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Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr
I think that although a lot of people would like to see some kind of action being taken, many are tired of war and are afraid of seeing "boots on the ground" again.
The president has said that the boots on the ground option is off the table. I don't know that he'll be able to keep that promise. But, like his predecessor said, this is a different kind of war. Things will go on every day that the American public will not know about. It will be a war of covert operations and intelligence, more so than any war in the past.
We have a bit of a dichotomy here in that much of the American public doesn't want to see us in another Iraq situation, but they would also feel better if they could see something happening. That "something happening" however, would include video of body bags of American soldiers on the news every night. (We know how much the news media loves to show that.)
The way this war is being waged, (I hope) will not be visible to us. So we will be left with this uncomfortable feeling that nothing is being done.
Neither one of these options makes the American public comfortable.
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There’s no doubt that all of us are sick of the Middle East, Radical Islam and the whole rotten bunch. No one wants their kids or grandkids to go to war, nor does anyone relish the thought of body counts. No one wants American boots on the ground. I think this is a normal reaction and actually classically American … big oceans, no one can invade us, let’s just live in our isolationist bubble and call it a day.
The problem is what’s it’s always been … there is evil in the world. Whether one is religious or not, it’s just the way the world is and has always been. Evil uncontested will continue to expand, especially if and when it senses weakness … which is the case today by the way. Evil is analogous to a cancerous growth. What usually happens is we avoid the inevitable until it becomes too big (Lusitania, Pearl Harbor, invasion of Kuwait, etc) to ignore anymore and we’re forced to take action. Those who perpetrate evil (Hitler, al-Baghdadi, etc) keep at it until crushed. Not negotiated or managed … crushed as in killed. Just because we think we are not at war, or because we don’t want to be at war, does not mean we can avoid war. ISIS is at war with America whether we like it or want it .. .it doesn’t matter.
As far as clandestine efforts in the war, I certainly support that, and know for a fact it is going on with good effect. But, when all is said and done, it takes Presidential leadership and congressional support to state the objective – plainly and openly --, create a strategy and then persevere until victory occurs, and provide the resources need to win. Think WWII or Gulf War 1991. Regretfully, it will most likely take American troops at some point IMHO.
A final point … there is no excuse for not having a strategy by this point. Strategies will usually evolve which is fine. The intel community has known about ISIS for several years and senior policymakers get briefed on it every day. ISIS is NOT a new development … it just started getting public press when they overran Mosul in June of this year.