Response to The Poison at Work

(See: Just Above Sunset: The Poison at Work)

So it seems we're now passing through Phase 2 of this story ("Bomb the shit out of them") and headed directly into Phase 3 ("Wait! We're never going to win this! Maybe we should reconsider.") 

Here's what foreign policy and military history expert, of Boston University and previously West Point, Andrew Bacevich sees:

Hollande views the tragedy that has befallen Paris as a summons to yet more war. The rest of us would do well to see it as a moment to reexamine the assumptions that have enmeshed the West in a war that it cannot win and should not perpetuate.

I'm not saying France can't bomb anybody they want to in Syria, but since they all knew this was coming for weeks ahead of time, I imagine everybody who had been there probably cleared out before the planes got there. In any event, the action of France was probably more symbolic than real, just to shut up all those who would have complained if it hadn't been done.

And it's not that I think Bacevich is wrong, it's just that I'm still confused as to what he would have us do.

So what do I think France should do instead of doubling down in a war they can't win? I think maybe they should attack and take over Belgium. Since it's right next door, it'd probably be a cake walk, and would likely do more toward stopping these attacks on Paris than dropping bombs on every single damned country in the Levant.

At least it'd buy France a little time to think about what to do that doesn't do exactly what ISIS is trying to get them to do -- which is exactly what France did -- while the rest of the world, including ISIS, tries to figure out why the hell they just invaded Belgium.