Storm Paglia is the General Manager of WGMU and MasonVotes Conservative Columnist
ISIS: “Beyond Anything We’ve Seen”
One of the issues at the forefront in the upcoming midterm elections is our current conflict with ISIS (or IS, ISIL, etc). Some would argue that America should stay out of this rapidly expanding conflict, that interference only breeds more radicalism.
If any American actively believes that is a reason to avoid this conflict fully, they are naïve. ISIS poses a threat that is “beyond anything we’ve seen”, says Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, “the sophistication, wealth and military might of Islamic State militants represent a major threat to the United States that may surpass that once posed by al-Qaeda”.
Many other military leaders including the former SecDef and Director of CIA Leon Panetta, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey have spoken in support of American ground forces.
So I sit here and ask myself; when some of our top military leaders are making the previous statements, which should absolutely cause alarm, why is our President refusing to commit a ground force in this conflict yet he is eager to put 4,000 troops in danger in West Africa to combat Ebola.
ISIS is beyond just a terrorist organization, they are idealists with the goal of establishing a religious caliphate state in the Middle East. They have murdered thousands for religious and political reasons during their campaign of terror across Iraq and Syria, and have beheaded multiple American and British prisoners. Lastly, the decisive fact being their stated goal of attacking the United States and Americans at home and around the globe.
So with all of this you may ask, “why continue with a flawed strategy of exclusively airstrikes when a majority of our military leaders suggest we unequivocally need ground forces?”
One word: politics.
President Obama touted the fact that he ended the War in Iraq in every single campaign stump speech he gave during the 2012 campaign, and many are quick to keep him from forgetting. Now he says it “wasn’t his decision to end the War in Iraq” (his exact words in a WH Lawn Press Conference 8/12/14). Well Mr.
President you can’t have your cake, and eat it too. The last thing President Obama wants to do during a hard-fought midterm election is begin another broad ground conflict; something his base would be dissatisfied with, in a time where the President’s approval numbers are at an all time low and Republicans are succeeding in turning the midterm into a Presidential referendum.
That is a broad oversimplification and I urge all to look into this situation much more, but should a President be putting politics ahead of what’s good for the country, as he repeatedly has? Being an informed multi-issue voter is vital to helping our great nation thrive, and candidates’ positions on this issue, along with many others should be influencing your voting selections this November.
Storm Paglia is the General Manager of WGMU and MasonVotes Conservative Columnist
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