The ever-brilliant Victor Davis Hanson argues that we must crush Islamo-facism completely in order to bring peace to the Middle East. Sadly, I think he’s right. The waves of hatred that have come from nations like Iran and Iraq must either be destroyed full-on, or they will force our hand sooner or later. The old maxims that understanding will only bring peace only work if both sides are willing to understand each other. Israelis have been trying to negotiate with the Palestinians; the Palestinians have respibded with suicide attack. Iraq has very likely been supporting al-Qaeda while Iran uses the Palestinians to fight a war against Israel by proxy. This is a situation in which peace is no longer possible. I would rather risk the lives of soldiers now and destroy these corrupt and autocratic regimes than wait for attacks with biological/chemical/nuclear weapons that would make September 11th look like a day in the park. The time to stand is now.
I just finished a great book by Robert D. Kaplan called Warrior Politics which goes into detail on why we need to adopt "Machiavellian virtue" in our foreign policy. In essense, a war now will be bloody and long, but uit will prevent a longer, bloodier war in the future. In the end, the best way to be magnanimous is to be magnanimous in victory.
