The morning news tells us that Islamofascists in Iraq not only brutalized and killed two of our soldiers in June, they video taped the barbarous act. Arab networks are running segments of this latest display of man’s inhumanity to man, this time against Pfc. Thomas Tucker and Pfc. Kristian Menchaca. There seems to be an audience for that sort of thing among segments of the Muslim world. For us civilians sitting safely at home in America, this act – and so many others like it – serve as a reminder of the nature of our enemy. We should also be reminded – forcefully, constantly – that we have faced evil before, and that we once had the will to destroy it.
I wish that President Bush would address the county in prime time and give us a history lesson. I wish he would use news reel footage and military reports from World War II to show the nation what it took to win a war against an evil, determined adversary. In this address he would talk about the massive aerial bombings of European cities, the vicious combat on islands in the Pacific, the civilian casualties, the military casualties, the destruction of religiously-significant places, of loss of irreplaceable artifacts from our own culture. He would explain why this destruction was required, and why our culture, our political philosophy, was worth defending in this manner. Behind him on a big screen would be shown the fire bombings of Dresden, the destruction of Monte Cassino, Marines on Tarawa, and eventually the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
He would explain that 65 years ago we were attacked, and we fought back. We identified our enemies and their allies, and we brought deadly force to bear wherever we found them using every means at our disposal. He would tell the American people that such terrible violence was necessary to ensure the safety of our nation. As a nation, we understood that then – and we must understand it now. He would finally admit that our enemy is Islamofascism and its supporters, just as 65 years ago one of our enemies was German National Socialism – fascism – and all those willing to kill or die in its name. He would state categorically that our enemy today must be utterly defeated if we are to remain a free nation, since no nation could remain free while tolerating forever the threat of repeated 9/11-style attacks.
He would then look into the camera and tell us that "Operation Desert Overlord" had begun. Iraq’s borders had been closed. The elected government of Iraq was safe, in a secure location, and would be restored to power – after the US military had finished killing or capturing every "militant" in Iraq. He would put governments on notice that if their citizens were found in Iraq, the governments would be held to account. He would tell us that he looked forward to a mutually-beneficial relationship with Iraq once the Islamofascist threat had been neutralized and our troops were redeployed where needed.
Then he would close with "Good night, and God bless the United States of America."
