Our Corn Maze

"And who does not like to be stuck in a maze, lost with no direction? Well, the American public for starters..."

Close to where we live, is a corn maze. Each year, a farmer plants enough corn and pumpkins to have a fall delight for the kids. For anyone who has ever been in a corn maze, you know how exciting, yet confusing it can be. Twists and turns, most of the time not knowing if you are going in the right direction or traveling around in circles. In other words, it is kind of like how we are addressing our ongoing War on Terror.

The big difference is corn mazes are constructed deliberately to amuse and confuse. Our planning and execution on the War on Terror amuses nobody, but certainly does confuse. And that confusion is not deliberate. It is because we don't have direction. What we do have is Vietnam all over again without the troop count. A war being fought not by the admirals and generals who have been trained to do so, but by politicians who don't know spit.

A few days ago, one of my favorite ex-military consultants on Fox News drew a yellow flag and then got suspended by the network. Why? He could not take it anymore. When asked about the President's Sunday night speech, he lost his composure. He referred to the President by a name in what we used to call "locker room language". Whoops. As tens of thousands cheered their TV sets when this retired Army officer named the name, the network needed to do something quick. It had to be quick or the FCC would have swooped down on Fox like a eagle going after a perch. 

Not to sound petulant, but what is our strategy? Contain? Really? Where? How? And what about the homeland? After what happened in California, we are starting to feel a tab bit vulnerable - exposed. This morning the news is reporting these two terrorists have been planning something big for months. And somebody or something was financing them. This was about as far from a workplace violence incident as the east is from the west.

We sure don't need another prime time "nothing burger" like we had on Sunday night. The only good thing about that speech is that it was not long enough to infringe on the Sunday Night Football game. I am no fan of Putin, as I feel he can be somewhat of a thug. That being said, I sure wish our President had some of Vladimir's DNA. A little of his chutzpah. Of his stones. Oh, you know what I mean.

Here is what I would like to hear from ANY candidate right now:

The War on Terror is not over. It has morphed - metastasized. It is now global and the Islamic State is known by many names in different areas of the world. On my first day in office, I will forge a meaningful alliance with many Eurozone countries, ANZAC, Japan, and selected Middle East partners. We will form a true and mighty coalition to rid our planet of this menace for once and for all. This will not be a war of containment. This will not be a war of attrition. This will not be a war of appeasement. Most importantly, this will not be a war fought by politicians. This will be a war fought and directed by our trained warfighters. As General Powell said prior to the start of the Gulf War, "We are going to find the snake, cut off its head, and kill it." We did not start this war - but during my first term, we will end it.