Taliban militants are beheading and burning their way through Pakistan’s picturesque Swat Valley, and residents say the insurgents now control most of the mountainous region far from the lawless tribal areas where jihadists thrive. The deteriorating situation in the former tourist haven comes despite an army offensive that began in 2007 and an attempted peace deal. It is especially worrisome to Pakistani officials because the valley lies outside the areas where al-Qaida and Taliban militants have traditionally operated and where the military is staging a separate offensive. “You can’t imagine how bad it is,” said Muzaffar ul-Mulk, a federal lawmaker whose home in Swat was attacked by bomb-toting assailants in mid-December, weeks after he left. “It’s worse day by day.”

Somewhere along the route to a kinder gentler military we have lost the concept of total war. Mind you our enemy in this country has not forgotten how to wage war as they rape pillage and plunder there way through Pakistan, but we have. Instead of killing on site or completely obliterating the mindless minions of the Taliban, we are trying to convert them into nicer neighbors. Most of these goons would go out of their way just to get a shot at one of our troops but we are restricted in how we are allowed to conduct war with them. Does this remind anyone of Vietnam? Politicians making military decisions with no knowledge of how their decisions affect the man on the ground, is just stupid. If the US wants to win then they may need to rethink their concept of war and total war. Should we leave total war on the table as an option to deal with the Taliban?

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