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"Defense Spending the Top Priority, Critics Fear”:
Image: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t;
Adapted: Staff Sgt. Liesl Marelli /
DVIDSHUB, designshard)
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Dennis Kucinich’s perspective
on the ISIS threat, the hysteria it has created, and why we are bombing Iraq and Syria is
something we should not ignore.
In August, President Obama ordered “boots on the ground” in
Iraq to protect U.S. assets from ISIS attacks, and initiated airstrikes against
ISIS targets in support of Iraqi troops.
In September, the President ordered bombing and cruise
missile attacks on ISIS targets inside Syria to reign in their ability to conduct
over the border attacks on Iraqi forces. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab
Emirates, Qatar, and Jordan joined in the airstrikes.
On September 23, an Israel Patriot missile shot down a Syrian fighter. Syria condemned Israel’s action,
describing it as an act of aggression and linked it to US-led air strikes
against ISIS in Syria.
Turkey is now
on the brink of joining the fight.
All of which
can potentially expand the ISIS-Syria-Iraq conflict into a region-wide war.
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ARABIAN GULF (Sept. 23, 2014)
An F/A-18C Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA)
87,
prepares to launch from the flight deck
of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77)
to conduct strike missions against ISIL targets.
(DoD: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication
Specialist 3rd
Class Robert Burck)
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Here are some
takeaways from Kucinich’s article, “The
Real Reason We Are Bombing Syria.”
There wouldn’t
be ISIS if it were not for the 2003 Iraq war and our “covert action in Syria.”
The funding of
groups that repeatedly turn on the U.S is an “illustration” of Obama’s failed foreign
policy.
“What a
coincidence for war-profiteering [politicians] and the war industry, which has
seen its stock rise since [the] congressional vote [on September 17] to fund
the rapid expansion of war.”
“To sell its
case, the administration [the main stream media, Congress as well] is borrowing
from the fear mongering tactics of the Bush administration. ISIS poses no
direct, immediate threat to the United States … yet we are being sold
make-believe about ISIS sleeper cells.”
If you listen to Obama and our political leaders from both
sides of the aisle, you might think that ISIS terrorist are hiding in every
neighborhood just waiting to obliterate you and the United States.
That ISIS
hysteria has now led us into our third Iraq war that most likely will be as
long as the last. If you think you have heard all the scary rhetoric before,
you have. The rationale and rhetoric are essentially the same:
Diane Feinstein (D-CA) says, “The threat ISIS poses cannot
be overstated.”
Jim Inhofe (R-OK) says, ISIS is “… rapidly
developing a method of blowing up a major U.S. city.” “We’re in the most
dangerous position we’ve ever been in as a nation.”
Bill Nelson (D-FL) says, “This is a terrorist group the
likes of which we haven’t seen before, and we better stop them now.” “It ought
to be pretty clear when they start cutting off the heads of journalists and say
they’re going to fly the black flag of ISIS over the White House that ISIS is a
clear and present danger.”
Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says, “This is a turning point in the
war on terror. This president needs to rise to the occasion before we all get
killed back here at home.”
Michele Bachmann (R-MN) says, “We haven’t seen anything like
this since Hitler and the blitzkrieg in World War II.”
And there’s
the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, who said,
“This is going to be a persistent and sustained campaign. And it will take
time.”
It has been
thirteen years since the last time we heard that very same rhetoric and we’re still
in Afghanistan. Our combat mission there is supposedly winding down with
withdrawal scheduled by the end of 2014. It seems it will be just in time to
increase the number of “boots on the ground” in Iraq.
The only winners over the last thirteen years and in
perpetuity are all those who profit from war.
Copyright © 2014 Horatio Green
