Three grisly, gut-wrenching reports starkly contrast the sanity the world has long left behind and the Through-the-Looking-Glass unreality it inhabits today.

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) issued two separate announcements relating to its discovery of the bodies of seven Hamas hostages, all apparently murdered during their abduction on Oct. 7.

Separately, families released video of the capture and brutal treatment that day of five bound, bloodied and bruised female IDF soldiers, with kidnappers suggesting they will be subject to violence and sexual assault. One woman’s father indicated the release was a “wakeup call to the world” of their continued captivity and suspected abuse.

A “wakeup call.” As if the world should even need one.

Think back 45 years ago. Even the Washington Swamp and mainstream media acknowledged that America was being held hostage by an Iranian regime that took custody of 51 U.S. diplomats captured by student protesters.

Acknowledged, nothing. It was in people’s faces hourly. On front pages of (print) newspapers, the radio and most of all, TV. In fact, the “Iranian Hostage Crisis,” as it was called, prompted an entire late-night ABC network news program initially entitled … wait for it … “America Held Hostage.”

Over the shoulder of the anchor, ultimately Ted Koppel, blared a graphic with the grim reminder: 

“America Held Hostage, Day (fill in the blank).”

“Our hostages” were kept in relatively decent conditions, were not physically harmed, and remained in good health. Yet the entire nation and the Western world were united behind the desire and demand for their safe and swift return.

And each addition to the ongoing tally of the days they were held … each drip-drip-drip reminder of America’s exposure as a paper tiger unable or unwilling to effect their release or rescue … was another nail in the coffin of the failed presidency of the hapless and feckless Jimmy Carter.

Today, it’s doubtful 99% of Americans are even aware that any countrymen remain hostage to Hamas, to say nothing of how many. Or even worse: that more than 30 U.S. citizens were slaughtered in the attack. Even your political junkie correspondent had to look up the number of remaining detainees: five, all men, as of May 11, with three bodies also being held. 

The reason? That sound you hear from the legacy media, and even conservative outlets, on the names and fate of U.S. hostages is a “C” word that rhymes with “rickets.” The nets and liberal cable and publications instead devote space and airtime to feverishly parroting fantastical casualty figures from Hamas and providing platforms for fabricators who term as “genocide”  Israel’s legitimate efforts at self-defense and self-sacrificing protection of Gazan civilians.

America’s counterfeit commander-in-chief and his progressive nightmare of a national security team give a passing nod to seeking the hostages’ release. But only in the context of calls for the Jewish nation to participate in multilateral “negotiations” – in reality orchestrated extortion – involving the exchange of dozens of terrorists for innocent captives, along with a halt to justified efforts to exterminate the vermin who joyfully raped and mutilated women and burned babies. 

The discovery of the seven Israeli bodies – and the fact that in negotiating, Hamas can’t (won’t) even indicate how many and which hostages are dead or alive – underscore the cruel game Israel is forced to play and the rest of civilization to accede to.

And a further truth this cast of “clowns,” to coin a Hochul-esque descriptor, refuses to acknowledge:  Hamas’ state sponsor unquestionably greenlighted, bankrolled, helped plan and provided training for the Oct. 7 massacre.

Only this time the crisis involves not just brutality against innocent victims – but entire Western populations and the world system being constrained, disrupted, bullied, mocked, and yes, physically threatened by a death cult that has seized the commanding heights of both domestic and global institutions and the imagination of much of their developmentally stunted younger generation.

The whole world is in the grip of Iranian Hostage Crisis II.

But these global efforts remain vehicles to get at “The Great Satan.” Like our primary adversary, China, Iran directly and via its proxies and fellow travelers is using every weapon at its disposal including economic, military, terroristic – up to and including assassination plots on U.S. soil – and especially political to effect its chants for “Death to America.”

Whether America’s leadership wishes to officially recognize the fact or not, the nation has been in a virtual global conflict with the ayatollahs for two generations now. And their abetting of Hamas’ slaughter and abduction of American citizens was an out-and-out act of war.

The appropriate response was demonstrated by the last legitimate president’s near-success in isolating and bringing Iran to its knees economically, and especially his elimination of Iran’s leading military figure in response to an attack that killed a single U.S. contractor. 

Oct. 7 practically demanded that world’s leading superpower not just call out the Iranians’ responsibility, but lead an even more ambitious and expeditious military response against Hamas than a hog-tied Israel has attempted. It even would not have been out of the question to extend such a counterassault to the state actor responsible for the carnage, as followed 9-11.

Since this administration is unlikely to grow a spine or a sense of moral duty, your correspondent urged the Issues & Insight editorial team to take the first step suggested above: use the fact of American hostages’ continued captivity as an entree for a full-blown campaign calling out this nation’s long-time nemesis.

Accordingly, I&I is providing the world – and especially America’s political leadership – its own “wakeup call” with a counter on the upper right of every page tallying the number of days in Iranian Hostage Crisis II. Bringing it to the attention of media left, right and center. And keeping it there until the last hostage is home.

Time to remind the world of what’s really at stake here. And what lowlifes are truly responsible.

Bob Maistros is a messaging and communications strategist, crisis specialist, and former political speechwriter. He can be reached at bob@rpmexecutive.com.