We are at war.
We ae facing an enemy who is unimaginably ruthless, sophisticated, and primitive, all at once. An enemy with no regard for human life, the environment, women’s rights, free speech, Monday Night Football, or any of the other issues, grave or silly, that we as a people take such pride in occupying ourselves with. An enemy who is patiently willing to blend into the fabric of the normalcy of our lives, for years, before emerging to strike suicidally against the most innocent and defenseless people available. An enemy that is willing to sleep in caves…a different cave each night…who is also an enthused and masterful exploiter of state-of-the-art communications technology. An enemy who deeply and thoroughly appreciates the power of symbolism and imagery on individual and mass psychology. An enemy as fluid and poisonous as mercury, and every bit as hard to pin down. A enemy who will not (and cannot) defend himself by means of sheer brute force, and who feels no shame or remorse in hiding behind the veils of brutalized women or amid groups of laughing, energetic, all-too-unaware and innocent children. An enemy who has studied our every weakness…psychological, social, financial, technical…and understands precisely how to leverage each of them against us for maximum effect
An enemy we absolutely have to somehow contain and render impotent.
We have more technological, communications, diplomatic, intelligence, and financial resources available to us to wage this war today than at any other time in our history. We have the capability to be very, very smart and sophisticated in our response to this. We have the means to attack on many different fronts simultaneously. But it is still a different kind of war, of warfare, than we are accustomed to. We are going to have to make a complicated array of various responses, simultaneously and continuously, on many different fronts, for many years, until the job is done. We are going to have to employ intelligence, finesse, ruthlessness, patience, forbearance, mercy, brutality, sheer raw power, and deadly force…every means at our disposal.
I absolutely believe we will do this. We have already moved quickly to grasp the outside of this onion and I have no doubt we will drill our way down until we have an pretty firm grasp on the precise actions we need to take and the exact avenues we need to travel. Most of the individuals arrayed against us are not geniuses, although sadly some of their leaders may be. Mostly they are parasitical fanatics. They are bacteria infesting a receptive host. We will have to engage many of them individually, ruthlessly, and very likely with a different set of rules than we are accustomed to playing by. It goes without saying they cannot be exterminated at one fell swoop by means of a full frontal assault.
In the meantime, our greatest priority is defend and protect our population, by whatever means may be necessary. If it takes the raw threat of the most serious possible action against anybody who can offer aid and protection to our enemy, we should not blink for a moment at employing that threat. If there are further attacks against our innocent citizens, our cities, the symbols and harbors of our civilization, and we not getting the full cooperation necessary from every organized government in the region that it takes to bring them to a halt, we should not blink at making that threat a reality, in whatever fashion best gets the message across.
I do not support instant, unconsidered revenge. I have no personal hatred for the suffering, innocent, oppressed, and largely ignorant mass of humanity in the Moslem world. But if it finally, eventually boils down to us against them, as a nation, we should be willing to do whatever it takes. As a people, we should be willing to support whatever it takes. I am.
We are not to that point yet. But we could easily find ourselves there tomorrow. Or not. We have to be prepared for either eventuality, and not hamper ourselves if the survival of millions of our citizens is suddenly at stake.
That’s my position. I am perfectly willing to be patient, trust our leadership, and wait out events as they unfold in the meantime. But I am angry and I am outraged. I am unflinching and I am determined. I think it is crucial that our opponents see that, in all of our people, in no uncertain terms. We have hugely, tragically underestimated them. But they have hugely underestimated us as well. They have totally miscalculated our will and our resolve.
I believe we cannot afford to let them continue to make that error.
That is my answer. |
