[427TJ]

Muslim countries, the so-called "moderate" governments like Saudi Arabia, need to clean their own houses. There's only about 25,000 ISIS fighters, most of them inept, and we know where they all are, while there are five million uniformed troops in the armies of the Middle East. Why can't they control ISIS? Because governments like the Saudis are more than happy to let us do their dirty work. So are the Kuwatis, the Jordanians and the rag-tag Iraqi government. Middle East governments tolerate Wahabbi extremsists within their borders and ISIS descends from Wahabbist doctrine. (Osama bin Laden was an adherent of Wahabbism.) The Wahabbi are the ultra-conservative, ultra-fundamentalists of the Sunni branch of Islam and number in the millions throughout the region. The Saudis were happy to let the West take on al Queda and invade Iraq and are happy now to let us (and the French, etc.) take on ISIS because then the West becomes the enemy and not the Saudi royal family or the Kuwatis or the Jordanians. (And we still need their oil, contrary to what oil prices have done recently.) America is happy also to take on the "policeman" role because billions are made on military equipment procurement and private contracting to support our military interventions over there, a fact that few like to admit openly. War is a huge money maker, just ask Popeye's Chicken or Burger King who have outlets in military camps, or the billions Halliburton has made supporting the troops.

We spent much of our military capital, both in blood and in treasure, over ten-plus years in Afghanistan and Iraq post-9/11. Some of us may want to beat the war drum but the vast majority of Americans, if polls are to be believed, do not want further American blood and treasure spilled and spent in the Middle East.

Last thought. Who believes there will never be another movie theater shooting like the one we saw in Aurora, Colorado in 2012? The shooter just walked right in and killed 12 people in cold blood and injured 70 more. It was an act of terrorism. He did, in fact, terrorize the people in the theater. The same thing happened in Paris, on a larger scale, last Friday night. How do we really stop them? How do you stop the "lone nut" from committing such a crime? The French terrorism expert on "60 Minutes" knows this. That's why he said this is only the beginning. Terrorism will always be with us, whether it's a guy in a Colorado movie theater or a band of armed religious zealots in Syria. Maybe if people cleaned their own houses there would be fewer of these horrific acts.

Okay, you can ban me now.