Bill at the fourth rail elaborates on Israel's assassination of a Hamas leader in Damascus by making some crucial points that now apply to every nation seriously involved in fighting the GWOT.
I won't elaborate on all six points of his discussion here but I think the "message" is critical. In short, Israel has had some success in neutralizing Hamas and is thus empowered to act more boldly, just as it did by assassinating a target within Syria.
I believe this is an overflow of the "Bush Doctrine" as it pertains to fighting terror. You are either with or against us and we reserve the right to attack anytime and anywhere to defend ourselves. While the Israelis have been bold in the past, which Bill mentions, they have not "openly" taken steps such as the recent action in Syria. Actually, I hesitate to even use the word "assassination," feeling that "preemption" is a more suitable word.
Because the US, led by President Bush, is acting as forcefully as it is in both Afghanistan and Iraq, it has set the tone for other nations with a willingness to truly take up arms against the terrorist elements in the world. One need only look at Putin's recent statements to see that, more and more, nations serious about terror are on the same page as our President.
How ironic that "Agent Orange" aka Kerry is banging his silly toy drum about our need to reach out to and even follow our allies. The fact is, the US has never been at its finest as a follower. It is, by default of military and economic force, a world leader. That's what we are doing and the world is responding. By the US showing strength backed by resolve, I believe that more and more nations will come to us and our approach as we go forward. Were Kerry to get elected and take us backward at this critical time France and Germany would be appeased, but only because they prefer America play the role of weak or equal cousin and not the Big Brother that we actually are.
Another portion of Bill's post deals with our nation's next critical challenge.
The attack required meticulous intelligence and planning, as well as the necessary assets on ground to physically plant and possibly detonate the device. Has the Mossad co-opted an Arab intelligence service, or at the very least subcontracted this job? Israel is telegraphing a message to an audience greater than Hamas and its sponsor nations. As a Syrian official wisely points out, the assassination "was meant to deliver a message to the entire world that says: 'We (Israelis) are capable of striking anywhere in accordance with the Israeli agenda.'"
America must support and significantly strengthen its intelligence gathering and special ops functionalities. We may have established a strategic model to deal with terror, but no one can argue that Israel hasn't led the way in tactical capabilities and solutions in this regard. We can absolutely not afford a return to the days when a democrat administration tied the hands of our intelligence services and fought the war on terror as a criminal act, as opposed to the declarative act of war it represents.
When liberal democrats state what a crucial election year this is, I can't help but agree with them. The sad thing is I also realize that they haven't a real clue as to why that is.
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