We need to stop crying over the ‘senseless act of violence’ committed in Chattanooga on Thursday.

This was not a single act of violence. It was simply a continuation of a long war that too many in Washington fail to recognize. Stop decrying this “senseless act” and start becoming enraged!

Oh, yes, the event was shocking, leading so many of our leaders — both Republicans and Democrats — to trot out the same trite banalities hatched in their echo chambers.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter:

My thoughts and prayers – along with those of the men and women of the Department of Defense – are with the families of those killed in this senseless act of violence.

Hillary Clinton called the event “an act of senseless violence.”

Tennessee Republican Representatives Scott DesJarlais:

My thoughts and prayers are with our Tennessee community and all those affected by this senseless act of violence.

. . .and Representative Marsha Blackburn:

I am deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence.

And, on cue, President Obama attributed the deaths to the act of everybody’s favorite boogie man — the Lone Gunman:

“We know that what appears to be a lone gunman carried out these attacks.”

Then the intelligentsia entered the fray to explain away any notion we proles might have that this just might be war, the source of which is Islamism.

On Friday’s O’Reilly Factor, hosted by Eric Bolling, Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg sneered at the notion of Obama being soft on Islamic extremism: “I don’t like the term ‘Islamic extremism,’because we should use the most precise language possible to describe our adversaries. There is not just one form of Islamic terrorism, there are different groups.”

Ponder that pretzel logic he used in defense of Obama.

Then Muslim professor and author Achmed Younis showed up to deflect blame from Islam: “We are living in a time in which sickness and criminality is associated with all kinds of ideologies. It could be the ideology of American white supremacist racism or the ideologies that are sourced in Islam.”

Not necessarily Islam. Nope, could be sickness or criminality.

Who are you going to believe, Younis and Rosenberg or your lying eyes?

This is war. This is purposeful. As Mark Steyn wrote:

What happened on Thursday isn’t “senseless” at all. It shows great strategic purpose – as I’ve said so often before, including the last time unarmed soldiers were gunned down by “lone wolves.”
If you seriously think this is a senseless act of senselessly senseless violence, then you’re the one who’s senseless. This isn’t a harmless banality one can forgive in the stress of the moment. It’s part of the reason we’re losing.

Dr. Sebastian Gorka, professor at Marine Corps University and an expert on terrorism, condemned this weak-kneed reaction to the long Islamic war that too many write off as a “lone wolf” enacting “senseless acts of violence:

It is because of this feckless refusal by the Obama administration to face the bald-faced truth that the United States has now endured seven Islamic attacks over the past six years. Let’s review:

• June, 2009: drive-by attack on military recruiting office in Little Rock Arkansas. One soldier dead, one wounded.
• November, 2009: Major Nidal Hisan opens fire on soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13 and wounding over 30 — an act that Obama labeled “workplace violence.”
• April, 2013: Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three people, including an 8-year-old boy. Scores of others were wounded.
• October, 2014: an man who frequented ISIS websites attempts to attack four New York City police officers with a hatchet.
• December, 2014: a Muslim man kills two NYPD officers in “retaliation” for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
• May, 2015: two Islamists open fire outside the “Draw Muhammed” event in Garland, Texas, before they are gunned down by police.

But let’s give credit to those leaders who understand and openly speak up about the threat.

Wisconsin governor and presidential candidate Scott Walker appeared on The Kelly File with these words:

We need to acknowledge that we’re at war and radical Islamic terrorism is our enemy. . .

[W]e’re facing an enemy in radical Islamic terrorism that’s willing to take the fight to us.

Texas senator and also candidate Ted Cruz called the shooting “an act of war.”

“In the wake of this vicious attack on our nation we need to rid ourselves of two dangerous delusions, first and foremost that a ‘lone gunman’–as President Obama described the shooter–is somehow isolated from the larger threat of radical Islamic terrorism. In the modern world, no one acts in isolation. Through social media ISIS, al Qaida, and other groups are infiltrating our nation with impunity while our government will not even admit that radical Islamic terrorism is a problem.”

Former New York mayor Rudy Guiliani made this insight:

It also appears that various governors are stepping up to protect the military personnel of their states. Texas Governor Greg Abbott will arm National Guard personnel at military bases, as will Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin. In Indiana, Governor Mike Pence has ordered the arming of the Indiana National Guard, and Governors Rick Scott of Florida and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana have issued similar orders.

Good for those governors. But let’s be honest — President Obama will never acknowledge that the nation is at war with Islamism; he sees the world through the eyes of politics and social justice. He is so stubbornly fixed on being the opposite of our last war president — George W. Bush — that he would risk the nation’s security by playing defense with jihadis rather than offense. Islamists see this as weakness, and as a result will continue to shed American blood again, and again. As Col. Ralph Peters said on Friday’s O’Reilly Factor: “And as long as the Islamic State caliphate exists in the Middle East as an inspiration to jihadis, there are going to be more ‘lone wolves’ and larger attacks here.”