I grow weary of the furious hand wringing by those who worry about the appearance of our actions in world arenas like those held in the feckless UN, fear the telephoned repercussions from murderous dictators, or abhor the background nattering of the effete European chattering class, whenever the United States or one of its agents pours a bit of water down some mass murderers gullet until he starts a round of coughing.
While I can certainly understand the grotesque disquietude which might befall one backing such a position at a liberal cocktail party in Georgetown, I say bring in the yellow gas station rags, salt water, nose clamps, and a wicker chair with the seat cut out. I'm sure you can recall the use this particular chair was put to in the most recent iteration of that old Ian Fleming classic spy vs. spy, "Casino Royale."
As a retired cop let me pose a simple but rarefied question to those Democrats who are always lily livered and reed thin on defense, but claim in bold letters and on every rentable billboard that they are tops on offense. What are we to do in the future rather than fib and threaten to kill some Gestapo wannabe's entire family, children and all, like we are being accused of in the latest trumped up communist, "J'Accuse?" designed to take our gaze away from the pratfalls associated with the vast budget shortfalls and the seemingly unfathomable health care idiocy? Or will we, as my grizzled training officers did in those heady Camelot years, openly threaten to "arrest and book" these international hoodlums in order to get them to cough up what they know about what's cooking, when it'll go off, how many of us will be killed, where it'll happen, and whether or not the, and please pardon my tilt away from MacArthur's eloquence and toward Patton's more earthy patois, sumbitch is "neuclar?"
As General of the Army Douglas MacArthur put it so eloquently, "In war, there is no substitute for victory." And this victory does not come with the veritable mollycoddling of those who kill, torture, and maim us, as Eric Holder, fresh from his get out of jail free card hand outs to the New Black Panther Party over their interfering with folks voting in Phillie, and Barack Obama, what could MacArthur and Patton possibly tell the lad about the difference between overseas military and US political victory, would have us understand. Especially when there is reasonable cause to believe that the terrorist you have by the hair over the frothy tub of di-hydrogen monoxide possesses actionable intelligence which may save the lives of our men and women in combat, or, millions of our citizens who might die by the application of a weapon of mass destruction.
We do not win wars by faith alone.
John Burtis is a former Broome County, NY firefighter, a retired Santa Monica, CA, police officer. He obtained his BA in European History at Boston University and is fluent in German. He resides in NH with his wife, Betsy.
