Inkwell Institute

Middle East Desk

The whole world is up in arms because of the brutality of IS……every nation has it opinion and its talking points……….but most of it is talk….it is what the nations do these days….they talk and demand and then wait for someone to step forward to take control of the situation……and as usual the good old US of A has decided that it must take the lead.

I guess it is only fair that we have to handle the situation after all we are mostly responsible for the events occurring these days……even a GOP member of Congress is saying the obvious…….

Republican Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina said if we had not invaded Iraq in 2003 there would not currently be chaos in Iraq.

“I think today with the sadness of what’s happening in Iraq, that if we had not removed Saddam Hussein — who was an evil man — we would not have the chaos we have now,” Jones said at Liberty Torch PAC dinner in August.

Jones, who has been an outlier on a number of Republican positions, many of them in foreign policy matters, also faulted Obama for bombing Libya, said, “We have created many of our foreign problems today by bad foreign policy.”

First of all it is scary that I would agree with anything someone in the GOP would have to say…..but in this case I believe the man is right.  And then there is Ron Paul, I guess most would catagorize him as an isolationist but he recently asked some questions that I think Americans need to ask themselves and their reps……..

1) Is ISIS a threat to Americans?

Politicians such as Senator Lindsey Graham have claimed that ISIS is an existential threat to the United States saying, “I think of an American city in flames because of the terrorists’ ability to operate in Syria and Iraq.” This has the ring of fear-mongering more than an honest assessment of reality. The president’s top military adviser, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, has said that he has not seen any evidence of “active plotting against the homeland” by ISIS.

2) Is the bombing really for humanitarian purposes?

This is a regularly used justification for military intervention given by politicians. In the current crisis, the US has stated that entire minority communities – from Christians to the little known religious sect the Yazidis – face certain extinction without US bombing and perhaps even ground forces.

3) Are “limited airstrikes” likely to escalate into something more?

The act of one country bombing another is an act of war. Thus, the US has quietly begun the third installment of the Iraq War. From here, escalation seems inevitable. There has already been “mission creep”—shifting objectives that expand and prolong the conflict. There are sure to be unintended consequences that simply cannot be foreseen from Washington D.C., which will make even more involvement necessary. Expansion of the war into neighboring Syria, which the US government has long wanted, is also likely.

4) What is the alternative?

In a word, the alternative is nonintervention. US policies of invasion, occupation, overthrowing leaders and arming rebels led to the conditions in which a group like ISIS can arise and thrive. The current bombing campaign boosts recruitment, solidifies support and further motivates ISIS. The US should not continue to double down on failed policies.

Before anyone has a stroke…I am NOT agreeing with Ron Paul….just saying these are good questions that need good answers.

Recently at a NATO meeting the prez was working the crowd looking for others to join in the ‘crusade’ against ISIS…….as written by Jason Ditz in Antiwar.com…….

The long-term diplomatic effort, along with the lack of any serious strategy that could conceivably “win” the war, means that the weeks of steady escalation we’ve already seen of the war are going to be continued over the very long term.

The plan to build a “moderate” rebel alternative to ISIS in Syria, which the US has been trying, and failing, to pull off for years, is going to be pushed on for years longer, while the US builds up its involvement in the war on the Iraqi side, and eventually gives up on the futile effort to manufacture a pro-US Syria faction and expands the war outright into Syria.

Basically all indications are the we are looking at yet another long, protracted war with No end in sight and with NO stated goals other than…….ISIS BAD!

Our biggest problem is that we are searching for a quick fix to make this all go away and we can move on……..sorry, there is NO quick fix.

Does anyone see a different scenario playing out?