It is the proper role of the U.S. military not just to punish the regime in Afghanistan which harbored Osama Bin Laden, but to build a prosperous democracy there.
But privately, four officials admitted that the two attacks - at a bar and a bus stop - were almost certainly the work of al-Shabab - a discordant umbrella group at the best of times - or of individuals inspired by the Islamist militants, and now looking to punish Kenya for its military incursion into areas they control in southern Somalia.
Once that is accomplished, the United States should take the lead in assembling a "coalition of the willing" prepared and disposed to make effective use of military power (namely air assets) to punish the Serbs.
Can the possibility be ruled out that this President - simpatico as he clearly is with the Iranian regime and hostile as he clearly is towards Israel - responds by finding ways to punish the Jewish State that go beyond a refusal to sustain its military capabilities, as Nixon did in 1973?
"The south Korean authorities had better bear in mind that the military actions of the DPRK are neither bluff nor threat but practical ones and what remains is to mercilessly punish the provocateurs, " the article said.