Yes, Obama is also to blame

Europe is on edge: Due to terror alerts across the continent, for the first time since World War II, Belgium has closed its schools and shut down public transportation, citing "a serious and immediate threat," according to Prime Minister Charles Michel. In Paris, cafes, restaurants and Christmas markets are still half empty. Why would anyone be in the mood to go out? There is a combined sense of fear and gloom.

In Germany, too, people are beginning to realize just how real the threat is. In Great Britain, however, the authorities deemed this to be a good time to issue a travel warning about Israel, while a German supermarket decided to boycott Israeli goods (a decision that has since been reversed). One could go mad over the Europeans' insufferable hypocrisy.

The people of Belgium, who harbor so much respect for all religions, don't understand where all this is coming from. After all, the Belgians teach the New Testament, the Old Testament and the Quran in their public schools. Suddenly they are starting to realize that jihadists don't care how open a society is. An infidel is always an infidel, even if he shows respect toward other religions, including Islam. Under the noses of the Flemish and Walloons a monster has grown, and now the country needs to purge its jihadists.

Belgium, like other countries in Europe, has erased the word war from its lexicon. The European Union operates strictly in the realm of diplomacy. But now these countries have to adjust course and relearn how to defend themselves against a real threat. They waited too long to act against this homegrown terror, as if they were unaware of the dangers posed by the jihadists returning from war in Syria and Iraq. What did they think over in Europe, that these people would begin baking crepes-

The citizens of Europe are starting to ask the tough questions. What have EU states done to prevent terrorism since the attacks in Paris last January? Or since the Brussels attacks against security forces in Verviers and at the Jewish Museum? Was it impossible to track all those individuals identified as having ties to radical groups?

In Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, U.S. President Barack Obama completely rejected the idea that the Islamic State group is an existential threat. Obama said that "they’re a bunch of killers with good social media" and they "can't beat us on the battlefield, so they try to terrorize us into being afraid." But the Islamic State group is managing to undermine daily life in Europe, and yes -- Obama is also to blame. He, too, failed to assess this organization correctly. Because if Islamic State is successfully moving the battle to Europe, it means the campaign to defeat it in Syria and Iraq has failed.

Indeed, war is hell. It is an ugly thing. Who knows this better than we do? A just war, however, is not ugly, it is a moral imperative. The West had hoped the era of sending ground troops into battle was over; the West doesn't want casualties in uniforms. But those who don't want uniformed casualties eventually get civilian casualties. Perhaps this time they have seen the light. Perhaps; we can't say for certain.

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