Jihadist' Jail @ Gitmo. America's National Disgrace

Forget, if you can, the fact that Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility (acronym GTMO or Gitmo for short) is a significant recruitment tool for the worldwide Jihad. That alone should pattern our decisions surrounding it's existence.

Instead, let's simply focus on the details.  Even if we choose to transfer the terrorists housed in Gitmo stateside, we will pay for their lives (well over half are on hunger strike and must be force fed) for the rest of their lives. The cost of doing so at the Gitmo facility in Cuba makes everything exponentially more expensive.

From strictly a perspective of ANOTHER socialized program for tax payers to endure, this one is one of the worst. I realize that modern day prisons are also a really bad socialized means of making us feel safe from criminals, because it mostly trains them to do crime and sends them back on our street to test their skills before they finally get sent to prison to stay as habitual prisoners; habitual meaning they've practiced a lot.

If the government is considering an abandoned facility to house
terrorists, what about Camp Leatherneck's wasted facility?

What exactly does locking up suicide terrorists actually protect us from? Colorado republican Senator, Cory Gardner, rejects the notion of sending Jihadists to Colorado's Supermax prison, or to an abandoned prison in Colorado, but quickly admits that terrorism will continue whether WE behave humanely or not.

I scratched my head for quite some time after Gardner made that statement (2/23 on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Report) because I suddenly realized that Gardner, and everyone who agrees with him (including Marco Rubio), has decided that our image in the world means nothing one way or the other, so why should America care one way or the other?

Why should we continue to uphold some old aged sense of decency that hasn't stopped evil doers from attacking the bastion of freedom in order to weaken freedom as a whole?

Why should integrity and values matter when dealing with the Jihad? Are we always expected to address evil with wisdom and restraint?

Essentially, these are the type of questions you have to ask yourself in order to justify the persistence of Gitmo, America's jail for the Jihad......which, by the way, doesn't house everybody who joined the Jihad, ONLY middle eastern captured enemies.  What jail is Richard Reid (the shoe bomber) being held in?

If so many Americans are truly convinced of the necessity of a Jihadi Jail @ Gitmo, they have to accept that we are abandoning former core values by doing so; core values that former president George W. Bush may have to answer to one day.

In essence, WE the People of the United States of America, have chosen to fight this particular fire by circling the fire starters within a ring of fire, pushing back every detainee who'd prefer the fiery death option by use of a really expensive pitch fork no less.

To respond to any evil with even a small dose of its own medicine doesn't change evil or its way. It changes US.  For now, fear and anger are enough to keep Gitmo operational because the GOP is full of both emotions, and in full control of both houses of congress too.

Until WE temper the emotions that caused Gitmo to be in the first place, it remains our knee jerk reaction to an immediate crisis that our past two presidents have now admitted was a grave error. Those who think it belongs around FOREVER are stuck in crisis mode and incapable of guiding this nation away from Gitmo or the fear and anger of terror.
As long as terror produces fear and anger and breaches of the Geneva convention pact, terror succeeds.

Call It What You Will. It Ain't Freedom.

France is moving to enact sweeping powers that would allow State of Emergency measures against the potential of terror that looms throughout Europe, but is primarily being forced upon France. Disregard, if you can, that porous borders in Europe make such measures somewhat futile.

Back here in America, 31 Governors of this great nation have decided to publicly announce a block of any Syrian refugee's into their states in the wake of a potential Syrian connection to the ISIS claimed massacre in Paris.

Disregard, if you can, that temporary Visa's are somewhat easy for any European to get when seeking to set foot on American soil.  Forget as well that any state in this union offers instant and unfettered access to every free human being that lives in any other state.  Blocking Syrians from 31 states would only work to keep those 31 states from the potential economic benefit as America vets and scrapes the cream off of the top, taking the best of Syria's migrants. Between this blocking of Syrian's and the decision to block Medicare expansion, GOP governors will soon be notorious for two of the worst economic decisions in the history of state politics.

Let's advance our American imagination right into the realm that France is now,  taking a State of Emergency vote that could soon allow them random search and seizure rights as well as other emergency infringements upon the rights of its citizens.  If what we fear is really worthy of the concern that some have expressed, WE the People should be arming ourselves against this fear just as some American's say WE should.

What will Freedom look like in the future?

Such ideas rose as suggestions again when last our theater's were under arrest and our schools were under attack.  Some American's even think we should place more guns inside of our schools so that kids can make it home safe each day.



Home Of The Free.........Land of The Brave?

We know ourselves to be the brave people of America, the most free land on earth.  Freedom is our namesake.  Our flag stands for Freedom and our way of life is supposed to reflect it.

If our best hope for safety is the hope that WE never have to use the gun that is hiding on our hip, then why carry it?  If you really anticipate having to thwart terror before you finish a lifetime in America, aren't you leaving home with the real acceptance of being the dead victim of terror or worse, a mentally or physically wounded survivor of it?

When the day comes that we choose to arm ourselves just to go to the grocery store- or we plant some pistols in our schools so children can learn without worry of gun play- we can choose to call our way of life anything that sounds reasonable.

Just don't call it freedom. 

Isn't All Terrorism An Attack On Western Freedom?

If what we have happening in our schools, and theaters, during a live remote on the morning news and now Paris is not terror, then I wonder what the survivors who walked away alive call it?

For some reason, we'd prefer to think of middle eastern Jihadists as the only face of terror because its not so glamorous to search for terror's face and keep finding mirrors.

We have known for some time that ISIS has a significant number of European nationals and even a few Americans as well.  The infamous Jihadi John is (or was) a British born terrorist of Kuwaiti ancestry.

France is reporting their recent killers to be of Syrian decent, but the final report is yet to be discovered.  Each of these killers could have migrated to France for the sake of terror, but some of them could have already lived there or born there similar to the Charlie Hebdo killers. Assuming Paris is now the home of home grown Jihadists, American terror too has ample examples of home grown terror that pre-dates today's crisis in Paris or the theater massacre in Aurora.

Apparently, seemingly sane foreign killers causing terror for religion or politics versus our own presumably crazy sons that we keep raising and grooming to kill us one day is some consolation to this nightmare for some.

Personally, I can't see it.

I also can't see how Jeb thinks his brother or any other president has kept us safe with the nightmare of domestic terrorism seemingly a weekly occurrence. Or how "taking it to them" (ISIS) will uncover the places they exists or the places that they can go. Genocide of terror sounds comforting, but no one has figured how to destroy an ideology with weapons of war.

Just because we don't count massacres like the 147 students killed in Kenya or Columbine as terrorism doesn't mean we're right. Al Shabaab, the group who took credit for the Kenya killing, took care to kill only non-Muslims. 

Sometimes terror will be foreign born killers who make their way onto hostile soil in order to do harm to the Western way of life wherever it rests comfortably. Mostly it will be native born citizens with free and unfettered access to kill. 

This is a war against Western comforts and sensibility, and it is being waged on many fronts.  When next it happens in America, we will hope that it is one of our own again instead of the likes of ISIS or some other political terror group.  If it happens abroad they will hope its ISIS instead of the homegrown variety that we prefer over the mere thought of foreign invader terror.

I would simply like to remind those who won't be ducking any bullets soon, that survivors of terror really don't care to qualify their fear of our diminishing freedoms, even as overly anxious news reporters stick a microphone in their face and demand that they do.

Which Came First, Islamic Terror Or It's Anger ?

What if America had saved up all of its anger towards 9-11 to use against ISIS.

Are female Army Ranger's
necessary with the changing nature of war?

 I have long since agreed with presidential candidate Lindsey Graham who thinks we should be at full blown war with ISIS right now regardless of the retributive conflicts that arise along the way.

Whatever we called ourselves doing to Saddam Hussein and the barren hills of Afghanistan was a waste of time, energy, money, credibility and most importantly a waste of our will to do our f__ing job now.



Big Sister Is Ready to Join 
Big Brother On Front Line


To whom much is given, much is expected.
We are America and ISIS, Iran, Syria and even  misbehaving Russia all represent our f__ing job as the Big Brother of the world and the God ordained bastion of Hope and Freedom for ALL.  That being said, I understand that this nation is war weary and tired of sacrificing our actual sons and daughters to an unclear goal. As our daughters slowly take over the front line of the famed Army Ranger's from Fort Benning, GA, it's really time to decide how much of this natural treasure are we willing to sacrifice to address world issues that have no good options.

If we are seriously pondering placing women on the front line of today's uncommon battlefields, it's hard not to think that we should have saved the anger, the bullets and the sweat equity  of our recent wars for a purpose befitting of a noble Big Brother- one who would never beat up the whole neighborhood just to deal with our own ANGER, GRIEF and failure in imagination relative to an act of war as old a war itself.

No Matter What The Form...TERRORISM WORKS!!

Terrorism is as old as war  because it works.  It requires coordinated thought and energy and effort, and would be named differently had it been described from the perspective of the weak who use its power as their greatest tool against a seemingly insurmountable foe.

Political terrorism is the form of terrorism that the Black Lives Matter movement has waged on the democrat political candidates who've allowed them to hijack the mic at campaign events. Whether driven by an Islamic caliphate or by the killing of unarmed black Americans, terror exploits the weary as it seeks the camera's eye and overtakes the microphone.  No matter what the form of terror, IT THRIVES WHILE THE ENEMY SLEEPS, typically dropping bombs or indictments, but rarely pointing the way with a compelling message when opportunity presents itself.

ISIS has taken over the mic and the camera with  beheading's and a cry for worldwide Jihad, however, because they are the only combatant with a time tested approach, they are the only combatant currently capable of winning.

Peace Through Strength Is Not Just A Slogan
and war is a profitable industry.

WE need a new style of war against Islamic terror- against Iran if they cheat the deal- and against Russia if they continue to disrupt the potential for worldwide peace that sits at an interesting crossroad and against the negative view of capitalism.  NATO could justify their continued existence by coordinating an American funded effort to recruit and place a unified army of concerned citizens from throughout the troubled regions of the middle east. Instead of the normal wars that WE start, fight and fund all alone, this time WE will fund it but they will fight it, saving countless American lives that most American's aren't eager to sacrifice anymore anyway. Given the uncertainty of the source of terror's anger, I can  hardly blame the war weary, although a caliphate mission doesn't exactly offer much wiggle room for negotiation.

Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey and maybe Israel when Benjamin Netanyahu is no more, will have to determine the seriousness of this caliphate mission to help determine which nation houses this unified force against terror since that nation stands to gain the most from the industry of war this promises to create for them. Similar to America's presence in Europe, additional military bases for this unified Army can be strategically located in various nations to expand the ISIS response and share the cash created by the industy of war. Hardliners everywhere will reject this plan, but they are all dying off and the coming generations of compassionate youth will be more concerned about ISIS, more open to change and totally interested in good paying military jobs that deal with it.

Iraq, who has already tried to deal with their post Saddam Hussein region without our help should be softened to the support that only WE The People can coordinate at a time like this. Iraq is a sectarian nation that will always suffer from sectarian instability and ISIS-like assault without a dictator or the support of a strong, reliable military to REMAIN in the region FOREVER.   A NATO created, Christian/Muslim/Jewish Unified Army would be a great peace gesture and job lure for the region, offering needed security and income potential to any eligible citizen in the surrounding countries; income potential that only capitalism could create adding to the improved image that capitalism needs in the middle east and across the world.

With Oil Prices Plummeting, Is Cheap Labor Now The Greatest Commodity On Earth?

Worldwide capitalism and its voracity for cheap labor has uncovered new, exploitable labor options at the short term detriment of those who are used to having something but feel it slipping away quickly.  What seems like an American economic crisis is actually an economic opportunity for America to  rise in the ranks of worldwide job quality standards. Instead of embracing this positively painful change, most Americans are lamenting the loss of back breaking industries that smart people should never do happily in the first place.

 If you work or do business in back breaking industries, you will recognize that our rejection of cheap workers in America will also include rejecting a major influx of those hard workers from various parts of Asia, the largest growing segment of undocumented workers in the entire U.S. (not South Americans!).  Asia and South America contribute greatly to our ability to mine for the kind of low-waged labor that makes the U.S. economy so admired and envied.  Either we invest in America 's educational future and progression towards jobs of the future, or we shut down our cheap worker mining,  both domestic and abroad, which makes consistent profit (capitalism) possible.

Is ISIS Mad About Capitalism?

Low wage mining is a temptingly easy approach to generating profit that also contributes to the negative view of capitalism. Due to its abuses, Socialism is similarly viewed although these two non-combative industries remain eternally married and hopelessly searching for a certain balance of the other.

Jihadi's seem angered with Israel but enraged by US- Israel's great capitalistic enabler.  Because capitalism is seen as our greatest strength as a nation, it stands to reason that it will always be the smartest target from our enemies and the most vulnerable institution for attack. If you accept that premise, WE have a choice to either give ISIS and every terrorist group the room they need to wage an attack on American capitalism, or WE diminish them to the power of using Twitter to inspire an occasional stupid American to behave stupidly in the name of terrorism du jour.

Islamic terrorism and the anger that drives it may never be defeated in the hearts of the religiously angry and psychotic or those who sympathize and kill on their behalf . WE The People, however, have a duty to seriously diminish the incredible killing power that Islamic terrorism gains from our rejection of real war and the consequential recruiting power generated by this pseudo war.


Once again, I realize that Lindsey and I are somewhat alone on an island with this real war view. Yet, the necessity of war should have never been driven by anger and retaliation before, nor neglected by weariness and fatigue now.  While we rest, terrorism works.

I respect the value of a good nap, except when the work is not at a place to be abandoned. Real war will likely be the repercussion of this nap we needed for now; sort of like the real war the hare required after resting in his losing race against the turtle.


So which came first- Islamic terror or it's anger?

To hell with terrorism and it's anger since expressing your anger by killing people- and quite frankly hijacking microphone's and camera's to point the finger instead of pointing the way is power without discipline or clear purpose. The real answers to all of our biggest problems wont involve fingers pointed in either direction because all fingers will be working together as ONE.

Microphone stealer's we can totally endure.  Head chopping murderers disrupt the peace and civility of society and must be treated like the epidemic illness that they threaten to become if not properly quarantined and eradicated.

Iranian Nuclear Negotiations Might Be Littered By Trail Of TPP Money

A close look at the map explains why Iran could be a TPP player.

Opponents of the Iranian nuclear negotiation will tell you that Obama wants this deal no matter what the cost.  My natural tendency to question blind critics gave me pause to this claim. Today I am reconsidering.

We all know that the alternatives are limited (2).  Either we maintain sanctions for the hope of a future negotiation or we wage war to force a nuclear treaty. Our bombs might destroy some parts of Iran's  nuclear technology, but it will never remove their knowledge of creating nukes, thus the war option only increases Iran's incentive to escalate nuclear protection.  To avoid war, negotiations need to be firm, but fairness is an assumption assigned to the word negotiation, which means no one ever leaves them feeling like they totally won. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that Iran can be sanctioned into submission similar to the way Syria was convinced to let go of its chemical weapons.  What Netanyahu seems to forget is that airstrikes lead the brainstormed suggestions of what to do about Syrian violations against humanity.

Netanyahu also seems not to recognize that two of the actors seated at the Iranian nuclear negotiation table are Russia and China.  Despite our significant differences with these nations, especially Russia over Ukraine, Russia and China joined this coalition to establish a nuclear deal that is good for the world but fair to Iran.  The fact that Iran is a perfect geographical trade partner for Russia and China didn't hurt their motivation any.  While these nations continue to describe themselves as communist, they behave as capitalism demands.  Most of Americas issue with China remains over their humanitarian record and their record of sticking it to America relative to trade. Russia, on the other hand, is at odds with Europe and the world over their invasion of Ukraine.  Our differences are not worthy of war, yet just to see these powerful communist regimes seated at this table feels peculiar and somewhat confusing.


Confusing that is until it was reported that Apple is working on a move into Iran (along with other western companies).  If you did not already know it, Apple inc. had revenues last year that rank it as the #20 nation in the world.  Let me repeat. Apple has a GDP smaller than only 19 countries in the world.  Apple ranks closely to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates in GDP, two Persian Gulf countries that will also be vital to the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) that Barack Obama's is using to take his NAFTA like walk off swing.  The GDP growth that American companies experienced as a result of raping Mexico and other North American businesses of their place in the market made Bill Clinton deity in the hierarchy of  former presidents.  While Obama might be altruistic in many of his presidential dreams, he's pursuing a "show me the money" memory like Bill's because he knows that America judges its presidents primarily by the economy that they leave behind- something that history books can't easily dispute.

The nation of Iran could not be better geographically located for becoming a  TPP go between, and if the news of Apple setting up a few corner carts in Iran is true, I would wager that Obama and Iran are willing to negotiate because of the easing of sanctions against Iran's vast oil market and a dangling Apple as well.

Will America's Next President Be Forced To Uphold Iranian Nuke Deal?

In America, talks of the finalized negotiations with Iran have been treated like a scorching hot jacuzzi.  For some, the benefit is well worth the pain while others find it a bit too hot to trust and occasionally risky for your health.  In Iran on the other hand, you might think it was a national holiday as citizens are parading the streets celebrating the anticipated relief of removed sanctions.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

 Leaders don't feel the pain of  sanctions until the commoners make them feel it. For Iranians, the incentive for change has primarily come from the bottom up as sanctions against Iran have fully reached the citizens they were designed to impact the most. Ten years ago, these sanctions began under President Bush for the hopes of forcing negotiations.  Actual sanctions against Iran began during the 70's. This time around we were negotiating with a sanction softened Supreme Leader in Ali Khamenei; sanctions that will remain if the deal is not finalized in June.

Despite our negative view of the nation of Iran, Iran is structured democratically enough for some hope of reasonable behavior.  They are called a nation of terror, but their most hostile leaders are still forced to win elections and deal with term limitations.

Remember me?
Former Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

 Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad played a significant role in developing the despotic image that many people have of Iran, but his term ran out, and most people who are fearful of Iran don't realize that Hassan Rouhani replaced Ahmadinejad in 2013.

Fear of Iran has also caused most peripheral viewers to think that only America is negotiating this historic deal with Iran.  In fact, the sanctions that forced Iran to the table came from the world community, as did the negotiations.  In the final hours of the deal, negotiators from every county, except America, worked frantically to iron out the bumps.  Whether we finally sign a deal or pursue the war option, this issue is a matter of international diplomacy and not of domestic politics as MANY in America keep trying to make it.





Many- like several of the so-called presidential candidates for 2016.  Usually we wait until the first televised debate before we invoke the word GRAVITAS upon the people of choosing for our next president, but that litmus test begins now.  In essence, Americans are not only looking for a good president but we are looking for a president who looks and sounds good while doing it.  Being presidential is mostly undefinable because it's one of those things you simply recognize when you see it.  Whether they like it or not, as a direct result of these vital negotiations with Iran, the gravitas analysis now begins for every person who considers themselves a genuine candidate for president of the United States of America.

Our next president will be the person most responsible for nurturing or burning and rebuilding the bridges of diplomacy that were built or missed under Barack Obama.  Already, talks are beginning on the subject of awarding a Nobel Peace Prize to Secretary of State John Kerry for engineering this deal.  It will hardly appear presidential if America's next president unravels peace prize worthy efforts. More importantly, the litmus test for each candidate will be to explain their view of the deal and their plans for upholding or destroying it as president, and to do so without scaring the hell out of would be voters.  Because of this deal and this deal alone, every extreme presidential hopeful should immediately consider themselves disqualified from the task of maintaining the path of peace that the world is building with the Iran nuke deal.

Republicans Send "Open Letter" to Iran To Thwart Nuclear Negotiations

Republicans are demanding final approval of the Iranian agreement, but don't realize that they are functionally disrupting the process of agreement negotiations?

Click Here to access the full letter

I don't buy it and neither should the American public.  Without a doubt, even congressional representatives of limited intelligence are educated by their peers on the danger of disrupting active negotiations.  The act of doing so represents a deliberate attempt to force one of the participants into a place of distrust and ultimately away from the negotiation table altogether.

Congressional Republicans and Hardliner Iranians

Apparently, Iran is full of hardliners who also do not want this deal, though probably for different reasons than congressional republicans.  Whether 10 years of uranium enrichment restrictions is a part of the final deal or not is separate from the fact that somebody has to come to the table, and those participants must negotiate in good faith in order to come to an agreement.  Open letters to Iran warning the agreement participants that their unspecified deal will not be allowed to stand is a last ditch effort to throw a grenade on Obama's potential historic negotiation.  He has already shocked the world by convincing moderate Iranian's to join the fight against ISIS or run the risk of answering to them one day.  Add to that the recent news that ISIS is starting to suffer from the impact of persistent air attacks and Obama's foes are losing a grip on their strongest area of criticism of this president, uncontrolled terrorism.

Netanyahu did not convince the world of his claim, he only came across as a desperate politician trying to hold on to his role of prime minister.  Netanyahu is already giving considerations to the idea of a unity government that would provide him access to power whether he succeeds in the March 17 Israeli elections or not.  Inherent to the unity path will be a necessity to negotiate with Palestine and Iran, a path that Netanyahu supporters defiantly resist while congressional republicans don't care about either way.  Their mission is to block the Obama legacy and Netanyahu is just a pawn in that game.

What becomes most peculiar while watching modern republicans work diligently to paint the picture of the Obama years is seeing how they miss their own place in the portrait.  Establishing your own legacy as the people who tried to destroy Obama is a twisted legacy to write for yourself.  Not only have republicans pushed their party further away from the hopes of the presidency, they are now behaving as if congress will always be the only place that they will ever be allowed to influence the direction of America.

I think they're right.

King Abdullah Believes Pathway Of Terror Points Towards Jerusalem

What makes America's path against radical Islamic terror most confusing is that we are expected to both support the fight and create the plan.

To date, I have yet to hear one credible plan that doesn't sound either too limited or too counterproductive.  Most except that Arab nations must lead this fight while disregarding that King Abdullah of Jordan has raised a hand to assume the job. As a result, very few are listening to the voices  of the same people we've asked to lead the fight.

King Abdullah of Jordan is leading, and thanks to an historic interview, he's talking too.

Did ISIS pull the wrong tiger's tail when they
burned the Jordanian pilot?

Fareed Zakaria (of CNN's GPS) has secured an exclusive interview with the person now in charge of the war against ISIS. King Abdullah, who has not spoken since the death of the Jordanian pilot, has remained consistent on the side that believes this fight must be lead by Arab nations.  Yet, determining who will lead the charge only represents one aspect of the current unrest.  Although many people don't want to hear him say it- King Adullah believes that, in the end, "all roads lead to Jerusalem".

For the love of God, the USA endures and insures a non-partisan, Christian commitment to the safety and security of the nation of Israel.  Despite the tensions that exist between Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and president Barack Obama, even Netanyahu acknowledges that Obama has committed more resources to the safety of Israel than ever before under any other US president.  If Obama's willingness to negotiate a nuclear agreement with Iran is a sticking point in the relationship between Netanyahu and Obama, it is only one big point on a very thin list.  That other big point makes Obama just as maligned as is King Abdullah in the eyes of Netanyahu supporters.  Both Obama and Abdullah ardently agree that Israel must resolve the Palestinian issue and establish a two state solution between these two nations.  The iron-dome keeping a cap upon the entire middle-eastern powder keg is an inseparable dedication to God that America makes to keep God separated from our government even while we allow Him to dictate our policy towards Israel.

Israel should be appalled by Gaza too!

These religious commitments of America do not technically make us a caliphate, because ALL religious ideologies are free to be in the home of the brave.  Disregard, if you can, that we do claim a Trust in a God that we reference on our demigod. Disregard also that because of that very God, WE will never allow the death of Israel, even if Benjamin Netanyahu and his political crony John Boehner ignorantly test our divine marching order.

Despite the differences that this current president has with Israel's current prime minister, why would Netanyahu wish to risk the image that America has towards Israel and those who support him?  No visit - especially one with political ramifications- should be worth the risk of disrupting a relationship that will determine the future of your people.

Nothing reasonably good could come of the behavior of Netanyahu except the re-election of Netanyahu.  Ben has read our bible too and he knows that WE are as religiously dedicated to their safety as evil is to their destruction.  At times it feels that WE are even more invested in Israel than Netanyahu and those like him.  When you make a mockery of our congress, you religiously mock the very messianic message that demands we protect you.

Since our investment in Israel might one day require the death of millions and the next true world war, King Abdullah, President Barack Obama and I are on the side of reasonable diplomacy before unabashed acceptance of the death of millions.  Diplomacy means oversight in Iran to monitor and delay their walk towards a nuclear reality instead of hoping that they will never do it absent worldwide oversight. Diplomacy means rebuilding Gaza so we don't have to keep bombing it. Diplomacy means that we quit ignoring this war torn region as though its not a humanitarian disgrace.


Gaza is a disgrace to all of humanity.

Just saying Ben.

Moreover, Gaza is as legitimate a tool for the recruitment of terror as anything in the world.  Airstrikes in response to beheading's help modern recruitment efforts, but Gaza is an old problem and far from being addressed with the kind of focus that confronts terror on all fronts, especially recruitment paths.  This mission will be won by attacking every supply chain, and all roads truly do point towards Jerusalem.

Jordan Retaliates Against ISIS. Do The Ends Justify The Means?

My wife typically refrains from the hours of news information that I digest through every media outlet I can.  I even stream public radio through the headphones just so I can get the "old news" version of the daily news and not the slanted politicized national news that taints most television airwaves. When ISIS decided to up the ante recently by burning the Jordanian pilot alive, even my wife couldn't turn away.

My hunch is that ISIS hoped she wouldn't turn away this time since the beheading's- that we don't fully televise anyway- have lost their impact.  Beheading's are old school tactics, so the propensity to turn back tortures clock speaks of an organization reaching for anything that it can grab hold of.  For a while, the beheading's achieved the purpose, but eventually one blurry video of a dying victim in an orange suit starts to resemble the next blurry video.  President Obama is limping his way towards the finish line of his tenure and never believed in the idea of fanning the terrorism flame anyway.  He came into office with the mission of ending our middle eastern wars and he hardly intends to leave office with a battalion of US soldiers waiting to be brought home by some other president.  If we are to return to the battlefields of Iraq, and now Syria, it will not be from another beheading.

But has burning someone alive changed the game?

The burning certainly has my wife wondering why we wouldn't just go blow them up and be done with it.  Typically, our response to every provocation is to blow them up and try to be done with it, but ISIS is a 30,000 soldier (and growing) fighting force that has taken over lands occupied by well over 1 million people.  The easy way to get rid of those 30,000 is to get rid of the million as well.  Everything else is a surgical process of weeding the needle out of the haystack that leaves you stuck in the middle east for a long time.

The pilot was from Jordan but ISIS is attacking humanity.

This fight must be lead by those most impacted by it, but even they are vulnerable to react impulsively. One of the hostages that  Jordan decided to kill was an Iraqi suicide bomber who only became captured because her chest bomb didn't go off.  She is alive today as a result of technical difficulties and her release would have certainly given her the opportunity to fix that error.  Jordan may feel better for having killed an Iraqi woman (women are typically excluded from these horrific acts) but have they elevated the cause of those who oppose Islamic extremism?

Of significant note is the digital production quality of the video.  Though it may have been a Jordanian pilot that was killed, the video targets western civilization and western sensibilities.  It pursues the kind of barbarism that would enrage Jordan and provoke the west into doing something more than drone strikes and military aid to the Kurds.  This is Pearl Harbor for ISIS except they have to send their suicide planes one beheading- or burning at a time.  Nothing says legitimacy like inciting a world war, and if ISIS can pull it off, they solidify their place in the spectrum of terror groups as the leader of the pack.

As long as the world remains disjointed in their response to ISIS, ISIS wins this war.  Collectively we can easily defeat this foe, but collectivism is not a characteristic of worldwide politics.  Jordan has fed the monster with their response to ISIS and so have we.  We must accept the negative impact of giving ISIS publicity in order to counter it with properly weighted opposition.  Some of it will happen in a traditional way but much of our war with ISIS will have to be fought in a new way that has yet to be developed.  Deflating ISIS will require a combination approach of every military and non-military counter effort that we know of- and a few yet imagined. The rules of engagement will have to be altered to address an enemy that doesn't behave by rules.  They're not even afraid to be known.

We Know Who They Are!!
Defining the enemy could be an important first step if it were not for the willingness of this enemy to define themselves.  Their behaviors define them and the scene of their behaviors clarifies their location.  Defining war against radicals is difficult because who they are is an evolving definition.  They come from all areas of the world and will eventually make the entire world their battlefield if allowed to operate freely.  Stopping terror is as impossible as ending serial killers.  While terror tactics are harsh and enraging, their outcomes are about the equivalent of a serial killer.

Thinking Like Killers

When we begin to win against terror, we will behave much as it does.  That will demand the courage to stand tall in the face of the inevitable mistakes while extracting embedded terrorist', but it will also demand the courage to stand tall in the face of human rights groups who will scream about covert strikes that America reveals only after the damage is done.  Gaining secret intelligence and responding to it with secret force will put terror on the run but it will also send American's chasing for information.  Terrorists that we kill NEED the news report more than they needed the bullet in their head and our demand for information feeds their need.

Fighting a war of legitimacy demands an enemy, and while middle eastern radicals add the US to their vast list of enemies, we only legitimize their war by publicly acknowledging them as we do or by killing sympathetic hostages in response.  Did Jordan consider executing these hostages by fire and then creating a video as well? Even without similar nastiness, ISIS is using Jordan's retaliation as a recruiting tool so that they can gain 5,000 while losing 2 sympathizers.

In the face of any war, the ends have to justify the means.