I don’t agree with much Colin Powell ultimately stood for, particularly during his last act when he became a Republican enabler of Obama’s divisive racialism and embrace of identity politics and victim culture; but I do agree with his dictate that if you are not prepared to win a war, you don’t fight it. Peace thru strength is not the same as peace thru compassion and carefully-managed optics. In fact, it’s my contention that the time for compassion is during the rebuild of the ruins from which the evil aggression you’ve punished emerged. Throw your dick on the table, compare for size, and tell your enemies it’s on. That’s how you win.

[Better yet, that’s how you deter others from waging war against you in the first place. — Ed]