Leonidas knows he must do anything to stop the Persian horde, even if his fellow Greeks don't yet know the threat he poses. They, unlike Sparta, might seek to negotiate with the Persians. Messengers from the Persian King Xerses would be greeted in a way far different from Leonidas' "Madness? This is Sparta." (See the video link)
Depicted as a clash of cultures, the movie met criticism for its analogy to the War on Terror depicting it as a struggle of good versus evil, with anti-Islamic sentiments.
Like Bush, Obama has gone to great lengths to reiterate the War on Terror isn't a war on Islam. So we know that now. The victims of allied air strikes in Afghanistan or Libya might not think that, but we don't want a modern crusade or open-ended war. We simply need to get'r'done and go home. And we've done that.
The 300 don't fight to conquer or spread Christianity. The 300 must go out and stop evil or evil will come and destroy them. Like the 300, our soldiers' primary purpose has been to find and kill the source of evil. Their accomplishments, and efforts to avoid collateral damage, epitomized by the Osama killing, have allowed us to be safer. Like the 300, a small, elite unit of well-trained soldiers can do much more than a broader war, one lesson we can draw on in the event future problems arise.
The concept that we can sit back and wait until they--the evildoers--are upon us is symptomatic of a pre-9/11 attitude (another Bush-era term.) In an age of "smoking mushroom clouds" (then-Nat'l Sec. Director Rice) we can't afford complacency. Until we'd brought closure to the Osama story, all the other issues--Iraq, WMDs, Afghanistan--had been peripheral.
With the death of Osama, we can begin to write a close to the chapter...or can we? Like some zombie, best that we double tap the already dead corpse of the lich king. Better yet, just for safety's sake, why don't we send a torpedo into Osama's dead ass just as it--is it dead?--hits the molten magma of the the undersea volcano?
I digress. We do know, and have heard I'm sure, about the risks of a terrorist strike to avenge bin Laden. There are of course, as President Bush pointed out to us, that there are many who would do us harm (perhaps not because they "hate our freedoms" but the reasons really doesn't matter as Bush clearly got the point across.) Bush's stock has risen in the aftermath of the Osama killing no doubt. Likewise Obama will clearly benefit. Staying the course on "Bush's wars" has become a political benefit.
Once again peace can reign in the valley. We can bring the troops home.
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