No More Mr. Nice Guy

No More Mr. Nice Guy
http://www.peggynoonan.com/
"We know ISIS is increasingly hated by the civilized world, and by many nations in the Mideast. Each day that brings new word of their atrocities, not only to prisoners but to local, subjugated populations, adds to the anti-ISIS coalition. But we also know they will not be defeated or decisively set back from the air. They have to be removed from the areas they hold. They need to be fought with boots on the ground."

But is that so? The biggest obstacles are those things you know that aren't so. Imagine you we a Roman general. They would agree that you need boots on the ground, but they would not agree with the constraints we put on ourselves.

Romans had two kinds of war, wars of conquest and wars of retribution. Now is the time for retribution. Nor would the Romans be concerned with collateral damage, since all of their damage was intended.

What is needed is an object lesson, and the means is the destruction of everything that supports life in the region targeted. That should be doable from the air. Get out the WW2 air attack manuals, and ask the Germans if they suffered.