Rage, vengence, and restating the obvious

There are those who wonder if a line has been crossed, not the least of which you can find here from Donald Sensing.

… the terrorists will learn something else: they have made the war personal. When that happens, the American experience of war shows that our troops will shed the veneer of restraint like a snake’s skin. And for every American head Zarqawi severs, he will soon find three of his own men’s heads.

Of course, if we behave LIKE the enemy, we're little better than the enemy. I know this, and yet I would surely relish some payback.

One of the more important battles ongoing has been between those around the world who DO see a moral equivalence between 'American imperialism' and the 'freedom fighters' in Iraq and elsewhere. The idea collapses under examination, it's out there none the less. One 'phase' of that battle is seen when there is more outrage over flushing the Koran than the mistreatment of American Soldiers.

Sadly, another 'phase' of this battle is being fought in our own congress.

But here's the simple fact: We are better than the enemy!

We could have simply leveled Mogadishu in a few hours.

We could have turned most of Beruit into a parking lot.

We could have turned the harbor in Yemen into a boiling cauldron.

And we could certainly turn parts of Iraq into glass, saving the oils fields, of course.

Or, speaking of oil, we could control the worlds oil supply with little short term sacrifice, holding on to it is more iffy, but it could be done.

Looking at the press and listening to the noises around the world one would think that we did all those things, but we didn't!

Here's an easy question, if the situations mentioned were reversed would our enemy have shown restraint?

And then there's another element of distinction. Wahabi 'schools' flourish in this country, many Muslims have far more freedom in this country than in their countries of origin. It's hard to discuss western religionous training in Islamic countries because there is none.
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I've said little new here, I know, but that makes it all the more frustrating. We are better as a people. Warts and all.

Bill Whittle's new essay Rafts is apropo. How many news stories have you read describing boat people fleeing TO Cuba or Haiti?
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So should we begin treating captured 'bad guys' the way they treat us? Would the satisifaction be worth it?