Let's Go to War with Pakistan (and maybe Libya)
We need to go to war with Pakistan. We may need to go to war with Libya.
I am not usually on board with war. During both of the major U.S. conflicts of the last decade, I opposed military involvement. I wrote to congressmen. I voted accordingly. It didn't do much good. I sent friends and relatives abroad to become veterans of two foreign wars. The war in Afghanistan, I felt, was unjust because we were punishing a country for the actions of a diverse and shadowy group of terrorists who had not acted on behalf of that country. I hated the Iraq war even more. I still don't know what we hoped to accomplish there. Both wars were costly. Both seemed, to me, un-winnable -- not that anyone ever provided a clear picture of what a victory might look like, anyway.
In Pakistan, the Federal Minister of Railways is a man named Ghulam Ahmed Bilour. He offered a $100,000 reward for the murder of an American. In the press conference during which he made the announcement, he even reached out to Al Queda and the Taliban. The American in question has a few aliases. I'm not sure what his real name is. It's usually reported as something like Sam Bacile. He incited a worldwide spate of violence when he produced a film called "Innocence of Muslims." I saw clips on Youtube. The film sucked. It was cheaply and poorly produced drivel. We're talking wooden acting, unconvincing dialogue, sets and costumes comparable to your third grade school play, and a lack of anything resembling artistic merit. I don't think Bacile knows the definition of "cinematography." I'm not the only harsh critic; people in twenty foreign nations protested.
Most notably, protesters broke into the American embassy in Libya and murdered our ambassador. To their credit, they weren't upset about the film's aesthetics. They protested the less-than-flattering portrayal of their prophet. Riots and murder are more their style -- ah, and contract killing. We can't forget the contract killing. Minister Bilour went to a lot of trouble to put a bounty on Bacile's head.
Here's how I read the situation: an American exercised his right to free speech. He made a crappy, hateful film. Muslims around the world found out and got their feelings hurt. Instead of fighting film with film, they decided to destroy property and kill some people. Then, still not satisfied, a Pakistani federal official put a hit out on the American for daring to exercise his right to freedom of speech in a manner that offended... umm, Pakistanis? When a foreign government puts a price on the head of an American for daring to act on his first amendment rights, well, I call that an act of war. Bilour put a target on Bacile's back - a back that, like that of the ambassador who fell in Libya, is on America's sovereign soil.
Can we please take the kid gloves off? Can we please stop trying to "save" all of these "Muslim Nations" by "winning their hearts and minds" or whatever the crap we're calling our mission these days? I say we dump one nuke on Libya and one on Pakistan. Screw the consequences. I don't care if the rest of the world will despise us for it. The so-called "Muslim world" has spent the last decade poking a sleeping bear. We've grunted and growled a little. I think it's time to wake up and show our teeth. We've got the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. Let's remind the world who they're poking with their tiny little sticks. Pakistan's arsenal may include nukes, but it can't touch ours for size or strength.
Freedom of speech is one of the most sacred concepts in American culture and history. I can think of no greater cause to warrant an aggressive attack. Assassinating our ambassadors is bad, but it's hard to tie directly to the Libyan government. Whether or not that justifies war is a grey area. A government issued bounty for the life of an American is easily tied to Pakistan. It is also very clearly an act of war. Bilour just turned every yahoo with a gun into a soldier. We must take decisive and aggressive action. We MUST pull out the big guns. There won't be any "nation building" or "partnering" or any such nonsense. We need to flatten that country and any other nation that dares to declare war on our most sacred inalienable rights.
We are the land of the free. We are free to make stupid inflammatory statements without fearing for our life or liberty. While we're at it, we're also free to accept or reject any religion -- even Islam. These are the concepts upon which our nation is based. Nothing is more important. We must stop at nothing to defend these freedoms. We must destroy any country that tries to take these freedoms away from us. I think we should drop the biggest bomb we have right on top of Pakistan's government building. Then, we should pat ourselves on the back. We shouldn't send anyone in to play nice or to help rebuild. We should make no apologies. The president should look right into a camera and say: "We did it. We're not sorry. We're not afraid to do it again."
Tell Obama and Romney to listen up. I'm voting for the man who has the courage of his convictions. I'm voting for the man who will lay waste to Pakistan (and, maybe, to Libya).
I am not usually on board with war. During both of the major U.S. conflicts of the last decade, I opposed military involvement. I wrote to congressmen. I voted accordingly. It didn't do much good. I sent friends and relatives abroad to become veterans of two foreign wars. The war in Afghanistan, I felt, was unjust because we were punishing a country for the actions of a diverse and shadowy group of terrorists who had not acted on behalf of that country. I hated the Iraq war even more. I still don't know what we hoped to accomplish there. Both wars were costly. Both seemed, to me, un-winnable -- not that anyone ever provided a clear picture of what a victory might look like, anyway.
In Pakistan, the Federal Minister of Railways is a man named Ghulam Ahmed Bilour. He offered a $100,000 reward for the murder of an American. In the press conference during which he made the announcement, he even reached out to Al Queda and the Taliban. The American in question has a few aliases. I'm not sure what his real name is. It's usually reported as something like Sam Bacile. He incited a worldwide spate of violence when he produced a film called "Innocence of Muslims." I saw clips on Youtube. The film sucked. It was cheaply and poorly produced drivel. We're talking wooden acting, unconvincing dialogue, sets and costumes comparable to your third grade school play, and a lack of anything resembling artistic merit. I don't think Bacile knows the definition of "cinematography." I'm not the only harsh critic; people in twenty foreign nations protested.
Most notably, protesters broke into the American embassy in Libya and murdered our ambassador. To their credit, they weren't upset about the film's aesthetics. They protested the less-than-flattering portrayal of their prophet. Riots and murder are more their style -- ah, and contract killing. We can't forget the contract killing. Minister Bilour went to a lot of trouble to put a bounty on Bacile's head.
Here's how I read the situation: an American exercised his right to free speech. He made a crappy, hateful film. Muslims around the world found out and got their feelings hurt. Instead of fighting film with film, they decided to destroy property and kill some people. Then, still not satisfied, a Pakistani federal official put a hit out on the American for daring to exercise his right to freedom of speech in a manner that offended... umm, Pakistanis? When a foreign government puts a price on the head of an American for daring to act on his first amendment rights, well, I call that an act of war. Bilour put a target on Bacile's back - a back that, like that of the ambassador who fell in Libya, is on America's sovereign soil.
Can we please take the kid gloves off? Can we please stop trying to "save" all of these "Muslim Nations" by "winning their hearts and minds" or whatever the crap we're calling our mission these days? I say we dump one nuke on Libya and one on Pakistan. Screw the consequences. I don't care if the rest of the world will despise us for it. The so-called "Muslim world" has spent the last decade poking a sleeping bear. We've grunted and growled a little. I think it's time to wake up and show our teeth. We've got the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. Let's remind the world who they're poking with their tiny little sticks. Pakistan's arsenal may include nukes, but it can't touch ours for size or strength.
Freedom of speech is one of the most sacred concepts in American culture and history. I can think of no greater cause to warrant an aggressive attack. Assassinating our ambassadors is bad, but it's hard to tie directly to the Libyan government. Whether or not that justifies war is a grey area. A government issued bounty for the life of an American is easily tied to Pakistan. It is also very clearly an act of war. Bilour just turned every yahoo with a gun into a soldier. We must take decisive and aggressive action. We MUST pull out the big guns. There won't be any "nation building" or "partnering" or any such nonsense. We need to flatten that country and any other nation that dares to declare war on our most sacred inalienable rights.
We are the land of the free. We are free to make stupid inflammatory statements without fearing for our life or liberty. While we're at it, we're also free to accept or reject any religion -- even Islam. These are the concepts upon which our nation is based. Nothing is more important. We must stop at nothing to defend these freedoms. We must destroy any country that tries to take these freedoms away from us. I think we should drop the biggest bomb we have right on top of Pakistan's government building. Then, we should pat ourselves on the back. We shouldn't send anyone in to play nice or to help rebuild. We should make no apologies. The president should look right into a camera and say: "We did it. We're not sorry. We're not afraid to do it again."
Tell Obama and Romney to listen up. I'm voting for the man who has the courage of his convictions. I'm voting for the man who will lay waste to Pakistan (and, maybe, to Libya).