A HAWKISH VIEW FROM AN AMERICAN LIBERAL

I've heard it said that compared to world standards there are no liberals in America, and based on my own understanding of world politics, I believe that's true.  I've studied foreign governments for along time - as a student, a professor of political science, and just as a hobby.  Sometimes I get curious about a particular country and start digging up as much as I can about it.  Sometimes I do it following the old saying that one should know the enemy, and we most certainly have some of them out there.  Sometimes, however, you can't find out much studying a particular government because our real enemy in this day and age isn't confined to just one country.  I'm talking here about the threat of terrorism from Islamic extremists.  I happen to be an American liberal who favors a hard line against them . . . a very hard line.

President Obama is a very cautious man, but I think if you check the records you'll find that he's used bombs and other airborne devices against the terrorists more than any other President.  Now he's mulling over what to do about a new group of terrorists operating in Syria, this group calling themselves ISIS.  Should we bomb them . . . or not?  So far, he's holding off on doing that until our intelligence people can gather more information, and I support that move.  But I likewise don't approve of doing nothing, and here's my thinking on that.  If some terrorist group makes actual threats against you, openly vows to destroy you, that to me is a declaration of war that should be responded to.  That should signal an open season on them whenever and wherever we find them, and we should do that without gathering together a coalition force beforehand.  It's nice to have international support, but it shouldn't be mandatory.  World opinion is often against us, but that shouldn't hold us back.  It is us under the threat of attack, not them.

I've noticed that when other nations come under attack that they're not at all reluctant to ask us for help, and we've got a pretty good record of jumping in there and helping.  Regardless of what anyone wants to think, we are the most powerful military force in the world, and if you need help from a friend when trouble comes your way, it's smart to ask a big friend, one with some muscle.  We're often seen as arrogant by other nations, and perhaps we are, but when a real threat of violence arises, that's not something we should worry much about.  It takes some arrogance to really do a good job of kicking someone's ass, especially if they need it.  These Islamic terrorists need it, deserve it, and we deserve the right to give it to them.  You can't solve everything with bombs, and that's a fact . . . but you can sure send a message.  Even the most devout Islamic terrorist understands the bomb, especially when he feels the weight of one.  And if he believes death in service to his goals gains him a place in the hereafter, we should do him the favor and send him on his way there.

And we've got lots of bombs.