DeQuattro: Photo Filters Won't Protect Us from ISIS

Dee DeQuattro
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I am just as mad and disgusted about the senseless violence that has left more than 100 people dead in France as the next person -- but at the same time, I am shocked that people are surprised that this could happen. I am stunned that people believed President Obama’s claims that ISIS is under control, and I am astonished that people are bewildered that terrorism is alive and well.

This is the world in which we live. A world where despite all of the good and beautiful things, darkness and terrible things exist --  including ISIS and Jihadists that will do anything to kill innocent people in the name of some warped version of a god that they worship.

Maybe it was an ill thought to lay out our plan to pull our military out of the Middle East by a specific date. To tell the enemy that we will be exiting on a given date gives them license to come back stronger than ever. Maybe -- imagine this -- our efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq were keeping terrorism at bay, and were necessary not only to protect our freedom but to protect the freedom of all free nations.

For people who are thankful that the violence is in Europe and not in our own country, think again. This is not a question of if -- but rather -- when. Especially as we willingly accept hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria into our own country. How easy would it be for Jihadists to infiltrate and pretend to be refugees while secretly working with ISIS? Some have already infiltrated our borders.

What I struggle to understand is why it takes an attack in another country in order for Americans and the President of the United States to call it terrorism. Why is it not terrorism when someone detonates a bomb at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, or shoots up a military base while yelling “Allah Ahkbar?” Even an American shooting up his school should be called what it is: terrorism. 

Now that it has happened in such a tragic and frightening way in France, we recognize that terrorism is at-large. But let me ask you this, where was France in 2003 when our men and women were invading the streets of Iraq and trying to crush the terrorist regime? Where was France our so-called “oldest ally” when we were surging in Ramadi and our men and women were being injured and killed by terrorists?

Let me remind you: they were protesting the United States in their streets. They were threatening to use their Security Council veto against the U.S. and its plans to invade Iraq. They were scoffing at us and calling us military extremists. They were not standing with our men and women holding a gun defending the freedom of all free nations. They weren’t there has our troops were falling to enemy fire. Instead, they were boycotting the United States and our military efforts.

Now, today as a country we are standing by France. We are flying our flags half-staff to show that our country is mourning  France, and people are changing their Facebook profiles to French flags to show their support. We are not protesting, we are standing with France.

And the world has just become a much scarier place. We are virtually on the verge of another World War, and this time the warfare is like nothing we ever seen before. If you didn’t know it before, now you do: Terrorism is widespread, and not isolated to the Middle East or the United States -- and people across the world are now starting to see that.

Meanwhile, the United States continues to scale back its military and cut its defense budget. You would think now more than ever we should be scaling up the military. Maybe we need to look at how and where we scale up the military. Maybe it’s time to start building up the military here at home: defending our own borders, teaching our military personnel more about intelligence and cyber security, researching modern warfare and ways to keep our own country safe. 

It’s time for us as a country to get serious about National Security and stop attempting to fight some “politically correct” war while the other side as made it clear that they don’t care about being politically correct. They are killing unarmed, untrained civilians, men, women, and even children.

It’s time for us to realize war is not politically correct and war in this case is unavoidable. Even if we attempt to avoid it, these Jihad extremist will keep coming for us. The question is not if they will come but it’s when. And when they do it could be your mother, father, brother, sister, uncle or even you who becomes a victim to this senseless violence.

So, go ahead, change your Facebook profile and say you stand behind France... but the question really is: how far does your support go? Does it stop at a cool flag picture, or would you support a global military effort aimed at suppressing these terrorist organizations?