Iran & North Korea - Do You Feel Lucky?

President Obama extended his hand and the leaders of both Iran and North Korea clenched their fists. The hope that all the U.S. needed was a peace loving president willing to talk openly about new ideas has turned out to be false, but the delay has been valuable just the same.

Some might argue that recent efforts at diplomacy allowed our enemies more time to further their weapons programs, and there is some truth to that argument. But we need to remember our own situation and be very careful not to over commit. The U.S. should not be eager to engage in more military action:

1. The U.S. has been on a war footing for 8 years (since 9/11) and is fighting real and dangerous fatigue among soldiers, commanders, and equipment.
2. The U.S. is already in active engagements in Afghanistan (also known in history as "The graveyard of empires").
3. The U.S. economy is strained to the point of making war spending difficult.
4. The U.S. public is tired of conflict, wanting to focus on their own problem rather than those of foreigners.

It may be best is we allow our enemies to goad us into violent and decisive action - that is all we have the energy for. So my question to our enemies is, do you feel lucky? Do you really want to test a tired American public whose leader badly needs to be seen as strong and decisive? Do you really want to question our courage?

The U.S. may be slow to violence, but history shows we are more than capable of it.