Savagery

The beheading of Nick Berg, horrifically echoing the killing of Daniel Pearl, provides ample illustration of what it is that we are fighting. Once again, we see the true nature of the Islamofascists. The Arab street, that was supposedly so appalled and offended by the pictures from Abu Ghraib, seems to be completely silent about this slaughter. And the US press that was so anxious to publish pictures of the abuses at Abu Ghraib is now withholding the pictures of Nick Berg. Apparently it is only appropriate to show pictures that serve to show the US in a poor light - pictures that serve to shame and demoralize us in this struggle, but not ones that could anger Americans and spur support for war on these terrorist. The New York Post editorial gets it exactly right in what needs to be done:

Yesterday they got a shocking reminder. And now they know: This war cannot be waged with half-measures.
It can end only with the total annihilation of those who practice butchery and barbarism. Those who have set as their goal the destruction of America.
There is no negotiating with such people. There can be no compromise with those who mean to destroy us.
Yesterday, the White House promised to "pursue those responsible and bring them to justice." That's the least of it.
America has to come out swinging.
And not stop until every last one of the savage thugs is dead.
If that means a resumption of major combat in Iraq, so be it.
Would it mean another division or so of combat troops to get the job done?
Turn to our garrisons in Europe, or Korea, to get them.
In sufficient numbers to get the job done.
To hell with political sensitivities in the region.
To hell with negotiating with radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Najaf and the Sunni insurgents in Fallujah.
To hell with handing Saddam Hussein over to Iraqis, as some want to do, and risking some reverse - perverse - kangaroo trial that results in his survival.
Evil, cutthroat terrorists need to be eradicated.
Let's face it: This is a job that's going to take overwhelming - yes, brutal - force. There is simply no "nice" or painless way to accomplish this.
As yesterday's slaughter showed (yet again), the enemy is bound by no moral compunctions.
America won't go that far.
But it had better steel it's backbone and get ready to fight like it means it.
It's the only way to win this war.

And until we take this to heart, and ignore the wailing of Ted Kennedy and his ilk, we can not win. Until we understand that none of our morality, or sympathy, or forgiveness means anything to the Islamofascists we will continue to see slaughters like those of Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl and Madrid. We are in a war for the survival of the Western, liberal way of life, and until we resolve to kill this tiger and "hang it in [our] trophy room", we will continue to be eaten by it.