Is war on the horizon?

"What has really weakened the terrorist's hand is the condition of the last three hostages to be released. They looked about as bad as the American POWs who were released from North Vietnam prisons towards the end of the war. Any grace which might have been expected by Hamas has evaporated."

Doing a bit of digging yesterday, as well as news watching this morning, it seems that Defense Secretary Hegseth might be getting a baptism by fire in the near future. Why? Two opportunities (if I can call them that) for armed conflict. Not next summer, not this upcoming spring - maybe this winter. War with whom? Russia? China? Iran? North Korea? No to all those guesses. War with the cartels and war with Hamas.

First with the cartels. Word is leaking out that we have really stepped up our recon flights around the perimeter of Mexico. Not with a ready to mothball fleet of spy planes (except for the U-2 we are using) - we are using our best stuff. Why are we doing this? For both strategic and tactical purposes. We are "vacuuming the spectrum" to pick up anything and everything we can. All this by trying very hard not to violate Mexican airspace.

Plus, rumor has it we already have Tier One operators in the area. What does that mean? It means given the green light, they might get a "capture or kill" order for one of the cartel chiefs. Why only one? Send a message. That there is no place to hide. Could that lead to a shooting war on our southern border? Could - but I think Tom Homan will have his troops ready, and Hegseth will have his boots on the ground ready for it should it come.

Next, Hamas. They are starting to play the waiting game with the release of more hostages. Trump has about had it with these guys. He announced that Hamas has until noon on Saturday to release ALL the remaining hostages, or as said in the Wyatt Earp movie, "I'm coming and bringing hell with me."

What has really weakened the terrorist's hand is the condition of the last three hostages to be released. They looked about as bad as the American POWs who were released from North Vietnam prisons towards the end of the war. Any grace which might have been expected by Hamas has evaporated. By the way - these are not prisoners of war. They are innocent hostages. Why Israel is exchanging hardened prisoners for innocent hostages is beyond me.

Which brings me to my final point - Gaza. Until it is bulldozed, all unexploded munitions found, all tunnels destroyed - Gaza should be looked at as a "no man's land". Will Gazans ever be allowed to come back and live in that other "Riveira by the sea"? Maybe. If they change the way they treat Israel, maybe decades before they come back. If they stay radicalized by Hamas - never. Egypt, Jordan and Syria can figure out what to do with them. As our parents told us when we misbehaved - our actions and poor choices - have consequences.