Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Historic Cluelessness


                A “senior administration official,” in a briefing posted on the official  White House website, “explained” why Saudi Arabia would be a logical ally in fighting ISIS/ISIL by stating that “Saudi Arabia has an extensive border with Syria.”

                 By closer inspection/more research/looking at a globe  this official would discover that, in fact, they share no border whatsoever and indeed are separated by Iraq and Jordan.

                This doesn’t instill great confidence in those currently manning the helm at the outset of hostilities with this/these new Islamic terror groups. Add to that  the fact that the  mission is uncertain, with ill-defined objectives on a fungible timetable with ambiguous, nebulous methods and unreliable,  allies;  all of this “supported”  by unclear, vacillating rhetoric.

                And yet…we still need to do this.

                I read an article by a New York Times columnist recently in which he stated that while he agreed in principle with airstrikes in Syria “if done cautiously and in conjunction with air forces of Sunni allies…we can’t want to defeat the Islamic State more than the countries in its path, and right now we do.”

                Wow. So, on December 8th, 1941 would he have said something similar? That “I agree in principle to striking back against the Empire of Japan, if done cautiously and in conjunction with other  Pacific Rim allies, but we can’t want to defeat Japan more than the countries in its path.”

                That’s just blatant nonsense. Should we have consulted with the Philippines and tried to gauge how much they wanted to defeat Japan? China? If they didn’t “want to” as much as we did, should we have just dropped the whole thing? They were incapable of facing Japan alone, at any rate. And remember we, today, have already been attacked-repeatedly- by various Islamist extremist groups.
               Calling a Ronald Reagan or a George H.W. Bush.
               Anyone?

               

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