'Are We At War' Post-Brussels/Paris?

From US State Department Reports

35,272 people worldwide were killed, injured or taken hostage by terrorists. In 2014. Alone.

According to the US Department of State under Secretary John Kerry who is serving in the Administration of President Barack Obama. Not according to some right-wing nationalistic group or any other analysis.

The US State Department.

64.3% of the casualties in this one year alone were perpetrated by ISIS or the Taliban.

22,705 innocent people worldwide were killed, injured or taken hostage by self-avowed terrorists who are claiming they are doing this under the cloak of Islamist terrorism

To put this all in perspective, 6828 American Soldiers died in Iraq/Afghanistan since 2001. 

Over a 15-year period, as terrible as the loss was for the families of these fallen heroes and for the nation, 6 times more people were killed, injured or taken hostage in the single year of 2014 by terrorists worldwide, the majority of whom are self-described Muslims who are intent on wiping out 'The Great Satan', America from the face of the earth. 

Along with Israel. Our most loyal long-term ally in the Middle East.

If you take just a five-year snapshot of casualties caused by terrorists since 2010 worldwide, the number exceeds 125,000 innocent people who have been killed, injured or taken hostage by militant terrorists, mostly claiming 'victory' for Al Qaeda or ISIS.

If you look at any of the casualty totals from major wars in American history, you will get a sense of the carnage and obscene loss of life that has occurred at the hands of these terrorists that for some reason, our government has failed to even label as 'terrorists' for fear of antagonizing them further.

(totals include killed, wounded, hostage, MIAs)

• 25,000 in American Revolutionary War
• 20,000 in War of 1812
• 17,435 in Mexican-American War
• 600,000-850,000 in American Civil War
• 320,518 in World War I
• 1,076,000 casualties in World War II
• 211,000 Vietnam War
• 58,000+ Iraq Gulf War I and II and Afghanistan

The number of people who have been killed, wounded or taken hostage by terrorists worldwide over the past 5 years alone has been exceeded by US casualties only in the American Civil War, World War I and World War II in absolute numbers.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said today after the Brussels attack: 'We are at war. We have been subjected for the last few months in Europe to acts of war.'

The question for all of us American citizens as we select a new leader for the White House is whether we think we are 'at war' with radical terrorism worldwide and domestically or not.

Terrorists abroad, especially those who are hiding under the cloak of Islam including ISIS, certainly think they are 'at war' with us and the rest of western civilization. Otherwise, they would not be killing and maiming so many innocent people worldwide each year, would they?

The absence of war does not necessarily mean we are 'at peace' goes an old saw in Washington, D.C.

America is never 'at peace' as long as terrorism and oppression are 'at war' with us and other peace-loving people of this world.

We need to be taking a much more serious approach to eradicating this scourge of terrorism from the face of this planet.

It will not go away on its own willingly if history is any guide or tutor to us.

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