The War Is Over, The President Says So

Oh how I wish it were true.  Redefining the premise, however, doesn't make it go away.

The President has been trying to convince us the war on terror is over since the demise of bin Laden.  Then came Benghazi.  Along with a myriad of different terminology to define the same thing - the fight against radical Islamists who are out to destroy us.

If it were only as easy as he makes it seem.  I can't argue that the death of bin Laden weakened al Qaeda as a large, well structured organization.  What it didn't do is take out all the 'wanna bes' and affiliate groups that are still out there.

If he truly believes his own rhetoric I expect first and foremost to see the TSA totally and completely disbanded. There is no more intrusive reminder of the war on terror than the TSA searches at airports. I would expect to see no one left behind in Afghanistan.  Let them fend for themselves.  There will be no U.S. intervention in Syria of any degree.  Iran will be free to pursue whatever it is it's pursuing in the way of nuclear power.  Israel can stand alone. North Korea can test it's warheads to it's hearts content.   There will be no U.S. intervention.

Should someone get to close to home we'll just flick them off like an irritating insect and get on with other things  Like quelling the disquiet of a dysfunctional government. The prisoners at Gitmo will return to their home countries and reup.

The intent is what we all hope for, but merely saying so doesn't make it true.  The disenfranchised ones and twos can kill just as effectively as an organized band.  Just look at Boston and now London.  An aside about London for gun control advocates. Had Britain's gun laws been more like ours there's a good chance one of the bystanders would have been armed and could have prevented the slaughter.  As is, they could do more than watch without putting themselves at risk.  Just saying...

What remains now that the war is over is a region of the world slowly but surely being subjugated to radical Islamic rule.  Without checks it will spread deeper into the West.  We've signaled the go ahead for whatever they have in mind, we're through with it.  We no longer acknowledge the culture of war or terrorism.

We'll continue to cut our troops, our armaments and our security. Do answers on Benghazi no longer matter because there is no more war as the President defines it?  Does it matter we're still bringing home dead from Afghanistan?  Does it matter that the circle surrounding the Boston Marathon bombers continues to get larger?  Perhaps not.  To me however, the only thing that's changing are the tactics.  Call it what you will, when enemies are determined to kill us, no matter why, uniformed or not, it's still war.  It does matter and it's not over.