Crucify people who want to kill your own.

There was once a time when it was a true statement that there was no benefit to being America's friend and no penalty for being her enemy. However, President Bush has put the fear of U.S. power in not a few missing links east of Cyprus and more good work can be done!

This excellent piece by Michael Rubin lays out the argument for kicking the bejeezus out of people who hate us and actively seek to hurt us. Why the Iranian takeover of our embassy back when wasn't taken as an act of war escapes the Colonel.

Even the faintest whisper of Iranian military support for insurgents in the field against our troops in Iraq should be grounds for widespread missile strikes throughout Iran on regime targets.

Even though the Colonel's cherished foreign policy goals and tactics won't be implemented in the near future (sigh . . .), this excerpt from Mr. Rubin's piece pretty much describes what those goals are:

The problem with the West’s policy in the Middle East is not lack of diplomacy, but rather failure to allow retaliatory violence and impose accountability. . . .

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When academics and commentators decry disproportionate force as an obstacle to peace, they replace analysis with platitude. Lasting peace is seldom made between equals, but rather between strong and weak. . . . Wars are fought until they are won. . . .

* * * *

There will be a role for diplomacy in the Middle East, but it will only be successful if it commences both after the eradication of Hezbollah and Hamas, and after their paymasters pay a terrible cost for their support. This does not mean that Israel is without blame. . . . But there will never be peace if Syria and Iran are allowed to use Lebanon as a proxy battlefield safe and secure in the knowledge that they will not pay directly. If the peace is the aim, it is imperative to punish the Syrian and Iranian leadership.

"Eradication First. Before diplomacy." By Michael Rubin, NationalReviewOnline, 7/19/06 <-- Ocnus.net.