I agree with this. What I would like to see in conjunction with "toughening up" is for the US/Western Forces to drop the "Good vs. Evil" rhetoric. We should drop the charade about being a force for good in the ME, and we should admit that we are a force for "us" in the ME. It isn't "good vs. evil", it is "us vs. them". Pretending otherwise is hypocritical.

Yes, western democracies provide a staggering number of rights and freedoms to their population that the Islamic extremists don't believe in. But we really aren't there to protect the rights or lives of the people. We're there because there is oil there and we need that oil. If the west was just about helping oppressed/endangered people then we would have acted with urgency in Rwanda and we would be all over Darfur. We only care when there is something in it for us. I'm not saying that's wrong, that's just human nature. I'd like to just have us be honest about it.