It’s taken me til now to comment on the murder of our Heroes, and I'm entirely sure that this rant isn't going to go down as my best work. Part of the delay involved my work schedule. Part of it was that I just couldn’t put into words what I wanted to say. My feelings have finally coalesced with a sort of pinpoint focus: RAGE.

I am enraged. Not surprised, mind you, but enraged. And while my heart breaks for the family and comrades of these Heroes, my mind asks a single question:

Now can we call them the enemy?

There was a time in this country when we knew the enemy – before the cloud of a biased, power-drunk media derailed an entire country’s commitment to doing what it needed to do. Before an entire political party devolved into a pseudo-socialist bunch of weak-kneed self-servers, betraying their country, selling out to foreign interests, and maligning the people who bought the freedoms they claim to champion.

The details emerging on the deaths of these two Heroes are unspeakable. They are the stuff that our nightmares have been made of since the day our troops crossed into Iraq. And now the nightmare is real. It stares us in the face with all of the malevolence of Hell itself, and yet, where is the outrage?

Cruising the headlines this morning, of the sources I searched, only Fox had extensive coverage of this horror. Where are the politicians, crying for justice? Where are the media outlets, blasting this all over the country – making sure people know what THE ENEMY DID? Compare the coverage, if you will, to Abu Ghraib. To Gitmo. How do you think it measures up? Where is Amnesty International, shrieking to the rafters about this wickedness?

And yet, we as a country will spend countless media dollars lamenting the treatment of terrorists in Gitmo. We will expend untold amounts of energy raging against a couple of stupid photographs. We will put our own Heroes on trial for the treatment of detainees. Politicians will rage against what they term coldblooded murder in Haditha, condemning Marines for murdering civilians before any trial is even begun. We will betray those in harm’s way at the drop of the hat, but we don’t dare call a murdering animal of a terrorist what he is.

Now, can we take the gloves off?

There is one language these people understand. One. It is the language of brutality.

In 1985, in Beirut, terrorists made the fateful mistake of thinking they could kidnap Soviet diplomats the same way they did any other. They were wrong.

The Soviets wrote off the diplomat. Details of what happened next vary - from the terrorist leader being sent a package containing the head of his beloved nephew, to an entirely different part from a Sheikh’s son being sent, to other versions. Bottom line – the Soviets proved they spoke the language.

There were no further kidnappings of Soviet diplomats in Beirut.
Russian diplomats have been killed and kidnapped in Iraq, too. But Russian hostages are usually released pretty quickly. I wonder Russia still speaks the language?

We should know soon – Al Qaeda is threatening to kill its four current Russian hostages.

Oh, and by the way, Kofi Annan made sure to issue a condemnation for one incident – where is the condemnation on the murder of our heroes?

The outcries about the Geneva Convention have been all over the place for detained terrorists – who are NOT troops, who are NOT the military of any country, who are disgusting, murderous criminals, and who do NOT follow the Geneva convention.

So where, pray tell, are the cries now?

There is one way to deal with this. I am not advocating the specific method of the Soviets – but there is a very important lesson to be learned here.

Speak the language.

The way to ensure that Al Qaeda will NEVER do this again is to make the consequences so severe, so swift and sure, so absolute, that they will do anything rather than ever incur the wrath of the United States again.

The moonbats will tell you – "see? This is why we need to pull out now."

But the reports are that the US military is saying something different. I’m talking about the boots on the ground. They are saying, to paraphrase: "OK, gloves F*in’ OFF!!"

We have ONE course – find them. Find them, and kill them. Not try them, not get them touchy-feely therapy, not discuss anything with them, not detain them – KILL them.

To take a page from sentiments of old, the only good terrorist is a dead terrorist. The only way to remove the terrorist threat is to kill them so well that they decide that maybe this isn’t such a hot idea anymore – or until they cease to be. Send them to their 72 virgins – or more likely, to whatever circle of Hell their just reward awaits them in. And send them quickly.

The war’s too expensive? I promise will happily pay more taxes to ensure that terrorists are dead. I promise I will endure oil rationing with silence. I promise I will always stand strong to support our Heroes. I ask one thing of our government in return: promise me that you will KILL them.

Tell Iraq that the gloves are off now. You want our help? I’m 100% behind supporting you, behind staying as long as it takes to get the job done. But conditionally:

1. DO NOT expect the US Military to cater to terrorists. DO NOT expect us to ask permission to hunt them. DO NOT expect us to be nice to them. DO NOT expect us to be concerned about taking them alive. They are terrorists. They are parasites. They are a virus in your country. You don’t negotiate with a virus or parasite. You kill it.

2. DO NOT play games when you ask the US to stay and defend you. DO NOT criticize us on one hand, and ask us to stay on the other. Either you are with us, or you are not. And if you are not, then we will respond accordingly.

It is time to tell Al Qaeda, our own slithering political naysayers, the Moonbats, and the rest of the world what the rules are when it comes to terrorists. I want to hear us lay out the rules:

1. We do not negotiate with terrorists, EVER. We do not bargain with them, we do not treat with them, we do not care what they think, we do not care what offends them. We do one thing with terrorists – we KILL them.

2. We will hunt our enemies wherever they hide. We will track them to the farthest ends of the globe. And if you harbor them, you are them. We do not need the permission of terrorists or their allies to defend our country. Side with the terrorists, and you have chosen your fate. You’ve been given clear warning, and we are not responsible for the consequences – YOU are.

3. The US military is very, very good at what it does. And what it does is kill the enemy.

4. Follow whatever religion you choose. We believe strongly in freedom of religion. But murder is not a religion. Murder an American and you’re not exercising your religion – you’re commiting an act of War. And we will respond accordingly – see rule #3.

5. We are better than terrorists. We are more worthy than terrorists. We are, in fact, the best country there is. And we’re not going to apologize for that. If it takes the deaths of 10,000 – or 1,000,000 – terrorists to ensure the safety of one American, fine. Terrorists are nothing. They are not fit to grace Uncle Sam’s heel – which will grind them into the ground.

6. If we choose to detain people, we will treat them according to the rules they deserve. We will give them such courtesies as we deem fit. Terrorists don’t deserve much. They don’t deserve the protection of our laws. They don’t deserve the protection of the Geneva Convention. And since you’ve shown that you won’t treat our people with anything remotely resembling human decency, don’t whine to us when the salmon mousse isn’t the right temperature at Gitmo. We don’t care. They’re lucky to be alive and eating anything. See rule #3

7. When we bring food, clothing, candy, and other items to local people – when our Heroes go well beyond the call of duty to help those they come in contact with – it is a gift. It is well beyond what we require. It is part of why we call them Heroes.

8. Life under Saddam sucked. He was not a nice guy. He was not a glorious leader. He was a thug, a mass-murderer, and an enemy of the US. The world is better off with him out of power. Who’s responsible for the invasion of Iraq? He is. He had his chance. We know it, and you know it. Get over it.

9. The Taliban were a vicious bunch of murderers, directly linked to the worst terrorist attack in history. They got what they deserved –better than they deserved. And we’ll keep sending them to Hell as quickly as possible – without losing a wink of sleep.

10. Al Qaeda is the enemy – as all terrorists are. They are not freedom fighters. They are not insurgents. They are scum. They are not after us because of anything we did, or will do, or are responsible for – except for the fact that we’re the one country that they know will never bend to them. They are killing us because we do not believe what they believe. When they give up on one twisted reason, they will find another. They are after us because they are a bunch of repressed, demented psychopaths. They can’t be rehabbed. They can’t be talked to. They can, however, be killed. See rule #3.

11. Yes, there is an anti-war contingent in the US. There always is. But blindly anti-war, recapture-the-60's pacifists aren't heroes. They’re idiots. They’re spineless. They’re wrong. And right now, war IS the answer. Deal with it.

12. We are at WAR. It’s not a game, it’s not a recreational event. It is a war. And when the U.S. goes to war, you know it. If it were meant to be nice, it’d be called a tea party. Deal with it.

13. If you are a reporter, you’re just that. You’re a reporter. You’re not a policy-maker, you’re not a military strategist, you’re not a world leader. You’re a reporter. You’re there for one thing – to report facts. So start doing your job.

14. The UN can’t manage its own house – it has no right to attempt to manage ours. And there was a terrorist attack in NY that destroyed a lot of valuable real estate. If the UN is more of a liability than an asset, we reserve the right to take it back for an alternate use. The UN is not a government. It is a collection of world leaders who voluntarily participate. We don’t need the permission of the UN to defend ourselves. Ever.

15. We no longer have the luxury of waiting to be attacked before we respond. We will neutralize emerging threats. Don’t want us to come to town? Don’t make yourself a threat. Otherwise, the consequences are on your head. See rule #3.

And my personal rules?
I do not care if the terrorists have enough tv time. I do not care if some scum gets barked at by a dog. I do not care if we offend someone by killing terrorists. And yes, I take pleasure in the deaths of terrorists. I was grinning for days when we blew Zarqawi to the Hell he so richly deserved. And I will be nothing but proud and happy when we find the monsters who murdered two American Soldiers, and we send them to Hell, too. My loyalty lies with our troops. Deal with it.

What does it take? This stuff is not new. Remember how our people were treated by the Japanese? The Vietnamese? Somalis? Remember Robert Dean Stethem? Nicolas Berg? 9/11? The rest of the world doesn’t care how our Heroes are treated. Our enemies have relieved themselves all over the Geneva Convention when it comes to Americans, or at best, just turned away.

Now, have we had enough? Now are they the enemy? Now can we kill them?

Now, is it time for Vengeance?