“Today Was A Good Day”

Yes, today was a good day. A man described as the “most-wanted human rights criminal in the world, responsible for the murder, torture, rape and oppression of tens – even hundreds – of thousands of people” was eliminated.

HOWEVER, it was not, as President Trump asserts, by the action of U.S. Forces. Rather, it was by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s own hand as he detonated the suicide vest he was wearing. While there is little doubt he was forced into this action as the result of a raid on his compound, it was not a direct kill.

No, this man ran for safety. And when he knew he was cornered, he took his own life. Sadly, there were children with him … and they also died.

Yet, as always, Trump has reveled in his own self-praise as he’s told the world how HE directed the kill of a major terrorist. (Although in true Trump style, he did direct a word of thanks to his buddy, Vladimir Putin.)

Undoubtedly, Trump and his sycophants will now claim the world to be a safer place without this man, but we must ask … is it?

As this article proclaims:

The Islamists are not going to disappear or give up just because Baghdadi is gone. Indeed the very same vainglorious Donald Trump who took obscene personal credit for his death has put Isis back in business by his withdrawal of American forces from Syria and giving Erdogan the green light to beat the hell out of America’s Kurdish allies. Now hundreds of hardened, trained, ruthless and cruel Isis fighters have been let loose in the region, at liberty to attack US forces and their allies wherever they find them, and to take fresh terror campaigns into Europe.

There’s little doubt that Trump believes the action he took to eliminate Baghdadi was a far bigger and more prestigious deal than that which was carried out by President Obama when he terminated Osama Bin Laden. However, what he fails to realize is that neither he nor former presidents have eliminated “the hydra of militant Islamist terror and aggression.” Just because Baghdadi is gone does not mean the Islamists are going to disappear or give up. Another leader will soon arise. To think otherwise is foolish and misguided.

The referenced article concludes:

Depressingly, we also know that Trump will milk the death of Baghdadi for all it is worth, all the way to polling day: A great day for his country, Trump said, though he meant a great day for Trump. The war on terror is not over – let alone won.

***************************************
Image by TeroVesalainen from Pixabay

Kill ‘Em All!

Just read this in an article at AmericanThinker.com … and it chills my bones:

America is in a generational struggle against the sick, pathological and extreme ideology of Islam, and America must show no mercy for the merciless Islamic State, which seeks the “breaking of the American [Christian] cross” and the fulfillment of Islamic prophecy. We must unleash the full fury and might of the U.S. military on the Islamic State and annihilate these animals who would end our U.S. Republic, democratic elections and religious freedom, leaving only Sharia law. And, we must fight to victory or condemn future generations to a perpetual state of war, or worse.

I don’t think any of us want to be in a “perpetual state of war,” but is unleashing the “full fury and might of the U.S. military on the Islamic State” the answer? Does this writer think we can just walk in and blow the smithereens out of the countries that support terrorism and walk away unscathed?

I recognize that diplomatic reasoning doesn’t seem to be working, but it turns my stomach when the writer says we should “annihilate these animals.” If the U.S. were to follow his strategy, not only the “animals” would be annihilated, but thousands of innocent people as well.

I admit I don’t know the answer to the global situation that is facing the U.S. (and other countries), but there must be a better way than the venomous and vicious plan offered by this writer.

Thoughts?

The Doctrines of Republicanism

Andrew Sullivan said this in a blog posting on The Daily Beast:

That’s how I explain the current GOP. It can only think in doctrines, because the alternative is living in a complicated, global, modern world they both do not understand and also despise. Taxes are therefore always bad. Government is never good. Foreign enemies must be pre-emptively attacked. Islam is not a religion. Climate change is an elite conspiracy to impoverish America. Terror suspects are terrorists. When Americans torture, it is not torture. When Christians murder, they are not Christians. And if you change your mind on any of these issues, you are a liberal, an apostate, and will be attacked.

The idea that a Republican could get elected as president in 2012 and we would have to live by these doctrines scares the living sh__ out of me!