At War?

Let's get one thing straight. If you are at war with somebody, and they kill some of your citizens, you should not be surprised.

And you also better get straight the difference between intentions and actions. When western countries say they are using surgical air strikes, they may be trying hard to hit only “military” targets, but they miss more than they hit. The bombs kill more innocent bystanders than they ever do the people they are meant to kill.

France has been involved in air strikes against ISIS in Syria for quite a while. They are one of the leading western nations in this regard.

Air strikes are an act of war. They are not a form of policing. They are death from the sky. Is it surprising that ISIS decided to strike back?

Clearly they can't launch air strikes of their own, so they use the limited tools they have available. This should also not have been a surprise.

They aimed at civilians, and killed civilians. Air strikes aim to cripple an enemy, and yet still kill civilians. In a balance sheet of death between by western airstrikes in Syria, and deaths in Paris, I'm confident that the western countries have killed many, many more people.

Our new Prime Minister pledged that he would end Canada's involvement in anti-ISIS airstrikes. He is sticking to this despite both domestic and international pressure not to.

I agree with his decision. Bombing is an act of war. Canada is not currently at war with anyone, and should not be conducting air strikes against anybody. To do so would be immoral.

If we decide that we are, in fact, at war, then we better be ready to take losses due to acts of terrorism. They will strike back, and their choices of methods are quite limited.

Perhaps you will have noticed in the news how much Britain seems to be reacting to the Paris bombings. This is because their contribution to the anti-ISIS air campaign is much greater than France's.

Russia has also exploded on the scene by getting involved in the air war. Within weeks they also had one of their civilian aircraft brought down, with no survivors, by an ISIS explosive device planted on board. Do you see a pattern?

War is not one-sided. You kill theirs, and they'll do whatever it takes to kill yours.

It this, they will succeed.