People have complained that President Obama’s arrogance and his “my way or the highway” attitude paints him as a pseudo monarch.
A real monarch, King Abdullah of Jordan, could teach O how to do
it right. Before the Kings’ plane landed back in Jordan from his abbreviated Washington visit he had two convicted terrorists executed and announced it to the world. Barack Obama, listen well, this is how you show leadership. You ACT. Kill our citizens we kill two of yours. Come against us at our own peril. We will hunt you all down and remove you from the earth. Not just words, but actions with teeth.
ISIS somehow thought it advantageous for them to burn the Jordanian pilot, First Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh, and then post the gruesome video of his death. News flash, the King is a fighter with a military background. He knows how to conduct war and did not waste a minute in making his attack to end his country’s vulnerability. Strike us and we strike back, harder and more thoroughly. It is the only way to defeat an enemy. Sadly our country once knew that lesson and responded with glorious results many times in history.
It is only in the last 50 years or so that we have lost some of the steel that once straightened our spines. War is not a sport, not political theatre, it is blood and gore and death on grand scales. So when war is upon us we most approach it with the ultimate resolve to win and win at virtually all costs. Anything short of that is a gesture in futility. Just look at the Korean War, Vietnam, Iraq and now Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were and are fought vigorously – to a point. – and what was the result? It is something less than what would historically be called victory. So now we are faced with ISIS, the most barbaric evil since Adolph Hitler. If we settle for anything short of their total defeat we will do so at our own peril and the peril of the whole world.
No matter which side of the aisle your political seat is you have to realize that fighting is a 100% occupation. If you fight with restraints you will surely lose at some point and if you don’t lose you will pay a much higher price. Half measures or idealistic hopes of diplomatic solutions must be tabled until after we have placed our standard in the ground.
Even one of the first American political progressives, Teddy Roosevelt said, “Walk softly, but carry a big stick.”
Labeling the fighters among us as ‘war mongers’ or ‘hawks’ is a way for people to hide their own cowardice. In effect they are saying please don’t make me fight I am afraid. Wake up children, if you don’t fight you will surely lose and then you should be really afraid. Insisting that ISIS is someone else’s fight is just plain foolishness. ISIS is our fight just as much our fight as the countries of the Middle East. Have not our citizens been killed in a similarly dramatic fashion? Can we not anticipate that more will be lost this way? The enemy most be shown the folly of their actions or they most assuredly will not only continue but escalate.
I applaud the King for his leadership. No panty wasted rhetoric, no pussy footing around the issue, just command of the situation and a swift decision to set the stage for the fight ahead. Jordan has many thousands of ISIS sympathizers within its borders and they have immediately been put on notice that they are doomed. Political correctness can play no part in decisions of this magnitude. Leading cannot always make more for diverse opinions. Leading is about understanding all the facets of a situation, determining the appropriate reaction or approach and then executing a plan to have a strong impact.
Jordanian high unemployment, economic frailty and fractious tribal tensions were excluded from the King’s decision. Important though those conditions are the response to Lt. al-Kasasbeh’s execution had to take precedence. That my friends is leadership. Something our President lacks.
Oh for the want of a King.