Our enemies are waging a war we must not continue to ignore. The loss of life, the brutal injuries and the destruction that have rocked Brussels are unconscionable, and we as a people must decide that enough is enough.
Their soldiers don't march in lock step and they don't answer to a single general. What they lack in conventional organization, they more than make up for in savagery and disregard for human life. Paris, San Bernardino and now Brussels - their only pattern is that of opportunities seized in the void of real American leadership.
We are at war whether President Obama wants to admit it or not. Arab Sunni Islamic terrorists have declared war on all of western society and America. The piece meal attempts to stave off ISIS expansion are not working. The Obama administration is erroneously focusing America's diplomatic efforts to broker an ever elusive peace in Syria with total disregard for the realities on the ground and a naive assumption that removing Bashir Al Asad will somehow lead to ISIS abandoning their apocalyptic objectives. This isn’t leadership, it’s passive ignorance.
Over the past 20 years, Arab Sunni Islamic terrorism has metastasized into a fully functional Islamic Caliphate that holds territory and projects power beyond its borders. Meanwhile, our elected leaders and candidates for president, none of whom have combat experience, still want to call it ISIL thinking that somehow if we ignore the masterful marketing of the Islamic State it will diminish their legitimacy. It is time to formally declare war on ISIS and the broader Sunni Arab Islamic terrorist movement that threatens all of western society.
Three days after the Paris attacks I outlined a detailed blueprint to eliminate ISIS. We must begin a plan of attack on ISIS in Iraq and Syria and, on parallel, help foster an environment in the diaspora to mitigate the further expansion of the ISIS franchise that has now spread to North and Central Africa and South West Asia.
Lacking a comprehensive strategy, our current commander in chief and politicians on both sides of the aisle are failing us. Hillary Clinton touts her national security credentials as secretary of State despite having shepherded over the nation's most failed foreign policy era since President Jimmy Carter. In fact, the Obama-Clinton foreign policy has directly contributed to the rise of ISIS, established a legitimate path for a nuclear Iran, emboldened growing threats from a nuclear North Korea, set us on a path toward a new cold war with Russia and pushed China to declare their own Pacific version of the Monroe Doctrine. On the Republican side we are left with three candidates, none who have served in the military, and only one who has any exposure to national security issues as a result of service on a congressional committee.
We keep electing people with no tangible national security experience. How many times must we awake to screaming headlines that announce dozens slaughtered? How many images of destruction, chaos and terror will it take to wake us up? How much longer are we willing to allow the fate of our national security to rest in the hands of politicians whose experience boils down to committee meetings and speeches?
Todd Wilcox, a businessman and Army veteran, is running for the Republican nomination in this year’s election to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
