OBAMA'S WAR ON PAKISTANI TERRORISTS

THERE HAVE BEEN REPORTS that the continuing strategy of allowing Predator strikes in the proverbial “lawless, tribal areas” of Pakistan has been paying dividends. Aside from the objective good of eliminating enemy combatants, the regular attacks have apparently been making it more and more difficult for al-Qaeda types to find refuge.

Oddly enough, it seems to make the locals less eager to indulge in their much vaunted hospitality and to have these people stay overnight in their houses and villages when there’s a decent chance that missiles will come flying out of the clouds and blow the abodes to smithereens.

We presume this what the new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, meant by “smart power”? But what if a civilian or two is killed? What then? Well, it’s the kind of smart power I can advocate without losing a moment to self-doubt. And with progress having been made, it was important to send an immediate signal to the region that President Barack Obama was not going to call a halt to these strikes. Hope is a motivator. To defeat an enemy, you must rob him of hope. That’s nothing new. Predator strikes alone won’t defeat this pernicious and relentless enemy, but it’s part of the solution until we finally wake up and realize that this is a protracted war whose name is Islam.

Good move, Mr. President, and keep it up.

Ditto those words from Right Wing Bob.