Catchphrase: Realism and Special Operations Forces in the War on Terror

by Matt Welch

The truth is that war is evil and nobody wants war because everyone knows what war brings. But sometimes war is absolutely necessary. Though war is ugly, civil resolutions only work when everyone involved is willing to back down. The terrorists aren't willing to back down and they aren't willing to negotiate. They are thugs that try to rule countries through oppression, starvation, and the fear of tyrannical injustice. The jihad they choose exacts the power of the gun, and we are staring right down that barrel. Forget about politics, because the terrorists have. They are opposed to who we are, what we represent, and the lives that we live. The only way that they see to fix that is through violent jihad, and no decree or resolution can make a truce out of that. They want a universal Islamic state established across the span of the globe, and every infidel must either be killed or converted. You may be tired of our war's catchphrase, but are you tired of freedom? Are you tired of liberty? That yearning will never go away because freedom is divinely created and it is innately desired; but our freedom is not static. Freedom can't be earned once and then sustained because our right to freedom is a progression. Our freedom is our source of national pride and our symbol of greatest achievement. America does not define freedom, but rather freedom defines America. Our resolution should be to unequivocally promote that freedom and thereby guarantee America. We are the sole superpower, and it's high time we start acting like it. To best represent ourselves in this War on Terror we must rely on the political ideology of realism. We must move past the foreign policy of preemption and gain the offense by promoting the foreign policy of prevention. The best way we can do this is by insuring we have the properly trained experts on the ground.

248 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2009