Since the 1970's, terrorism has been steadily increasing more and more and becoming an everyday occurrence. It reached its peak on September 11, 2001. Since then we have seen the rise of multiple terrorist organizations looking to get revenge on the west for all of the turmoil we've caused them because of our invasions of their countries.

Some of these well known terrorist organizations include Al-Shabaab, Hizbollah, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda and of course ISIS. These groups all have two things in common. The first is that they come from countries that are mostly Muslim populated areas. Secondly, they were born in times of confusion and disorder within the region/country which allowed for them to take control. What the next president, and leader of the free world, must do is go in and exterminate these groups no matter how "politically incorrect" it may be. What it takes is a large invasion of the terrorist held land with American troops, no more letting it up to our poorly trained allies in the middle east. Many politicians will kick and scream saying that going into Iraq and Syria is going to lead to more chaos in the region. How? Like the middle east could become any more chaotic? At least with the second invasion of Iraq in 2003 there was an organized government, however corrupt and unjust it was, that kept some type of order. That government was then traded off for just about three hundred new and corrupt governments, the most popular being known as the Islamic State, thanks to us. Today there is no central government with total power, and any intervention is not going to inflict more disarray in the region than what already exists. It wasn't so much the decision to enter Iraq that screwed us over as much as it was the completely ill-advised and unprofessional way we got out. The saying "If you break a government, it is then your responsibility to fix it" is  something our leaders should have actually listened to. Instead we took the quick and easy way which was to get out and make it look like everything was okay. Like there wasn't an army of Jihadi Johns just waiting for the Americans to give up their grip on the middle east. This void of a strong government is what allowed for these terrorists hungry for revenge to take hold. 

However bad we may have messed up in the past decade, it is not all a lost cause. There is still time for America to get off her feet and go kick butt over in Iraq and Syria in order to keep us living at home safer. The next president needs to understand that time is of the essence and must take action to destroy the bad guys. We must deploy troops to the middle east to weed out, much like we did with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein loyalists in Iraq, the ISIS sympathizers and don't stop until there is nothing left of the self proclaimed "caliphate."  We must not apologize for being too harsh in our tactics or too demanding in our rhetoric. We must either kill, arrest or otherwise do away with every ISIS freak who wants to bring harm to America and her allies. We won't just be fighting a war 3000 miles away, we'll be fighting to keep those extremists on their own land instead of ours. That one fake passport, or that one weapons cache, or that one anti-aircraft missile found can save countless lives. If you think this is not a serious problem and that terrorism will just fade away because other people are doing the fighting then you are absolutely, flat out wrong. We are not fighting a group that wants more land or more money, we are fighting a group that believes to their very core that they are blessed from up above for using a five year old to blow up a shopping center or for trafficking girls for their men to do with as they please. It's an ideology and it must be broken apart to the very last person to assure it makes no comeback in the future. 

To the future president, above all, remember to keep the freedoms of this country alive and well before the safety of its people. Keep in mind the words of Benjamin Franklin, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" and consider the true values of what it means to be an American

Sincerely,

Dane Hilsher