Thursday, August 21, 2014

Barbarism, Anarchy, and B-52's

James Foley
I was mesmerized by the news reporting about the barbaric execution of the American reporter, James Foley, at the hands of an ISIL murderer.

I watched President Obama's short address on Wednesday and wished he would have gone further in his remarks. If I were President for a day, and it is a good thing that I am not, my remarks would have been radically different. I would have said something like: you have spilled American blood in your lawless and barbaric march across the Levant, you have warned us not to get involved, but the brutal execution of this innocent American has done just the opposite. Do not believe that you can ever sleep restfully again--we will find you and hunt you down like the lawless dogs that you are. You will not be brought to justice on this planet--but you will stand before the God of creation to atone for your sins and we are going to arrange for and hasten the time of that meeting with every capability that we have.

I highly recommend reading the blog, When do you give the Terrorists Exactly What they Want? 

The writer of the blog, CDR Salamander, sums up my feelings pretty well with the following thoughts:

The tactical killing by drone, single drops of bombs, etc are good and important too - but we need to make a strategic statement.  

Two things that we can do quickly. 

1. Used to great effect in both of our Iraqi conflicts based on their superb use in VietnamB-52 carpet bombing
2. A few MOAB will do nicely as well.

MOAB, for those who don't remember is the Mother of All Bombs, one of the biggest conventional bombs ever used in combat.

And the video at the end of the CRD Salamander's blog about the best jet bomber ever produced is especially nice. A few long sticks of bombs dropped on a whole lot of terrorists should put a dent in their army and its will to fight. 

The only people with class in this entire mess are James Foley's parents. Their interview is a study in class, support, shock, grief, and the indomitable American spirit. 

I wrote last week in my blog titled Medieval Thinking and Modern Weapons about the barbarism of ISIL and the events of this week only confirm my feelings. The freedom of not only the region, but perhaps the entire world is at stake and we cannot sit idly by and wait for them to come and get us.

The time for talking and pacifying terrorists is over. It is time to use the technology and the capabilities that we have to defend the region and ourselves. The alliance forming in the region could become far stronger than the one the defeated Saddam and was arrayed against the Taliban. We have a real ally in the Kurds and joined with the Turks, Saudis, Iraqis, Jordanians, the UK, and even the Iranians--barbarism can be defeated and stability, potentially, can be installed in this region!

In the meantime, we should pray for the Foley's and their entire family and friends. We should also pray for the other innocent people in the region that they may be spared and protected from the lawlessness. And we should pray for the members of the United States military who are and will be called upon to deliver our answer to the challenge.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

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