[elhombrelibre]

On the other hand, if the cruelty that ISIS does doesn't cause a Curtis Lemay type of response (even rhetorically), then we're probably going to have to get used to a permanent ISIS. I believe Winston Churchill's reaction to the Bolsheviks is correct. He said, "We should strangle the baby in its cradle."

Carl von Clausewitz wrote in his book ON WAR that wars are won by breaking the enemies will to fight. Clearly, if we think about it the will of the American people to fight has been broken by our enemies abroad and politicians taking political advantage of American war weariness (which for most Americans means they're tired of hearing about it). Even as vile and cruel as ISIS is, and as much as they have shown themselves to be at war with everyone not practicing Islam as they do, our president is not willing to say we're at war with them.

My opinion is that we should use airpower to even the battlefield for those already fighting ISIS. Continue to transfer arms and ammunition to the Kurds and others so that they can hunt down and exterminate these foreigners who wage an unprovoked war against the people of Iraq and Syria.

[AmericanExceptionalist]

On the other hand, if the cruelty that ISIS does doesn't cause a Curtis Lemay type of response (even rhetorically), then we're probably going to have to get used to a permanent ISIS. I believe Winston Churchill's reaction to the Bolsheviks is correct. He said, "We should strangle the baby in its cradle."

Carl von Clausewitz wrote in his book ON WAR that wars are won by breaking the enemies will to fight. Clearly, if we think about it the will of the American people to fight has been broken by our enemies abroad and politicians taking political advantage of American war weariness (which for most Americans means they're tired of hearing about it). Even as vile and cruel as ISIS is, and as much as they have shown themselves to be at war with everyone not practicing Islam as they do, our president is not willing to say we're at war with them.

My opinion is that we should use airpower to even the battlefield for those already fighting ISIS. Continue to transfer arms and ammunition to the Kurds and others so that they can hunt down and exterminate these foreigners who wage an unprovoked war against the people of Iraq and Syria.

Actually, I agree with just about everything you said. I was merely referring to tactics--not principles.

I, too, have long liked Clausewitz. The aphorism for which he is probably best known--that war is "merely the continuation of policy [OR politics] by other means"--is an excellent observation, in my opinion.

And we do, indeed, need to confront ISIS--or whatever it is calling itself nowadays--in a most unforgiving manner. (I do not often quote a thoroughgoing Marxist; but in this case, I will make an exception, and quote Leon Trotsky: "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." It is something for a war-weary nation to ponder.)