If only. I know a lot of people look at it like this, but it ignores what islam actually is. People think it is analogous to being a Catholic or Methodist. It isn't, not by a long shot. Ben Carson actually had it right when he said he wouldn't vote for a muslim for president. A muslim's first and only obligation is to islam. Islam teaches that the goal is total domination, ie, imposition of sharia law. By numbers if possible, otherwise by force. It is true there have been Christians who committed mass killings. No church leader called for such acts, and there is not one word in the New Testament that encourages such atrocities and plenty that forbid them. By contrast, the koran is full of exhortations to kill non-believers and others who violate any of the manifold prohibitions of sharia law. Islamic clerics regularly call for jihad, extermination of Jews, attacks on anyone disrespecting islam, etc etc. One of the main duties of a muslim is to memorize the koran, which has numerous passages devoted to killing non-believers, as do the teachings that follow from mohammed's actions, such as the time he personally slaughtered an entire captive jewish tribe by cutting off their heads in the town square. I do agree that a large percentage of muslims will not personally commit terrorism and just want a better life. Let them find it elsewhere.
blowing shit up with a sucide bomber is not a very good long range plan I went through this crap in the cold war with Soviet union. Billions if not trillions spent trying to defeat a broken economic system which anybody could have just looked at for a few hours and determined, "They aren't worth fighting. They will defeat themselves." 44k names on a wall because we didn't like the economic system in Viet Nam. Names who died so someday Viet Nam could have a Pizza hut just like we do. Well, If you look at Viet Nam today, I guess they didn't die in vain. ISIS are just mafia type thugs who can't operate without bribed willing accomplices in the government.
Point taken. America needs an enemy/military-industrial-complex. However, ISIS is actually engaging in armed conflict against NATO, overthrowing regional powers and smuggling in terror cells and killing civilians/hitting soft targets. This isn't empty saber rattling like the Cold War. Throwing up our hands, saying aw shucks and letting ISIS shoot up america until they burn themselves out, isn't exactly a great way to protect the country.
2 points. First of all at the time few people wrote about the fact that Russia was going to bankrupt itself because it was spending 20% on GDP for defense. It was a very closed system and information did not flow out very freely. It took the pope supporting the polish with apparently a great deal of the churches money and reagan a fortune on star wars to make the Russian military admit it could not keep up. Allowing for glasnost to take control and the war to come down. second the fences in the soviet union were designed to keep people in. the fences we are talking about now is to keep people out... unless they follow the rule of law... in this case our immigration laws.