Looking Up?

In his acceptance speech John Kerry said the wanted the United States to be "looked up to, not feared."

Sorry, wrong number. We are at war. A different war then we've ever fought. A war we didn't start, but one we have to finish - before our enemies bring their filthy Jihad to our shores, again. That enemy has command structures and affiliated networks across the world but its focus is the Middle East. Unfortunately there is only one state in that region that is not dysfunctional-Israel. The rest exist in a world of oligarchy, kleptocracy and outright thuggery. No political rights as we know them, especially for women, and no future for their exploding populations.

Who then does Kerry want to "look up" to us? Our enemies? No. Rather, let them fear us, and let us and give them good reason to do so. Appeasement is an invitation for Osama bin Ladin to crow again about the "weak horse." And they have plans for the "weak horse."

As for Europe, many there think of us as rude "cowboys." They think our belief in our "exceptionalism" is a sign of an unsophisticated ignorance. They shrug at the memory of the spilled blood of 3,000 innocents, thinking to aggrandize themselves as they seek to diminish American influence. Is it really in our best interests to toady to the French? Shall we take moral instruction from Germany? No, let us be Americans; let us do what we have to do. With sadness for the lives and treasure it will cost but with resolve to finish the job, and continue to take the fight to those who would do us harm. To do otherwise is both morally bankrupt, and national suicide.

Doug Robertson

La Crescenta