-hating gangsters, let's first find out where they are.
(2)  Persuade our only true ally in that region, Israel, to attack those camps once they are located.  They're a little better at that than we are.
(3)  In exchange for this favor, which Israel may or may not be willing to grant, stop negotiating with the Palestinians.  They are as interested in peace with Israel as most teenagers are interested in geometry.  Their eyes glaze over . . . .
(4)  Further pay Israel back the favor by aiming our famous drones at Hamas and Hezbollah gangsters.  One hand washes the other, that's real diplomacy.
(5)  Once all of these terrorist gangs have been disbanded, de-fanged, disarmed, and safely neutralized, invite all "moderate" Muslim leaders to voluntarily confirm that these gangsters do not represent the true spirit of Islam, and that they do not sympathize with their ideals.  No coercion, no threats, not like how the gangsters forced their prisoners to rail against their own countries.  Just give them the choice to go on record and condemn the terrorists, or not.  Everyone else can form their own opinions as to that action or inaction.

There should be no fear of reprisals because the threat will be contained.  There should be no "terror" because that's what these "terrorist" gangsters want us to feel.  And most importantly, we would not be sending in more soldiers to stabilize a region that does not understand how to live in peace.

No, all we need to do is take action against the actual threats to the United States.  Other than what I mentioned to preserve a strategic alliance, there is no need to intervene in the affairs of that region ever again.  Let them resolve their own problems once we've eliminated the threat against our country before someone decides to go on an anniversary flight into the Freedom Tower, and not afterwards.

Once this threat against the United States is eliminated, just like the Nazis and the Soviets eventually lost their empires, we can concentrate on the 83 million other problems our country faces.  Since we will not use military action to solve a problem that clearly was not solved earlier, there will be no hand-wringing over our allegedly imperialist nature.  Just simple research and alliance-bolstering, with the further proof that Islam itself is not the enemy, but gangsters who just happen to be Muslims most certainly are.

Much as I encourage the readers of this blog, the United States must be bold and bulletproof.  We have to be willing to make tough decisions, much like those described above, instead of always "just working it out."  We also have to be ready to face whatever reaction can be aimed at us, and to neutralize it once it's aimed at us.  I can only hope that we really can be.

Last but not least, I'd like to wish a very Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Specifically, I wish it to my own father, who always taught us that he who does not learn the lessons of history is forever condemned to repeat them.

DISCLAIMER:  I have no plans to run for office anytime soon, and have no intention of re-educating our diplomats, intelligence, or military brass.  I am also no bigot.  Criticism is welcome, but reading into things that are not here is strongly discouraged.

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