James Foley shown in a released video moments before his beheading. Photo: Twitter.

Journalist Steven Sotloff is the second American gruesomely murdered by his ISIS captors in the past two weeks. This well-financed and armed Islamic terror organization controls a large swath of northwestern Syria and northern Iraq comparable to the size of Great Britain. ISIS videoed the unfathomable beheading of both Americans while the butcher’s words directly threatened the United States. America, its government, and citizens should understand we are at war with ISIS and all Islamic terrorist organizations. With the peculiar exception of President Obama and his remaining, but dwindling  supporters, almost everyone agrees that ISIS, Al Qaeda, The Muslim Brotherhood, Boko Haram, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the rest of their ilk represent a serious and direct threat to America.

The truth is that only American power can lead a coalition of forces to obliterate this cancerous scourge. It is the responsibility of the lone super power of the world to protect innocent life. Defending what we have in America is no easier than the toil that went into developing it. No one wants war. We pray for peace but are drowning in our President’s diplomatic legalese while he focuses on 18 holes rather than formulating a strategy.  This does not instill confidence into the American psyche. Putting, rather than strategizing, only helps this reincarnated Nazi machine. We have heard the sigh, “If only Hitler had been stopped in the beginning.” He was not stopped until far too many died.

The Arab Spring is now a bitter cold winter. Long-time Middle East allies are either overrun or threatened. Void of American influence and power in the Middle East, Islamic terrorist organizations too numerous to list are turning the brown desert sands red as they mutilate and kill their way to supremacy. We have seen this movie. President Obama has described this evil as a “JV team” suggesting we can “manage” the problem and “contain” them. Have thousands of years of lethal despotic movements not taught him something? You cannot negotiate with a death culture nor appease it and you certainly cannot “manage” it.

You can only kill it.