Source: https://www.usni.org/magazines/proce...in-think-again

By Lts. Col. Bolgiano and Taylor (Ret.), Proceedings Magazine, December 2017, U.S. Naval Institute

Those given the awful task of combat must be able to act with the necessary savagery and purposefulness to destroy those acting as, or in direct support of, Islamic terrorists worldwide. In 2008, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Admiral Michael Mullen said, “We can’t kill our way to victory.” Ever since, many have parroted his words. But what if Admiral Mullen was wrong? The United States has been at war with radical Islamists four times longer than it was with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in World War II. And those previous enemies were far more competent and aggressive than the terrorists. It is time to kill a lot more of them.
Key Arguments:

  • U.S. ROEs are too restrictive and JAGs are incompetent
  • "It takes killing with speed and sustained effect to win wars"
  • The First Gulf War was bloody, but for the Iraqis
  • The Civil War was a war of attrition
  • The U.S. used strategic bombing against civilians and combatants in Germany and Japan, including the use of nuclear weapons
  • Edward Luttwak was right in 1999 ("fighting must continue until a resolution is reached. War brings peace...")