If We Fight Them The Terrorists Will Have Won?

Some say that going to war with ISIS is exactly what ISIS wants. So we better not. Jonah Goldberg doesn't agree.

Now, I’m not necessarily saying we should meet ISIS at Dabiq and give them the Islamist Ragnarok they want. But I’m not saying we shouldn’t either. My point is if they want to have one big mano-a-mano fight between the forces of the West and Mordor, it’s purely a tactical question whether we should give it to them. I’ve yet to meet a general who doesn’t agree that in an “all-in” contest between the Islamists and everyone else, the Islamists would lose very, very, very quickly. We don’t owe our enemies a fight on any terms but our own. But if they would actually be willing to engage in a straight up brawl, I don’t see a particularly strong argument for why we wouldn’t give them exactly what they’re asking for. The refusal to contemplate that we’re stronger and smarter than our enemies strikes me as a kind of crisis in confidence. It’s related to all sorts of notions – violence doesn’t solve anything, “blowback,” etc – that people only invoke to impose limitations on America’s scope of action.

Read it all.