Imperial President Obama Fails in the Middle East - Where Is Congress?

Kenji Goto, 47, a Japanese journalist known for his work covering the suffering of civilians in war zones. Beheaded by ISIS. ~~~~~ Haruna Yukawa, 42, a Japanese adventurer. Beheaded by ISIS. ~~~~~ Muath Al-Kaseasbeh, 26, Jordanian air force pilot, captured while flying in an airstrike for the anti-ISIS coalition. Burned alive by ISIS. ~~~~~ The world has stood watch as ISIS has beheaded hostages. With each succeeding ISIS atrocity, the physical recoil has been slightly less violent. But with each atrocity, the moral recoil and outrage in the non-Moslem world has mounted. ~~~~~ And, finally, the gruesome burning alive of 26-year-old Muath Al-Kaseasbeh has sparked outrage across the Middle East and given rise to anti-ISIS protests in Jordan. The head of sunni Islam’s most respected seat of learning, Egypt’s Al- Azhar Mosque, even said that ISIS militants deserved the Koran-prescribed punishment of death, crucifixion or the chopping off of their arms.“ Islam prohibits the taking of an innocent life,” Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Mosque’s grand sheikh, said in a statement, adding that by burning the pilot to death, the militants violated Islam’s prohibition on the mutilation of bodies, even at wartime. More than a hundred clerics gathered at the Mosque to denounce terrorism and show support for the Egyptian government. Iyad Madani, the leader of the 57-nation Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the world’s largest bloc of Moslem countries, condemned the killing, saying it : “utterly disregards the rights of prisoners Islam has decreed, as well as the human moral standards for war and treatment of prisoners. It is sad to see the the depth of malaise in parts of the Middle East, along with the intellectual decay, the political fragmentation and the abuse of Islam, the great religion of mercy.” Condemnation quickly poured in from Gulf Arab nations, all close US allies. Bahrain denounced the killing as “despicable” and voiced its solidarity with Jordan. Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, decried the killing as “criminal” and “vicious” and said it ran against both religion and tradition. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry also condemned it, saying it is “a criminal act contravening the tolerant principles of the Islamic faith, human values and international laws and norms.” Qatar is a tiny but super rich Gulf nation that hosts the regional command center co-ordinating US-led coalition airstrikes. “Barbarity” was the single-word headline on page one of the pan-Arab al-Hayatt newspaper. An article in the leftist private Lebanese daily newspaper Assafir asked : “How many Syrian al-Kaseasbehs are there? How many...whose names we are ignorant of, slaughtered by the Islamic State and their brothers? How many Kassasbeh Syrians have fallen in the past four years...without news headlines on the television channels?” A Jordanian politician in Amman wept on television as he described watching al-Kaseasbeh’s death, saying even a people attuned to violence could not bear witnessing the pain of a man burning to death. ~~~~~ Sheikh Muhammed al-Yaqoubi, who is the subject of my 21 November 2014 blog, called Muath Al-Kaseasbeh a martyr and condemned ISIS for violating the Koran and Islam by burning a fellow Moslem - something forbidden by Islam - and al-Yaqoubi added that ISIS is "defeated because there is now an ideological basis for defeating them." ~~~~~ King Abdullah II of Jordan, a staunch Western ally, was in the United States and had talked yesterday with the House Appropriations Committee to explain Jordan's need for more equipment and munitions. When the video appeared, King Abdullah was at a White House meeting with President Barack Obama. The two leaders appeared together to affirm their resolve to destroy the militants who have seized about one-third of Syria and Iraq. The King then quickly returned to Jordan, where he met with his military leaders and declared that Jordan will be more active in the coalition airstrike offensive. Jordan government spokesperson Mohammed al-Momani said : "This evil can and should be defeated." ~~~~~ Dear readers, while the entire world, even the Moslem world, is coalesced around the goal of defeating ISIS militarily, US President Barack Obama once again failed the test of leadership. Obama said : "..whatever ideology they are operating off of is bankrupt." He could not bring himself to say 'terrorists' or 'jihadists' or 'radical Islam.' He merely vowed to “redouble vigilance” against ISIS in the wake of the Islamist militant’s latest, worst depravity - the burning alive of a pilot from Jordan, a key member of the US coalition fighting ISIS. Evidence mounts that the current US strategy cannot accomplish the President’s goal, as he puts it, that ISIS will be “degraded and ultimately defeated.” Obama faces growing pleas from the Middle East members of his coalition to do more -- Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan -- all asking for more equipment and more US presence as the coalition leader, even though all agree that a US massive ground troop presence is not needed, but rather intell, advance units, and headquarters-type leadership. Former US Secretaries of Defense Robert Gates, Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel agree that the current Obama strategy cannot win. General Michael Dempsey, head of the Joint Chiefs, agrees. But, the President can only propose "redoubled vigilance." We have waited several years for a genuine revulsion against ISIS from Middle East moslem countries. It is here. Now is the time to unleash regional forces. Yet Obama is still aloof - still disconnected morally - still disinterested. The world needs a leader for what the Middle East is now prepared to do -- defeat the evil that is ISIS. It is rare, indeed, unique, that an American President is so wrong, so isolated from reality, so dangerous. It is time for the incoming Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, to muster a desperately needed "American coalition" made up of the US military Joint Chiefs and the congressional leadership of both parties to confront President Obama and his sequestered White House staff. The message -- here is our plan to defeat ISIS - let us act as the situation demands or we will call for your censure by Congress - and if you refuse, even after censure, we will call for your impeachment. Afterall, Obama has created the Imperial Presidency. He relishes it. What Obama does not understand is that an Imperial Presidency demands force and courage. Obama lacks both. He does not realize that the endgame of an Imperial Presidency may find him treated with forceful and courageous determination by the co-equal branch of government he has tried to trash. It is time for the great constitutional check-and-balance to be tested in its most profound sense.