How Long Are We Going To Allow These Terror Shootings To Occur?

Did you stand united with the people of France a little while back? Great! Do you stand united against whatever the cause of the Orlando shooting turns out to be? Great! Do you stand united against extremists who carry out terror attacks? Great! That’s all well and good, but what are we going to do to stop these attacks? It’s heartwarming to see the outpouring of sentiment and unity that always occurs immediately following them. If you can say one thing about humans, it’s that they really know how to come together during and immediately after a crisis. But, sadly, there is also another thing you can say about humans, and it’s that they tend to forget all about a crisis just as quickly as it came on.

Everyone is always all in an uproar when these travesties occur, and I think that is definitely the right reaction, but as with every pervious crisis, the uproar fades to the back of everyone’s minds within a few months, if not sooner. We see it with school shootings - the first few days after it happens, it’s non-stop news coverage, politicians calling for change and everyone pining for this one to be the last one. Then, something so very human happens – a week later, there’s no more news coverage, the politicians move on to other topics and ultimately, in the end, nothing changes. Then, it happens again, the whole cycle starts over, and once again, in the end, nothing changes.

With every terror attack there is an outcry across the world, but with every terror attack we also see the eventual fading of its impact. Those personally impacted by the attack are the only ones that feel it’s lingering effects, but the rest of humanity just goes about their business as usual. The military and political stalemates that have plagued America and her allies since long before September 11, 2001, just seem to continue without end, regardless of where and how often these terror attacks occur.

Our government launches air attacks in Syria, and then people die in the streets of France. Our government bombs targets in Iraq and people die in the streets of London. Our government refuses to use the term “radical Islam” while radical Islamists kill people in streets all over the world. Our government overthrows governments in the Middle East and militants slaughter the citizens of those former countries as soon as we leave. Then, we launch more air strikes and the whole thing starts all over again. Our government’s half-assed, hair-brained tactics and strategy don’t change, so naturally, the outcome of this War on Terror doesn’t change.

The endless cycle of the idiotic and ineffective use of the U.S. military by our government’s leadership that does nothing more than yield more attacks on civilians and civilization is going to just continue on forever unless they do something different, and they will only do something different if we, united as Americans, demand something different – something better – of our government and the people that are currently running it.

If after the first Gulf War, we had supported the Kurds in their uprising against Saddam Hussein, how different would the world be today? Instead, we blasted through Kuwait, patted ourselves on the back and then came home. We hung the Kurds out to dry and then were all up in arms, if only for a few weeks or so, when Saddam gassed them, but then, did nothing at all to help. When Syrian rebels rose up against Asad, we did nothing. When the fledgling Iraqi government was trying to establish a new country, our Commander-in-Chief ensured he kept a campaign promise instead of ensuring the Iraqi nation was strong enough to stand on its own, even while his generals told him he was making a huge mistake. When ISIS was coming to power, that same genius dismissed them and did nothing while they swept across land, slaughtered people and easily commandeered a good portion of the military supplies we left in Iraq, making ISIS the best-equipped militant group in the history of mankind. Throw in the oil fields we let them capture and they’re the best funded as well. And now, this group is coordinating, inspiring and helping deliver terror across the globe, just as Al-Qaeda did when we chose to ignore them back in the 1990s.

Today, Islamic extremists will slaughter Christians, Catholics, Jews, atheists or anyone else who doesn’t share their views, yet our government and it’s inept leadership refuses to even acknowledge religious zeal and philosophy, no matter how misguided, are the actual root causes of the slaughter. These people are not out to gain territory, to commandeer wealth and power - they are out to acquire the resources they need to accomplish their goal of wiping any and all non-believers in their faith off the planet, whether those non-believers be in Kurdistan, France or here in America. Are you Muslim? No? Well, they want you dead. Even if you are Muslim, do you support their ultra-idealistic slaughter of non-Muslims? No? Well, then, they want you dead. This is their belief, my friends, and as long as our government refuses to acknowledge religious zeal and fanaticism as the true reason these people want to kill us, it will never take the steps necessary to properly fight this threat.

And, just to be clear, this is a threat we need to fight – a threat we need to eradicate. This is not a threat we can simply contain to a geographic area and hope it never reaches our shores or homes. Philosophies and beliefs cannot be contained like pinning down a fighting force in a ravine until they eventually surrender. Communism does not have a geographic boundary. Fascism does not have a geographic boundary. They are philosophies and people all over the world believe in them. The same is the case with Islamic extremism. Bomb the shit out of Syria, bomb the shit out of wherever, but that alone is not going to stop the Islamic extremist that is laying low while working at Walmart or McDonald’s until the time is right or until he gets the call that it’s time to roll.

What will stop this? A lot of folks out there want you to believe that nothing can be done and that we just have to sit back and take this, or worse yet, ignore it and hope it goes away. Some say bring back every American soldier back to American soil and abandon all our bases around the world – simply pull out of the Middle East and the extremists will be placated and leave us alone. But, how do we sit back and watch as groups like ISIS commit atrocities around the world, then do nothing? Simply coming back home won’t work, either, though I can see why some people think it might. The problem with this theory, though, is that when your enemy needs your very existence to recruit and rally troops, needs you to provide them with a common evil to bring their misguided followers together and to get them to do their bidding, completely leaving that enemy alone will do nothing because they will ensure no matter what you do, you still remain the focus of their efforts and their ire.

The bottom line is doing nothing or simply retreating back home will not stop these attacks. I do believe, however, that a number of our former service members have the answer, but before I get to that, let’s explore a concept.

Let’s pause here for just a second to drive home a point. It is a difficult point to understand, especially with the lives we lead here in America, but it is a point that we all should really be coming to a realization about. There are people who wake up everyday and make it their mission to kill as many Americans or other westerners or non-believers as they can. They might not get the chance to do that very often, but they work towards that goal nonetheless, and on occasion, some actually do get the opportunity to fulfill their mission. On November 13, 2015, there were some people in France who woke up that morning and said, “Today, I am going to go out and kill as many people as I can.” And unfortunately, there were 129 people who became their victims. If you had been in that concert hall, at that stadium, sitting outside those restaurants, it could have been you. They wish it had been you. There are whole masses of people out there in the world who wish it had been you. I know that is such a hard concept to comprehend because they don’t name us by name and aren’t people we know, but make no mistake about it, they want to kill you – they want to end your life, end your children’s’ lives, end the lives of people you know and care about – all because your beliefs are different from their beliefs. I’d be remiss not to point out that those who will actually carry out these attacks and fulfill this mission are a very small segment of the world’s human population, but they do exist, so their threat should not be ignored. Read this paragraph again and let that sink in and I guarantee you still won’t fully comprehend this concept.

What we have to realize together as those who simply want to live our lives in peace the way that we see fit, and see everyone else in the world experience that same type of life, is that we are not fighting a nation state, we are not fighting an oppressive government, we are not fighting a militia or terrorists - we are fighting a belief system that doesn’t simply run counter to our own, but is a belief system that calls for the immediate death of any living human on the planet that disagrees with that belief system. It is time for us to band together as a civilization to bring this bullshit to an end, just as the world did against fascism, National Socialism and the communist regimes that murdered millions of people. We need to put politics aside, we need to put our differences aside, and we need to demand that the free governments of the world finally pull their heads out of their asses and actually do something to stop this threat before it kills more of us.

So, what’s the solution? Well, it’s not to put 300,000 American troops on the ground in Syria or Iraq and it’s definitely not to continue doing what we are doing, which is only flying over the area and dropping bombs. The solution is actually somewhere in between - work with the governments and Muslim fighters in the region who support the principles of civilization and justice and help them destroy this plague that exists within their lands, culture, and religion. The solution is to stop this bullshit political correctness in Western nations and see things for what they are – see the enemy of civilization for what it is and its fighters, combatants, soldiers, jihadists, freedom fighters, or whatever the hell you want to call them for what they are – humans hell-bent on killing those that are different from them – humans that have usurped a legitimate religion as justification for their actions and will stop and nothing to carry out those actions. This is not the first time humanity has seen this, but it is definitely real, and definitely something that all of humanity should be working together to eradicate.

We don’t need to spend $5 billion bombing carloads of high-value targets and ammunition dumps on a unilateral basis while continuing to ignore the intelligence on the ground, ignoring the advice of our own military experts and not working closely with the local militias who are willing to fight the extremists that have taken over their homelands. We need to spend our money working with the local boots on the ground that stand for the same things we do – freedom of religion, freedom to exist and freedom to live free from tyranny. We need to prop these forces up and do all we can to help them fight the battles they need to fight – to help them win the battles they need to win. We need to use our superior air power and military might to organize and support the true freedom fighters that are willing to fight against Islamic extremist militants and other oppressive regimes. If we are going to continue to thrust ourselves on to the world stage and claim jurisdiction as the police of the entire planet, then it is time for us to do the job the right way – work with allies and local fighters, providing military support while spreading good will through aid and education.

Watch the military correspondents on television and they seem to know how to combat this plague. Look to the White House and it seems like no one knows what the hell to do. Where is the disconnect? Why isn’t government listening to the experts? You want the support of the Muslim world and want them to like us? Then help them fight their fight for justice and for freedom. Don’t spend your day making sure you don’t say the words “radical Islam”, spend your day making sure you are leading the civilized world in eradicating radical Islam for the benefit of everyone alive in the world today. Spend your day helping the people around the world who are fighting oppressive regimes in order to provide a better life for their families.

And what do we do about the extremists here in our own neighborhoods and those that are on their way? We demand that our leaders shore up our immigration policy and control our borders, whether it be a physical border or simply who we let fly into this country on an aircraft or sail over on a boat. We need to enforce our immigration laws, demand real reform to the broken system we have today and make sure we know unequivocally who is here and why they are here. This is not an unreasonable demand for citizens to make of their government. Make no mistake about it, there are ISIS agents and sympathizers here in America today and they are just as capable of causing mass death as their brothers in arms in Paris. The shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando, whether tied directly to ISIS or not, are prime examples of the influence the group has on people regardless of where they were born, or where they live. And if they were my soldiers to command, I’d be sending extremists into America via it’s broken border and immigration system, especially at a time when Americans are too worried about being politically correct to protect themselves from my agents of death. A powerful enemy exploits your weaknesses and our lax immigration policy is a great one to exploit.

It is truly time for us as the actual targets of the world’s Islamist extremist militants to demand that our governments take the necessary steps to ensure our safety and eradicate this threat from the world. It is time for people to wake up and realize that they are the intended targets. They are the non-Muslims and Muslims alike that these murderers and aspiring murderers want to kill – are training to kill – are praying each day that they will have the opportunity to die while killing, therefore guaranteeing them a passage to paradise – blissful life-everlasting if only they can kill at least one of us before they themselves go on to meet their prophet, their creator and their glorious end.

And lastly, it is time for us to not just put a color transparency over our Facebook profile picture for a couple weeks then forget about this real and violent threat until the next time there is a terror attack. It is time for us to demand real change, to demand effective leadership, effective foreign policy and effective security from the people who demanded that we send them to Washington, D.C. to lead, regardless of their party and regardless of their views on domestic and foreign issues. If there is one thing our government should do, it is protect us from attacks like the one that occurred in France last November, the one that occurred in San Bernardino in December, and the one that occurred in Orlando this past weekend. Sadly, I worry they are not prepared to do so and the fact they are simply paying lip service to the fight against ISIS and other Islamic extremists instead of actually working with fighters around the world to destroy them is the biggest indicator of the real trouble we’re actually facing. ISIS fighters and other extremists are here in our neighborhoods. It’s time for us to wake up and demand our leaders do something about it.

Photo via Pixabay