It Takes a King

Notice the tone. When Americans are killed abroad, as was, most recently, Kayla Mueller, an aid worker and Islamic State hostage from Arizona, Obama administration officials often sound like U.S. prosecutors going after a burglar or carjacker when they promise to "find and bring to justice" the culprits.

Abdullah apparently has a different idea of what constitutes justice. He vowed to decimate these monsters. Period.

And while it's true that the United States has, in the last five months, led a coalition responsible for more than 2,000 airstrikes, Jordan's go-it-alone response was nonetheless impressive. It carried out the attacks on its own without asking anyone's permission.

The murder of the pilot was considered personal, and the reaction was primal. After the first wave of bombings, Air Force Gen. Mansour al-Jabour told reporters, "We achieved what we were looking for: revenge for Muath. And this is not the end. This is the beginning."

Now, Obama is looking for a new beginning in the war against the Islamic State. This past week, he asked Congress to approve a resolution formally giving the administration the authority to use military force.

It's about time. It was back in August that the Islamic State made it clear it was already at war with the United States when it beheaded American journalist James Wright Foley and recorded the grisly act in a propaganda video. And, in case we didn't get the message, in September, the Islamic State beheaded Steven Sotloff, another American journalist.

Enraged Americans want the perpetrators punished. Obama offers up moral relativism. In a recent speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, he compared terrorist acts committed in the name of Islam to the Crusades in making the point that evil acts done in the name of religion are nothing new.

Even now, Obama doesn't seem up to the task of making war. The military authorization he seeks is valid for only three years, and it sets the condition that there won't be troops on the ground. Obama says he is not interested in placing the United States on "a perpetual war-time footing" in that part of the world.

"As I've said before, I'm convinced that the United States should not get dragged back into another prolonged ground war in the Middle East," he said in his public remarks about his request to Congress. "That's not in our national security interest and it's not necessary for us to defeat [the Islamic State]."

But going to war isn't that simple. As a certain king already knows.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.