With the demise of Bin Ladin, the argument has been rekindled about just what, and why, we as a nation are expending such an enormous amount of national blood and treasure in far off lands? I agree that conflicts in Pakistan and Afghanistan are unwinnable by outside forces, without employing a Genghis Khan mentality, and interior schisms between tribes and religions make any national government with real authority extremely unlikely. So, why are we involved in any type of military ground operations? It is simply because to not be involved carries far worse possibilities to our national security. We may not have much leverage in these nations, but we do at least have some, as well as intelligence assets on the ground and in the respective governments. That is how we got Bin Ladin. The Islamic nations may pose strategic threats to us because of the possible economic weaponization of their oil reserves, and the ever present danger of terrorism, but in every other capability they are backwards, insular nations. Pakistan does have nuclear weapons, but no long range delivery systems, so even that represents a threat only to the Asian theatre, not directly to U.S. soil.

The real intractable problem on the worlds’ stage is Pakistan/India, because of profound religious differences going back 60 years to the partition of the nation into a Muslim and Hindu homeland. They have been fighting over Kasmir for literally decades, both have nuclear weapons, and large populations of very poor cannon fodder the elites would not hesitate to expend in the name of national interest. Plus, we really do not possess the mental toughness and pragmatism to negotiate with any of these nations, so we should not even pretend we can unless we are willing to be effective in our negotiations (which requires more than throwing money around). Pakistan came around into our camp not because of our words, but because of what we did to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Piecemeal, and nuanced, approaches do not work in that region of the world, so we need to go in to win decisively, or stay out. Since staying out is not an option at this stage, winning is the only way left. Unless, of course, we want to go the way of France and Britain, appeasing our way into obscurity while Sharia law eradicates our national identity.

When considering the propagation of radical Islamic thought, it should be remembered that the Islamic nations have many smart, highly talented people, but the ruling regimes are so removed economically from the masses they might as well be different nations, which is why Al Qeada and Wahabbism represent a more fundamental threat to the Gulf Arabic nations than to our own. The terrorists may blow some of our landmarks up, but they cannot destroy our culture and throw us back, as a nation, to the middle ages, as they can Saudi Arabia, Quatar, et al, because we do not have a majority of citizens in grinding poverty being radicalized by religious imams while our rulers live large.

Perhaps that is really where I feel President Obama and the rest of these oh so experienced people (BTW if they are so experienced and have been around for 40 years, why are we stilling having these problems?) miss the boat, they are focused primarily on the physical insurgency of the Islamic radicals, and refusing to acknowledge that our national security paradigm must in large part be based on defeating the ideology of Jihadism. We are a Christian nation and have no business adopting Sharia compliant financing, foot baths, clean foods, or any other politically correct genuflucting to Islam, let alone refusing to criticize radical Islamic terrorists because it might hurt their feelings! Wipe the terrorists from the face of the earth (so long and good riddance, Osama!) so they can go enjoy their 72 promised virgins, and let us move on with the task of getting along with the “moderate” muslims of the world. What our political classes tell us we must do in the name of diversity is in reality aiding and abetting our enemy in their efforts to destroy our culture and way of life. Multiculturalism is, indeed, the murdering of our culture.

http://briannorton.blogtownhall.com/