One of the first things I learned in life was that everything has a price. Any endeavor has its inherent risks and inaction can be fraught with peril as well, as sometimes doing nothing is worse than doing something.

We all know war has its price, and a terrible one it is. It is a shame one cannot demonstrate in any real quantifiable manner the price of inaction until well after the inaction becomes perilous on its own.  Europe and the world had to wait for Hitler to actually go one step too far before it was obvious that the small problem of a fascist dictator in Germany in the early 1930's had grown to a worldwide conflagration by the late 1930's.

The middle years of 1930's when something could have been done had come and gone. Before the world could correct their inaction's ramifications, 60,000,000 people would die. I think we can all agree that was one very expensive peace from 1933 to September, 1939.

And now we stand at a very similar crossroads. The difference this time is that instead of inaction, it's our actions for which many are expressing their anger and disagreement. This is truly one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't enigmas, where the price of action is a heavy one, but is it cheaper than the price of peace?

The two camps break down along political and ideological boundaries and we cannot seem to find consensus on what price we are willing to pay for our security, if we are paying it in the right and proper place and most especially, if now is the time we should be paying it.

Obviously, I fall in on the "Kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out," side of the fence, and the sooner the better, whereas the other camp argues for world consensus' and every machination imaginable of multi-lateral goings on, negotiation, possible sanctions, UN mandates, hollow threats and vagaries, hand wringing and all the rest.

I will not dismiss out of hand the other sides' position, but the fact remains, with regard to Iraq, I believe we spent 12 full years implementing my political opposition's points of view and doing little except threaten, cajole and hope. That tactic failed miserably, yet we seem so averse to utilizing the ultimate persuasion, as war is no more than taking diplomacy to its ultimate end. I fail to see how any other option is even remotely considerable in this case.

This is a real war, despite what you have been led to believe. Regardless of the talking points from media, this is as dirty, filthy and horrendous as any armed conflict, it's just being undertaken in a manner of attempting to leave as small a footprint as possible, and I personally believe this to be the wrong approach.

The public needs to wrap their minds around the concept that fighting war in the WWII manner of seizing and holding territory is out the window. When we add in the fact that our nation is implementing President Bush's admonition to go along with "business as usual, go shopping . . ." we find a nation seemingly not even aware we are at war. Now is not the time for us to be so lackadaisical in our mind's set.

All my sensory receptors are keenly aware our enemy is all too real. To ignore or marginalize their dedication and capabilities will be fatal, and in the long term will cost us far more money than were we to go find him, and destroy him and his ability to make war, in his safe havens.

The September 11, 2001 attacks cost this nation trillions; over 1.2 trillion dollars alone in the fall of the Dow in the week after trading resumed, plus hundreds of billions in physical damages, insurance payouts, lost earnings, layoffs, a deepening recession, and lost GDP in terms of all the associated costs to the economy. And the effect lasted for about 2 years before we could really climb back out.

Peace has many prices for which we must someday pay. If one could actually purchase lasting peace there would be no war. But you cannot buy peace; you can only buy time.  Has there ever been a price paid that permanently staved off conflict? I can think of none, although the paying of tribute is an ancient practice, so perhaps some tribe somewhere was actually bought off, but that would be the exception, not the rule.

The historical record is replete with accounts of various Barbarian tribes attacking Rome and other tribes in order to gain a cease fire and tribute for promised future good behavior, but almost without fail the tribute was nothing more than the buying of time and at most, temporary peace.  If you trade money for time you'd better be using that found time to prepare for what's coming next, because it is indeed coming. Putting your head in the sand and resting in the comfort of your purchased reprieve leads to a complete false sense of security.

Dreadfully we will continue in this manner until we again suffer the unthinkable. I can actually understand what is meant when a politician remarks we need another 9/11 to wake us up, or some such similar sentiment. Without the feeling that someone is holding a knife to our collective throats we will continue to dawdle in the doldrums of a cheaply purchased and pretended bliss.

We will continue act as if nothing out of the ordinary is going on and we will pay a severe price for our lack of resolve. All the while the vilest of all threats ever faced by Man lurks just outside our awareness. We've seen this before. How did it turn out the last time this approach was undertaken?  For the price of less than 6 years of peace, 60 million people died, trillions of dollars were spent and a whole race of people were damn near eradicated.

And as I sit here composing this article there are tens of millions of radicals who would like to pick up where Hitler left off and finish the work he started. And while they're at it they want to eliminate us too, because we are the eventual end target. As long as the USA lives, the Jews live, therefore our fate and that of Israel are inexorably tied until we die, the Jews die, or the radicals give up, or die themselves.

Considering the sober depiction I have presented, can one see any other option? So, what do we do? Fight now? Bide our time and try to stave off the coming battle?

Whatever we do today matters only in terms of time, because these people aren't going to go away on their own. We will be fighting them somewhere, sometime. Any student of military history will tell you there is absolutely no strategic or tactical advantage to be gained by allowing our enemy to choose the time, place and manner of conflict. None.

I suggest we stand up, shut up and get to doing what the Hell is required of us. I can guarantee you history will indeed be less than kind to our generation if we shrink from this hatred and aggression, and our procrastination will buy little more than time, and damn little of that too! How would history have viewed our parents and grandparents had they shirked their solemn duty?