I read with interest Brian Heard’s letter “fighting to win.” I believe in American potential, but not American exceptionalism. I was taught God created all men equal; therefore I don’t believe any country or it’s people are exceptional relative to another. Nor do I believe any country deserves an exemption from obligations of international law or United Nations resolutions.
True, some of our ideals are noble, but they are balanced by well-documented cases proving the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Vietnam, Iraq, and Libya are examples.
Yes, our “new enemy” ISIS has televised beheadings and mass executions. It’s also true our government wants the public to see those images for manipulative reasons. Mr. Heard may not know Saudi Arabia also beheads many people every year — in fact more than ISIS — but our government makes sure we don’t hear about that because Saudi Arabia is an ally.
I agree war cannot be lukewarm or half-done. If war is upon us, we must demand a declaration of war from Congress. Further, in order to properly fight and win this war, we must invoke a nation-wide military draft. Those are consequences of making this a war.
President Barack Obama was elected in 2008 on a promise to change the direction of our government, but he has not changed course. Instead, Obama has accelerated the Bush Administration’s regime change agenda for Arab states in the Middle East.
After observing events that happened since Obama assumed office, I’ve concluded he is responsible for much of the violence, terrorism and suffering in the Mideast. Please understand: I don’t mean Obama is responsible because he failed to act quickly enough to stop terrorism. I mean the opposite.
The public is generally unaware, but it’s been reported the USA conspired with Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey to destabilize and overthrow Libya and Syria (and probably Ukraine and Yemen). Implementing what he calls “soft power,” Obama used the CIA to destabilize legitimate governments of Arab states by funding and supporting radical Islamic militants to start civil wars. They were intended to be our proxy army, but one of these groups became ISIS.
Obama uses the wars as a pretext to justify military intervention to topple the targeted governments using the disingenuous excuse that he is “acting to protect civilians,” The truth is Obama’s support for destabilization tactics and proxy militias that started the wars is the underlying cause of most civilian casualties.
U.S. proxies or ISIS have attacked, destabilized or toppled almost every state in the region except Israel. Obama insists ISIS cannot be defeated unless Syrian President Assad is removed. Therefore bad things will happen to other people until Obama’s demand for Assad’s removal is met. That’s a threat. There’s no logical basis for this position.
Instead, I think Obama wants Assad removed for the same reason he removed Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Something crooked is going on.
My advice: Trust no one. Don’t believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see.
Bruce Vandiver
Lula
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