I get my marching orders from Thomas Sowell.

I think his article at Townhall.com today is one of his most important ones.

At least as far back as the 1930s, the intelligentsia and others have warned against military spending as setting off an "arms race" in which each side escalates its military buildup in response to the other, making the whole thing an expensive exercise in futility. The same notion was repeated throughout the long years of the Cold War.

Today's version is that, no matter how many Middle East terrorists we kill, new ones will take their place and we will have nothing to show for all our efforts and sacrifices. People who talk this way are completely undaunted by the fact that Ronald Reagan proved them wrong during the Cold War.

President Reagan understood that the Soviets did not have unlimited resources -- and in fact their resources were far more limited than ours. Going directly counter to those who wanted a "nuclear freeze" or other weapons limitations agreements, Ronald Reagan began a military buildup that kept upping the ante until the Soviets had to throw in their hand, ending the Cold War.

When Reagan ordered a bombing of Libya in retaliation for Libyan terrorism, the immortal fallacy was immediately voiced by former President Jimmy Carter, who declared that this would only make matters worse and bring on more terrorism. But Libya toned down its terrorist activities.

Khaddafi has proven himself to be a rational man, but he wouldn't have if we'd let him continue on the path he'd begun. Most psychos can be "turned from their wicked ways" if you expend the energy to do it. They have to be shown that success is not to be found on the path of destruction.

I'd like to quote more of Sowell's article here, but I'd be pushing the copyright "Fair Use Doctrine" in which I have been trained. Suffice it to say that Sowell explains our situation very clearly: the terrorists WISH they could fight an endless Jihad against us, but the fact is that they can't. Energetic opposition will bring their activities to John Kerry's level of "nuisance". Passivity would allow them to regroup and rebuild into a serious threat to the Western World.

I think our Fallujah action has dealt them a crippling blow from which they won't soon recover. Congratulations, US Marines.