Terrorists around the world have discovered a fundamental truth about life on this planet: It is easier to divide, destroy and kill than it is to unite, build and create.
The World Trade Center towers, for example took about seven years from start of construction to ribbon cutting to build, but it took only about an hour and a half to bring them both down. Think of any controlled implosion of a building you have seen. The buildings have usually taken years to build and have required the efforts of thousands of people, but can be taken down by a few people in a matter of seconds.
The creation of life is amazing to say the least. It takes nine months for one man's sperm and one woman's egg to create the trillions (yes, trillions) of cells that comprise the human body. Yet, it takes only a fraction of a second to put a bullet through someone's head and end that life. And, if you want to be more brutal and inhumane, it might take a person a few seconds to chop that head off.
The United States, the United Kingdom and Germany are unquestioned, sovereign countries today, but each took hundreds if not thousands of years to unite the people within their borders. The citizens of these countries feel a part of their governments because they are free to participate in their direction through their votes. And, if they don't like the outcome, they are free to stay or leave.
Terrorism doesn't care what the people of any region believe. They force their beliefs on people through violence and coercion. There is only one way to think, their way. And, if you don't, you die. That's not exactly a pro-choice platform in my book.
ISIS (not ISIL), Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and Hamas are all the same. They take the easy way out. They don't know how to build or unite so they divide, destroy and subjugate. Look at where they dominate. Want to live in Syria, Iraq or Palestine right now. Even the official Islamic states like Iran and Pakistan are hardly vacation spots.
According to the Human Development Index, the real republics like the US, Canada, Germany, the UK and Israel all rank in the top 20 places to live in the world. Iran, on the other hand, is ranked 75th and Pakistan is rated 146th. Syria, Iraq and Palestine all rank over 100.
The most important thing these Islamic countries offer people is Sharia law. This is the system that can resort to cutting off the hands of people who are caught stealing. Sharia also condones the "honor killing" of a girl for something as simple as looking at a boy in what her father considers an inappropriate way. And heaven forbid if you are a woman or gay. You will either be a second-class citizen or stoned to death. More bad choices.
Who on earth should tolerate, let alone support, these barbarian murderers? Why isn't every country on the planet outraged by ISIS and joining the US alliance against these savages? Why would we limit what we are willing to do to destroy these monsters? Why would we tell our enemies what we won't do?
What we need is a real leader who can speak with passion and commitment to rally our allies to join us in this righteous and absolutely necessary battle against pure evil. Franklin D. Roosevelt did it to rally our countrymen against Hitler and the Nazis, and Ronald Reagan did it when he told Gorbachev to "tear down this wall."
We don't need a leader who is "too cool for school." We don't need a leader who wants to weaken his own argument by bringing up Ferguson, Mo., and giving that situation some sort of moral equivalency to the slaughter ISIS has performed in Iraq and Syria. We don't need a president who will call these goons ISIL.
When the war started, the west named this group ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), but that wasn't good enough for these thugs. They wanted to be called ISIL (like we should care what our enemies want to be called). Why is that?
It's because ISIL stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and The Levant, which is a very aspirational title. The Levant is a term that describes an ancient area that includes modern day Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel.
Israel! Why would our president comply with their desire to be labeled with this goal-oriented moniker? I liked it better when George H.W. Bush mispronounced Saddam Hussein's name on purpose just to tick him off.
KEVIN CANFIELD OF SPRINGDALE IS AUTHOR OF "MASTERING SALES." HE ALSO BLOGS AT KEVINCANFIELD.BLOGSPOT.COM.
Commentary on 10/05/2014