When American lives are lost to Islamic terrorism, Obama's response is always quiet, measured, controlled, and ultimately ineffectual. The word "vengeance" doesn't come up unless he's lecturing us about how it's something we should not seek. After all, we wouldn't want to offend anyone, or upset the jihadists who are already trying to kill us.
Now we're going to see how Vladimir Putin handles things. Last night, he acknowledged that a terrorist bomb brought down the Russian Metrojet charter in Egypt, killing all 224 passengers aboard.
As Yahoo News reports:
"It is not the first time that Russia confronts barbarous terrorist crimes", Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a meeting late Monday with his security chiefs.
"The murder of our people in Sinai is among the bloodiest crimes in terms of victims. We will not wipe away the tears from our soul and hearts. This will stay with us forever but will not stop us finding and punishing the criminals," he said in comments released Tuesday.
"We will search for them anywhere they might hide. We will find them in any part of the world and punish them," he said, calling the attack "one of the bloodiest crimes."
Note that he doesn't talk about how his people need to "empathize" with Islamic terrorists. He doesn't mention the idea that they have "legitimate grievances." He doesn't call for a jobs program or whine about global warming. The fecklessness that allowed the President's J.V. Team to increase its power, wealth, and area of influence exponentially is nowhere to be found.
In fact, Putin specifically vows that he will seek "vengeance" for his country's victims.
"The combat work of our aviation in Syria must not only be continued. It must be intensified so that the criminals understand that vengeance is inevitable," Putin said.
As if to drive his point home, this morning Russian warplanes and cruise missiles began hammering ISIS strongholds in Raqa, Syria.
URGENT: Russia to use 25 long-range bombers to launch Syria airstrikes from own territory [url=https://t.co/esD14fqDc0]https://t.co/esD14fqDc0[/url] pic.twitter.com/FoET5xolYs
— RT (@RT_com) November 17, 2015
DETAILS: 34 cruise missiles launched on terrorists’ targets in Syria [url=https://t.co/2bmQACnfF7]https://t.co/2bmQACnfF7[/url] pic.twitter.com/EzYgHLgQUO
— RT (@RT_com) November 17, 2015
No one is arguing that Putin is a wonderful human being. He's not. But this is what it looks like when a President decides that enough is enough. This is what happens when a world leader determines that his country has a legitimate enemy - one that only understands force - and decides to do something about it. It's a shame we don't have one in the U.S.
It's unpleasant having to point at Putin as an example of a leader who "gets it," but our President has actually stated that he's not interested in anything that resembles American "victory" or "leadership."
....How very, very, pathetic he looks today.
