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After our disastrous invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation, Iraq, and after the now-longest war in American history — the Afghanistan War — there is naturally a great reluctance on the part of Americans to get involved in any more military entanglements, especially in the Middle East.
Then along comes a band of thugs — very well trained, organized, capable, motivated and supported thugs, many say — who, with amazing speed and efficiency, overrun vast amounts of territory, commit unspeakable atrocities and scare the bejesus out of everybody, in and outside the region.
But even in the face of such a genocide, it is understandable that reasonable Americans would have a thousand reasons for not “getting involved” in what some call just another result of centuries-old “authoritarian rule, sectarian obscurantism and civil strife among tribes, sheikdoms, factions and rulers from Syria to Iraq…”
Yet, strangely enough, there are some Americans — not all belonging to the “screeching war hawks crowd” or to “the right-wing media machine” — who would like to see the U.S. and its allies in Europe and in the Middle East, through humanitarian aid and the judicious use of military force, stop or at least slow down the inexorable campaign of mass murder, rape, looting and sheer evil.
And it is not all because of compassion, selflessness and bleeding-heart syndrome. Some — including governments — are genuinely concerned that if ISIS is left alone, its militants will eventually pose a serious, unacceptable threat to the homelands.
The United Kingdom — not inhabited by warmongers or fear mongers — recently raised the terror level threat to “severe” from “substantial” and is considering other measures in response to the perceived threat from ISIS militants.
Secretary of State John Kerry — definitely not a warmonger and, I believe, not a fear monger — has also warned that “ ISIS’ cadre of foreign fighters are a rising threat not just in the region, but anywhere they could manage to travel undetected — including to America.” Other American political leaders, Republicans and Democrats, have expressed similar concerns.
Sadly, such valid concerns are perhaps devalued and overshadowed by what columnist Charles Blow refers to as “the tremendous political pressure coming from the screeching of war hawks and an anxious and frightened public, weighted most heavily among Republicans and exacerbated by the right-wing media machine.”
In his New York Times opinion piece, Blow points to a Pew Research Center report issued last week that finds:
Following the beheading of American journalist James Foley, two-thirds of the public (67%) cite ISIS as a major threat to the U.S. About two-in-ten (21%) name the Islamic militant group in Iraq and Syria as a “minor threat” and just 5% say it is not a threat.
Blow contrasts these results to a July Pew Research Center report which found “that most Americans thought the United States didn’t have a responsibility to respond to the violence in Iraq” and he infers from this trend, “…the disturbing reality is that the scare tactics are working.”
Absent in Blow’s discussion — and in the treatises of others — is the fact that the humanitarian actions and specific and measured military actions by the United States, recently joined by its allies, have produced tangible results: The protection of Erbil; the rescue of tens of thousands of innocents languishing, dying, on a mountain top; the seizure and protection of immensely strategic Mosul Dam; the breaking of the siege of Amerli and saving and liberating its residents.
As more nations join in the struggle to stop ISIS and as we sensibly whittle down the thousand reasons for not “getting involved” in the Middle East, we may still see a successful outcome.
Of course there are many and significant risks and we may suffer setbacks, but if we sit on our hands the risks may be even greater and the setbacks even more catastrophic.
If this is warmongering and fear mongering, then so be it.
Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.
~ Benjamin Disraeli.
Image: www.shutterstock.com
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.