The Muslims in Belgium are the majority and are quite active in pursuing Sharia Law. Their leader when asked if Muslims could be democratic said it was like saying can a Muslim be Christian.

The sad truth is that the world does rely on this nations leadership, except we no longer have leadership. Elections are taking precedent over national security which in my view is criminal

If the USA does not take the lead many opportunities for defeating this cancer will be lost. Americans were once war weary but they are becoming more and more war wary given aggressions around the world American leadership needs to step up and secure commitment from our allied nations and those finding themselves in the cross fire.

Those claiming that we should not be making the same mistakes are
mistaken. We need aggressive action because our national safety is at risk from all kind of attacks including cyber attacks

Your post is right on. If the United States does not lead in this war, nobody will.

Listen, Britian...our staunch ally will not commit to bombing (that may change with the recent beheading).

For a few years, this infiltration has been taking place and we have turned our back, and did it openly. Certainly saw nobody stand up and give leadership. This threat is NOT simply in Iraq, Syria etc. Check what is happening in Turkey, Libya, etc.

And you are correct...we have had cyber attacks....these are simply test cases and we just shrug this off and talk about how war weary we are. There was a post recently from someone visiting Israel, who sort of questioned that phrase...war weary...as she looked around a country who is bombed pretty much on a regular basis.

I believe this is a serious situation....one that requires congressional discussion and agreement by the way.....and I talk a lot about border security. This is not a political game.....the enemy is attempting to defeat us NOT with armed warfare as we know traditionally, but by "infiltrating" us......and they know our borders...they know about all the borders in the middle east. NOW is not the time to be ignoring border security.

If anyone feels the next comment is political, I apologize. We are far behind in this war. We have ignored our own laws relating to the border. We have ignored the governors of those states asking for help. We have ignored Syria for at least two years despite our national security advisors saying we cannot along with the military. I do not know why, but I do know that now is the time to act. I hope we act ACCORDINGLY.

An opinion piece of which there are many referring to that act...

"Obama is not the first policymaker to have trouble grasping this reality. Washington made exactly the same mistake once before, with the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act.

In the 1980s, as over the past decade, many reformers argued that any overhaul should include three core components: tougher enforcement of immigration law, some kind of legalization or regularization for immigrants living in the country illegally and changes to the legal immigration system — including more worker visas — to prevent future illegal immigration.

Immigrant rights advocates called for regularization — in those days, it was officially called amnesty — and they had the political power to back their demands. Then as today, immigration hawks drove a hard bargain: no amnesty without beefed-up enforcement — and they had the muscle to get most of what they wanted.

But in the 1980s, as today, the third component was the least compelling politically. Those arguing for fixing the system — employers and others — lacked the juice to get what they wanted into the bill, and the 1986 act did little to accommodate new, legal, employment-based immigration.

We all know the consequences. A generation later, America is once again home to a vast underground population of unauthorized workers. And again the argument for fixing the system is all but sure to fall through the cracks."

Obama's 'go it alone' immigration reform is a mistake | Dallas Morning News

How do you just say that fences don't work? While I agree that nothing works 100% and will never work 100%, walls, not fences, can be an integral party of our border security system.

Rand Paul says that our borders are porous. I've got news for Sen Paul. Our borders and borders every where in the world are, and will always be porous. It is impossible to stop 100% of the people who try to cross borders 100% of the time.

As many have mentioned, terrorists coming here legally and our own home grown terrorists may be more of a problem than the few coming here from Mexico. Until we have the guts to drop all of our political correctness and start acting more like Israel in matters of national security we're going to be very vulnerable.

Fortunately, I am personally very pleased that the US is taking the lead and that we are not making the same mistakes we have made in the past. Why would we want to be in the same position now in 5 years after having thousands of Americans dead and more billions spent. I believe a root cause analysis of the problems in the Middle East is needed. Bombs and bullets have been a very short term fix for which it is readily apparent to be a long term problem. Who do you side with or wish to destroy, the Sunnis, Shiites, ISIS, Assad, Syrian rebels, Al Quad-ea or the next terrorist group? Europe fought wars for ages and finally they have peace and open borders even though they spoke different languages and have different cultures. One would hope the Arab nations could use that as a template for peace.

We may or may not be taking charge...not sure.

I feel very strongly that we are late in our attempt at leadership and that we have fallen behind as a result....I mention Syria a few years ago, our simply leaving Iraq and what we have left in Libya.

I worry when the President uses Somalia and Yeman as examples....if that does not scare you, nothing might.

So we will see....the two examples he used have been disasters and the horror we fight NOW was bred when we left the area and ignored Syria.

Point is, we live in a much different world....smaller also and we need to recognize that fact.

We spent Billions and Billions and put 120,000 "boots" on the ground and what did we really and truly accomplish in these last 10 plus years. It appears we are right back where we started in this area of the world. Was the "Mission accomplished? Did we win? Did our men and women die in vain? These are tough questions but we cannot escape reality and hide our heads in the sand.

It's time for "others" in the Middle East and around the world to step up to the plate. This includes our so called allies. I do think we could be going about this "war" in a new and different direction. What we did in the past 10 years obviously did not work.

These "mad men" who behead the innocent and kill women and children cannot not be brought down by a traditional Army. We have proved that over and over. Let the "mad men" be fought by their own people.

And not a "coalition of the willing" from 2003. It ended up being just us. And what a tragedy it was for us then but hopefully not now. Cooler heads and an actual thought process is called for.

Will not disagree...just point out the following....

1. In 2003 our goal was invasion with a regime overthrow. Our goal now is not even close to the same. In 2003 it was aimed at a country. Our goal now is aimed at a MOVEMENT in several countries. In 2003, the war could be measured by land, etc. Our measurement now....well, stated destruction of ISIS.

So there are quite a few differences in the two thus they require different planning.

2. We are now playing catch up with our stated goals. We took a pass a few years ago, so we start against a much stronger foe. We will surprise nobody.

So I see very little in the comparisons frankly.

The President used Somalia and Yemen as examples and feel free to see how that is going.

There was planning in 2003? More of a sales campaign.....................

Yes, my fears are from the extremists who are here legally and "spewing their hate to the young and disenfranchised", like this:

Black Panthers Chant 'Death' to Officer Wilson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PqHChjZneM

Elderly Couple In Hiding After Spike Lee Wrongly Tells Followers That Zimmerman Lives At Their Address

"An elderly Florida couple in Sanford, Florida is living through a nightmare after director Spike Lee sent their address to his 250,000 followers on Twitter — wrongly stating that this was the address of George Zimmerman, the man who killed an unarmed black teen, Trayvon Martin, in Florida. It was a uniquely stupid act by Lee and invited the very type of vigilante response that Zimmerman has been accused of. The question is whether there is liability for such negligence as David McClain, 72, and his wife Elaine, 70, live in fear of threats and packages arriving at their home.


While many have raised important questions of regarding the racial and legal aspects of this tragedy, some have responded in a reckless manner. The most obvious is a small group of individuals calling themselves the New Black Panther putting a bounty on the head of Zimmerman. None of us can stop people using a tragedy like this for crime, but these are incidents that involve reckless and grossly negligent conduct……."

SEE Full Story:
Elderly Couple In Hiding After Spike Lee Wrongly Tells Followers That Zimmerman Lives At Their Address | JONATHAN TURLEY

And if you think this is "biased" reporting and critique, Mr. Turley's solidly liberal credentials are right here….

Bio | JONATHAN TURLEY

Rags back at you because I also agree with you concerning our unguarded borders. The instant I hear someone say what are we suppose to do alerts me to the fact that in that person's mind we are already defeated in that area. There is much that can be done to defeat illegals at the border. The truth is that the present Administration and their following want no borders because it will have an adverse effect on the upcoming election. We can find a terrorist thousand miles away send a drone over to kill him but we can't find a person crossing the border in the open? Its a matter of will determination commitment. No one anticipated WWI or WWII would take place but they did . The French initially did not want to commit to WWII and we had to go in and rescue them. The war drums are beating and the enemy is beating them loudly and often and we can face the reality and work with it or ignore it and have it work against us. Where is John Wayne when you need him?

we are not doing anything about closing our borders. Just the oopsite. There is no mystery to how to do it. All we have to do is mirror Mexico's laws against illegal immigration. How about that for a laughable comparison. Then seek out how Europen countries control their borders...

In a word....ENFORCEMENT.

As long as we continue to only talk about the problem and mount actions that are politically correct or generate votes.....there will be NO ENFORCEMENT!!!!!

We are just short of an open invitation to our enemies coming into our country with absolutely no risk. And will continue to do so until such time there is a major killing of Americans linked to terrorists accepting our current invitation.

How do we keep prisoners in the prisons....walls....guards....guns....ENFORCEMENT! !! No big secret what so ever.

"It makes no sense in avoiding war it can only help advantage the enemy"
Niccolo Machiavelli

I do not think I have a problem with our taking our time now.

This is so complicated at this time. This is NOT a war on a country. This is a war on a movement and involves so many countries. Syria, Iraq, Iran, Russia, Turkey....all of them are players...not supporting cast. Each will use any circumstance to turn on the USA. PLEASE keep any eye on Russia and Iran as this progresses. Also keep an eye on what happens in Syria as we arm "somebody"....that is what scares me....who is "somebody" and what is their goal.

We are committed to doing this with no ground troops and bombing always has collateral damage so pray that any collateral damage is minimized and is to the right people.

My criticism is the timing of all of this. Our lack of interest for a few years even though we were warned a number of times about what is and could happen, is going to cost lives and money I am afraid.

I still have this bugaboo on the border because this kind of war is about sneaking around.....and we are certainly not sneak proof. This enemy likes to make videos and I sure do not want any of them to have an USA backdrop. Nothing wrong with our country now making a very big deal about really securing the borders.

"Nearly 70 percent of Americans say they lack confidence that the U.S. will achieve its goals in fighting the terrorist group ISIS, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Annenberg poll. The findings come in the wake of President Barack Obama’s national address announcing new measures to combat the Sunni militants.

Pressure is mounting on the U.S. and its allies to cripple the militants, who have waged a brutal campaign across Syria and Iraq. ISIS already has beheaded two American journalists and on Saturday released a video showing the execution of a third Westerner, British aid worker David Haines.

The poll – conducted before the latest execution emerged – showed that a combined 68 percent of Americans say they have “very little” or “just some” confidence that Obama’s goals of degrading and eliminating the threat posed by ISIS will be achieved. Just 28 percent said they had “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of confidence. Still, 62 percent of voters say they support Obama’s decision to take action against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, while 22 percent oppose it.

“The bottom line: The president has made his case to the American public, and like other presidents who faced war and peace issues, support usually follows,” said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who helped conduct the survey. “The difference in this military encounter is that, right out of the box, Americans are skeptical if this will work.”

Large Majority of Americans Lack Confidence in Obama Mission to Destroy ISIS, Poll Shows - NBC News

I certainly pray this all works without serious consequences.

The basis of my concern is the fact that the President overruled his own National Security Team a number of times, most recent and most relative on the situation in Syria a few years ago. This was always out there but dismissed as simple politics. Sen McCain got in the face of the past press secy Carney and well, Carney continued to perpetuate the myth that it didnt happen but it did.....

""No, no, facts are stubborn things, Mr. Carney, and that is, his entire national security team, including his secretary of state, said we want to arm and train and equip these people, and he made the unilateral decision to turn them down," McCain said."

Had it been done there as advised by ALL of his advisors this would have been easy. This is not political....I link you to that oft used fact check site of the Tampa Bay Times and you can read most of it....

John McCain says Barack Obama went against national security team's advice to arm Syrian rebels | PolitiFact

Would have kept ISIS in check and made all of this much less dangerous....and I just pray it all goes well, because as I said...so many dangerous players in this thing.