America Gets A Boost With The Killing Of Bin Laden
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
I doubt we will ever know who pulled the trigger on Bin Laden. It would be more than stupid to release the name of the Seal trigger man, or any of the American troops participating in the raid that took down America’s most wanted criminal. It would, of course, lay them and their families open to retribution from terrorists for the remainder of their days.
Having said that, we urge the President to award ALL those troops with the highest decoration he possibly can -- in secret.
The assassination of Bin Laden gave Americans a sorely needed morale boost. It was a reminder that even though America is undergoing one of the greatest financial and political trials of its history, we STILL have the capability of fighting three overt wars and one covert war -- simultaneously. No other country on earth can do that. In other words, it sends a clear message to our enemies and detractors. Don’t mess with America. If you do, you had better be prepared to pay an awful price.
American Special Forces are, indeed, special. I am only about an hour’s drive from one of their training facilities and let me tell you, they are held in very high regard here.
I had the privilege of being acquainted with a couple of Special Forces men and both were exemplary young men -- both family men and both religious men who took their faith seriously.
The US military is still the best on earth. Those rough men allow us to sleep peacefully in our beds at night.
I must tell you that I am worried that the change up at the Defense Department and the CIA may weaken the US Armed Forces and our intelligence community.
I am not a great admirer of General Petraeus. I have felt for sometime that he is more politician than military man -- and that suspicion seems to have been borne out. So far as Leon Panetta goes, I fear that he is being placed as Secretary of Defense with orders from Obama to downsize the US military. That would be, in my estimation,, a dire mistake. If anything, we need to enlarge our standing military -- across the board.
Look, we are at war! No matter that some in our national government donned their rose-colored glasses, way back in the 60’s, and continue to wear them today skewing their view of reality, there IS a War on Terror. It is a ,war that will not stop at the killing of Osama Bin Laden. If anything, it may very well intensify. We have had an army in the field for over ten years now. We are nowhere near victory. Nor shall we be in ten more years. This is a war that has no perceptible end, at all.
Americans have to understand that as politically incorrect as it may be -- America is involved in a RELIGIOUS WAR. It is, simply put: the Judeo/Christian religion - vs - the Islamic religion. I understand it is distasteful to even say it, but hey … there it is!
On a slightly different tack … will the killing of Bin Laden frighten Qaddafi enough that he will use what little reasoning capability he has left to remove himself from Libya, at the earliest possible moment, and go off to live a quiet life swearing off the practice of terrorism? Will he stay and die, or go away -- and die? I expect NATO is watching intently to see if Qaddafi is affected in any way by the events of May 1st.
America must abandon its policy of attempting to win the hearts and minds of our Islamic enemy. It isn’t going to happen.
Peggy Noonan in an article in the Wall Street Journal recently said: “Our republic is now in a historical adventure period – that is not what is needed. We are, or should be, in a self-strengthening one. Our focus should not be on outward involvement but inner repair. Bad people are gunning for us, it is true. We should find them, dispatch them, and harden the target. (That would be, still New York, through Washington, too.) We should not occupy their lands or run their governments. We think in Afghanistan we’re buying their love, but I have been there. We’re not even renting it.
Our long wars have cost much in blood and treasure, and our military is overstretched. We’re asking soldiers to be social workers, as Bing West notes in his book on Afghanistan, “The Wrong War.”
Ms. Noonan is correct. Time spent building schools, roads, and hospitals, dulls the edge of the US military sword. In the end it will cost the lives of many US troops. That should never happen. The destruction of an enemy’s country should be a part of the price they must pay for attacking America. It should be viewed as a deterrent -- not urban renewal!
Meanwhile, the war goes on -- with no end in sight.
J. D. Longstreet
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