Bombing Iraq yet again

After years of war, heartbreak, protest, death, devastation and horror, President Obama has authorized yet another bombing campaign in Iraq, this time against ISIS forces. To top it off, if airstrikes weren’t enough, 500 more U.S. troops are slated to be deployed to Iraq. Once again, boots will be on the ground to fix our mess that started out with boots and bombs in the first place.
Where did ISIS come from? A year ago, nobody had heard of them and insurgent forces in the Middle East were a bunch of uncoordinated armies. While the mainstream media is quick to spread fear about a renewed terrorist threat against the US, focusing on their discipline, funding and coordination. It is ignored, however, that ISIS’s existence is a direct consequence of American foreign policy.
It’s an old saying that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” but when that friend is an enemy somewhere else, it’s a terrible idea to treat them as a friend. Case in point. Before they called themselves ISIS; they were better known as “al-Qaeda in Iraq,” the insurgent forces opposing American occupation. They didn’t stay in Iraq, however, and got involved in the Syrian Civil War, against a president in power that the US disliked.
Cue John McCain. In May of 2013, Senator McCain traveled to Syria to meet with opposition forces there – the al-Qaeda forces that are acknowledged by all as wanting to destroy the U.S. So, as par for the course, the U.S. pledged supplies and training to the insurgents so they could fight their noble battle for freedom. Not surprisingly, they steamrolled across Syria, turning the country into a chaotic destroyed wasteland. Carrying the momentum, training, weapons and spoils of war, ISIS found themselves stronger than ever and did what any armed group would do – go for the next target. That target? The U.S.-supported government in Iraq.
Another old saying is “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The lessons of Osama bin Laden whose freedom fighters in a jihad against Soviet forces are fresh in our minds, yet our most powerful leaders keep right on doing the same old song and dance, expecting things to get better. American intervention, supporting rebel groups in a bid to gain favor and influence across the globe has never worked. Blowback has always bitten us in the ass and the sheer cost that our mistakes have racked up is impossible to ignore.
So yet again, we are going to war in Iraq. Boots will hit the sand, and lives will be uselessly wasted in an unwinnable conflict. It is a true hollow victory, no matter how things turn out, there will always be some faction that hates the fact that the U.S. helped the opposing faction in power. Peace can never be obtained through more bombs and more troops.
Obama’s promises of change, of ending the wars, of moving forward all ring hollow now. It’s business as usual in Washington DC, and business is apparently having one’s head so far up one’s rear that giving weapons and supplies to our enemies is a good idea.
Where is the protest, the outcry? In 2004, when Operation Iraqi Freedom began, anti-war protests were everywhere. As this evil Republican president who wasn’t even fairly elected sent the country off to war, calls to impeach him were loud. Huge marches and outcry were commonplace. Now, only the crickets chirp.
As Obama, the “killingest, drone-strikingest, Nobel Peace Prize winningest leader ever” continues the unending fugue of fighting and violence in an attempt to solve the consequences of fighting and violence, the anti-war left truly has left.