With the presidential marathon race now off and running,
there are questions we should demand every candidate to answer. Top of
my list is what to do about Iraq and
ISIS. Most fascinating so far are the
polar opposite views of GOP candidates jockeying for their party’s nomination, ranging
from Sen. Lindsey Graham, the ultra hawk, v. Rand Paul, the ultra anti
interventionist. There are no simple answers.
Assuming the
establishment wings of the Republican party manage to quash Paul’s candidacy,
the likely successful GOP candidates will call for more aggressive policies
there.
Recent polls are showing that the US electorate is still
opposed to sending massive troops, but more support a limited increase of boots
on the ground. Expect the GOP to continue to scare the wits out of the American public that ISIS
is a personal threat to their safety, that the US is incapable of stopping
ISIS’ attacks on the homeland, and that they have a solution that will keep us safe.
Opposition to massive re-invasion of Iraq lags in popularity
because many Americans have not
forgotten that the US deployed 2.5
million troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
400,000 of them were deployed three or more times. The Iraq war alone
cost a conservatively estimated $1.7 trillion dollars of taxpayers’ money. As
of April 2014, 6800 US troops had been killed in Iraq.
Where the hawks have an advantage is a message of
simplicity. Send more troops. Never mind
even Graham is only talking about 7,000
special ops and trainers in addition to the 3,000 already there. While
forcefully criticizing Obama’s policies, all he proposes is to increase the
numbers some. Pres. Obama at the G7 summit Monday indicated he had asked the Pentagon for proposals. Perhaps they are not that far apart. Still the question lingers, Would this be a forever intervention with continuing mission creep?
However, the situation in Iraq is not simple. Unlike 2003
there is now a full blown three way civil war to fill a power vacuum
left after the fall of Saddam and the US departure. ISIS threatens the power of the Saudi Royal family that has their own
caliphate founded on similar theology,
yet the Saudis are usually an ally of the US.
There is a full scale
religious civil war in Islam playing out in Iraq between the Sunnis (the Arab Muslims) and the
Shia, the Iranians. The Shia dominated government in Baghdad, closely connected to
Iran by a shared religion, is our ally,
but their Sunni troops that had not already joined ISIS, are not loyal to Shia leadership. Iranian troops are already engaged fighting
ISIS . Simultaneously, the Kurds , our most effective allies, hope
their participation leads to independence, , which no one else involved wants.
So the GOP hawks want
us to get more involved in this mess and train and arm whom? As a friend of
mine says,” How is the everyday Joe supposed to understand this? “ and that is
the advantage the GOP hawks have in beating the war drums.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/4/lindsey-graham-dont-vote-for-me-if-youre-worn-out-/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_media
http://time.com/3912543/barack-obama-isis-strategy/
http://time.com/3912543/barack-obama-isis-strategy/
http://www.costsofwar.org/iraq-10-years-after-invasion
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