Wednesday, December 9, 2015
America Needs a Leader, More than Alllies, to Defeat ISIS
If you listened to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter's testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee Wednesday, you heard troubling truths that demand action by the US President --- *Senator John McCain, Republican : "What encourages ISIS is success....I urgently fervently ask you for a strategy....We need to go in with a large allied-Arab force and end the caliphate....There are 30,000 of them. They are not giants." *Senator Jack Reed, Democrat : "We have all come to the conclusion that we need troops on the ground. The question is what type and how many." *Defense Secretary Carter : "We have not contained ISIS....The reality is we're at war." *Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican : "We need to know your plan for dealing with ISIS. We don't know, the American people don't know, our allies don't know what it is." ~~~~~ Secretary Carter told the Armed Services Committee the US is prepared to assist the Iraqi army with more personnel and equipment to help retake Ramadi, the capital of western Anbar province. Earlier this week, Iraqi forces captured a military operations center and a neighborhood on the outskirts of Ramadi. ISIS fighters captured Ramadi in May in a major setback for Iraqi troops. Carter told the Committee tough fighting remains ahead to retake Ramadi and if requested by Iraqi Prime Minister al-Abadi, the US will provide attack helicopters and advisors to help "finish the job." ~~~~~ Senator McCain told Secretary Carter that American troops must join allies on the ground to destroy ISIS’s “caliphate in Syria,” noting the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino that have increased debate over US strategy. McCain said : “These attacks make it clear that ISIS’s threat against our homeland is real, direct and growing, that we are not winning this war and that time is not on our side.” Carter said a US-led ground effort would “Americanize the war in Iraq and Syria” without building the local forces needed to secure and govern reclaimed territory. Responding to McCain’s call for allies such as Saudi Arabia to play a bigger role, Carter said, “I too wish the Sunni Arab nations would do more.” Carter acknowledged that ISIS hasn’t been contained and that the US continues to accelerate its military effort. McCain rejected administration suggestions that its critics want to invade Iraq and Syria with 100,000 combat troops. He said he wants “several thousand additional US troops,” in addition to the 3,500 already in Iraq, to “embed with and advise Iraqi units closer to the fight” and “call in airstrikes from forward positions.” McCain said : “As long as ISIS can claim to possess its caliphate it projects an aura of success that remains its most powerful tool” for recruiting, McCain said. ~~~~~ And yesterday, former Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno said "You need a plan that goes after Iraq, that goes after Syria," telling MSNBC that crushing ISIS is impossible without boots on the ground. Odierno also said the United States has "to build trust in the Middle East," agreeing it's not there among Gulf States allies : "I get frustrated....we have boots on the ground. They're special operations forces, there are soldiers, and I think we have to have a short-term plan which allows our people to get on the ground....You can't defeat ISIS, or destroy ISIS without having people on the ground....The intelligence we're missing is the intelligence you gain on the ground. We need unit intelligence....Special ops can only do so much." Odierno said air strikes alone won't rein in the Islamic jihadists : "It's not going to happen, it's never happened in history, it's not going to happen now." ~~~~~ Dear readers, Obama's successor-in-chief, Hillary Clinton insists : "We’re not putting America combat troops back into Syria or Iraq....I cannot conceive of any circumstances where I would agree." No Democrat President will permit the US military to defeat ISIS, a ragtag islamist jihadist group terrorizing the Middle East, Europe and now America. The US does not need permission or allies to crush ISIS. It needs leadership.
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I am in favor of United States only operation, a coaltion of European countries, a coaltion of Arab countries with the U.S. and/or European countries. But it must happen soon and it must be quick and done with.
ReplyDeleteThe objective is wiping out, stopping the spread of the jihad/ caliphate. Not rounding up a few thousand partispants, but rather their elimination, their death.
This will certainly require a 'police peace keeping' fierce to to remain for years to stop in its tracks any rebirth if the movement and the establishment of "rights to choose" their desired ruling bodies without violent influence.
Doable- yes, costly- yes, lengthy- yes, worthwhile- with out doubt.
Since 9/11 Americans have suffered more than 60,000 casualties in our war against jihadists, with thousands more suffering from lingering psychological wounds from grief, loss, and difficult deployments. We’ve watched as radical Muslims burn people alive, throw them off buildings, and chop off heads. In some parts of the Muslim world, mobs of Muslims will sometimes hunt down and kill Christians in the most vicious and gruesome of ways. We’ve seen ISIS attempt genocide, Boko Haram enslave girls, and al Qaeda kill journalists at their desks in Paris.
ReplyDeleteYet Americans have responded with remarkable grace, and anti-Muslim hate crimes are rare indeed. Yes, it’s true that many Americans dislike Islam. It’s true that many Americans want to either ban Muslim immigration or dramatically restrict entry into the United States. But don’t blame political rhetoric (if that is what you wish to call what Donald Trump said – I don’t) for this hostility - blame actions, actions taken in the name of Islam by Islamic/Muslim fundamentalists. And blame a leaderless president for trying to play both sides while he himself tilts towards the terrorists.
Name me just one leader of the world stage. Where is our Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Churchill, Thatcher, Reagan? Where are the philosophical thoughts that lead nations out of darkness like, Locke, Burke, de Tocqueville? have you read anything that matches up to the Federalist Papers lately?
ReplyDeleteWe are so leaderless in every department right now. And when someone like Trump, Cruz, and Rubio stand up and voices theirs (and millions of others)thoughts and concerns the socialists media gets a free pass to slander and outright lie about what they are about. But heaven forbid if Barrack Obama or Hillary Clinton's lies and distortions of the truth are attacked.
Come General Election Day 2016 I hope the 'inside the beltway' crowd is ready for the voice of freedom that will ring loud and strong
Near the end of oral argument in a high-profile affirmative-action case Wednesday, conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that black students benefit from a “slower track” at less prestigious schools and are thus harmed by affirmative action. The comments come during a time of racial turmoil on campuses across the country, from Yale to the University of Missouri.
ReplyDeleteNot everyone – white or black are “Harvard” ready. And nor does the world need everyone to be “Harvard” educated.
This is unheard of (almost) leadership from the most intellect Justice to have been of the court in many, many long years. This is speaking out not on a hateful or derogatory venue, but speaking his thoughts and trying to improve what have been negative results from capsulizing social groups for their votes only.
Again the truth is the being made the culprit
We have had the "perfect storm" of technology advancement over the past 50 years. Now when face to face with disaster In the form of a make shift military from 1000 years ago we are bogged down with no idea what to do.
ReplyDeleteThe question is simple - do we want to continue to be free or do we want to be enslaved by fundamentalist Muslims ?
The question may be simple and so is the answer. The road block is the lack of any leadership except perhaps for that of Putin who seems to be willing to do something forceful and go about kicking the can down the road rather than sitting talking about why the terrorist are not representative of the Muslim faith.