Tired of talking.

Editor,

The USA has spent trillions building a powerful, high-tech military. It was not conceived of as an instrument to fight asymmetric warfare and has therefore lost pretty much every war since WWII. But this enormous investment just keeps begging to be used, hence the hair trigger war mentality in Washington, DC.

"We are the champions . . . the champions of the world." -- Queen

IS keeps egging the U.S. on with videos of beheadings, immolations, and other horrors -- as if Hellfire missiles do not behead, immolate, and otherwise horribly kill or mangle human beings -- because they are counting on the inevitable "collateral damage" a military that claims to do things "surgically" but is in reality a bull in a china shop will cause.

The one pillar of support that IS has, given almost universal revulsion for its tactics and objectives among people who would otherwise reject and resist them, is that the clumsy, lethal oaf known as the U.S. military will incinerate grandmothers, kids, and wedding parties trying to stamp it out.

If the U.S. were run by people with brains, they would focus on root causes: the enmity between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Shia on Sunni violence in Iraq (caused by the U.S. brilliantly pitting them against one another in the political system it set up), and external support for foreign fighters in Syria.

But no. The U.S. has this expensive, whiz-bang killing machine and actually believes that blowing things up is how you resolve political disputes. I am tired of talking about it.

Re: "Obama’s Dual View of War Power Seeks Limits and Leeway" (2/12/2015)