ISIS Murders Another American While Our Leaders Do Nothing

ISIS has murdered yet another American, bringing the total to three in the last three months. Peter Kassig, a 26-year-old aid worker who converted to Islam, is the fifth Westerner to be murdered by a blood-thirty group of international terrorists who seem to delight in mocking the United States with every atrocious act they commit. And why not? As people die in the Middle East by the hundreds, we do absolutely nothing.

Perhaps I shouldn’t use the word ‘nothing’. Mr. Obama did take the time out of his busy schedule to call Kassig’s killing “pure evil.” Congress has been doing its part by making speeches and marching in Veterans Day parades, taking advantage of all the photo ops they run into. Meanwhile, the press conducts its normal practice of pandering to whomever will tow their ideological line; people llike Rand Corp. political scientist Colin Clarke who tried to explain the lack of threats in the latest ISIS video by telling NBC News:

“They only have so few bargaining chips left. They want to be very smart, very strategic and very deliberate.”

To refer to American hostages as bargaining chips is to expose one’s ignorance of what is actually happening in the world. To put it simply, this is not a poker game. It is also not a criminal act requiring an official investigation followed by arrests and a highly publicized trial fit for cable news. This is war.

Let me say that again, this time with amplification. THIS IS WAR.

I guarantee that ISIS leaders are not looking to go all-in with a royal flush. They aren’t sitting around wondering how they can hide evidence to avoid possible prosecution in the future. They are looking for any weakness they can exploit with every intention of doing what they can to destroy us. They will not be deterred by Mr. Obama’s declarations of evil. They will not be turned away by promises of an investigation. They will not stop until they either accomplish their objective or lie dead in a pool of blood.

Pretenders Go Home

The one part of this sad, sordid ISIS tale that is most disturbing is the lack of action by the U.S. Congress. For the better part of ten months we were subjected to a nightly onslaught of nastiness between Elephants and Jackasses who would have thrown their own mothers under a bus to win an election. All of these so-called ‘fighters’ constantly talked about how hard they were fighting, or would fight, for America. But it was all talk. In the end, they are cowards who will fight one another like spoiled children on a playground while Americans die at the hands of a foreign army.

Will the real fighters stand up and declare war?

Yes, you read that correctly. A declaration of war is in order here. Not an authorization to use force; not a limited police action; not a training mission along with a few million dollars in weapons to help Iraqis who have no intention of stopping the Islamic agenda.

Pretenders, GO HOME. The rest of you, prove to us that you are the fighters you claim to be and declare war one these ISIS sons-of-Belial. Why do we need a declaration of war? There are two reasons:

1. Force the Administration – If Congress will declare war, it will force the Administration to actually do something more than arrange for a few cursory bomb strikes and appropriately timed speeches. An authorization of force merely gives POTUS permission to act; a declaration forces him to act.
2. Unleash the Full Fury – A declaration of war will unleash the full fury of the U.S. war machine and the nation’s industrial base against an enemy that couldn’t possibly withstand. If you are going to fight an enemy it should be all or nothing, baby.

The Congress has declared war 11 times since we became a nation. What was our record? 11-0. Conversely, we did not declare war in Korea; it was a draw. We did not declare war in Vietnam; we lost. We did not declare war in Iraq, the first or second time; now we have ISIS. We did not declare war in Afghanistan; Al Qaeda is alive and well and on the verge of joining ISIS. Do you detect a pattern here?

A True Stalemate

As I see it, we have a real stalemate here. Congress won’t declare war because they have neither the stomach nor the courage to do so. It’s easier to do TV interviews where ISIS can be condemned behind the relative safety of a sterile news studio. The president won’t ask for a declaration of war because he has more respect for the Islamic Brotherhood than the three murdered Americans and their families. And since neither wants to actually live up to ‘dem fightin’ words’ they throw around so flippantly during election season, ISIS can kill with impunity.

As president, I would be demanding a declaration of war from Congress every day until I got one. Then I would proceed to turn the Middle East into a wasteland until ISIS, Al Qaeda, and all the rest either surrendered or their homelands resembled Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the war with Japan.

I hate speeches. I hate photo ops. They don’t stop war mongers like Hitler, Bin Laden or Hussein. And they certainly don’t save American lives.