MOPTI REGION, MALI – Okay, so another 30-plus people are fertilizer now, courtesy of our buddies over at Al-Qaeda in beautiful, scenic Mopti region, Mali. Wednesday was the day for this week's scheduled carnage. Sources are saying what we already knew: towelheads did it.

Let's be real here. The Sahel region is basically a sandbox for jihadis at this point. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting some beardy dude screaming 'Allahu Snackbar' while planting IEDs. The Malian government? About as effective as a screen door on a submarine.

We've been 'nation-building' and 'democracy-spreading' for decades, and all we've got to show for it are more dead civilians and a bigger recruiting pool for terrorists. Maybe, just maybe, throwing money at the problem and hoping for the best isn't working. Shocker.

Time for some tough love, folks. These guys aren't interested in 'dialogue' or 'peace talks.' They want to impose their backwards ideology on everyone, and they're more than happy to kill anyone who disagrees. So, what's the solution? Simple: Make them too scared to even think about causing trouble.

Stop with the hand-wringing and start with the targeted drone strikes. Stop with the foreign aid and start with the military assistance…to the right people. Find the warlords who are actually willing to fight these guys and give them the tools they need.

And for the love of all that is holy, stop pretending that this is a 'complex issue' with 'no easy solutions.' There are solutions, but they require a level of ruthlessness that the West seems incapable of mustering anymore. We're too busy worrying about 'optics' and 'human rights' to actually win.

Meanwhile, the bodies keep piling up. The families keep mourning. And the jihadis keep laughing all the way to their next massacre. This ain't a game, people. It's a war. And we're losing.

Wake up. Get serious. Or get used to seeing headlines like this again…and again…and again.

We can't fix stupid, but we can bomb it back to the stone age. Just sayin'.

Sources:

* Global Terrorism Database - [www.start.umd.edu/gtd/](www.start.umd.edu/gtd/) * Long War Journal - [www.longwarjournal.org/](www.longwarjournal.org/) * Mapping Militant Organizations - [cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mapping-militants](cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mapping-militants)