Thoughts on ISIS

Yesterday I watched a You Tube video from one of the news outlets.  They video was from a helicopter delivering relief supplies to the people trapped on Mount Sinjar in Iraq.  I don’t know how to include a video in a post so I reposted the videos on facebook. 

The videos are distressing.  The soldiers on the helicopter are tossing food and water out the helicopter doors as people are rushing to get into the helicopter at the same time.  But there is only so much room on the helicopter for people. The soldiers have to resort to physically pushing people off the helicopter skids as they start to go airborne.  Once on board, the refugees at first showed little emotion.  They appear stunned.  Then their emotions flow from them as they realize the have been saved from almost certain death.

And death for the Christians trapped on Mount Sinjar is almost certain unless the international community comes to their aid by defeating ISIS (the Islamic State in Syria). 

ISIS must be defeated.  They are worse than barbarians.  They are the spawn of the devil, beheading children and placing their heads on stakes on roads.  One picture showed a child proudly carrying a severed head of an adult throughout the streets.  ISIS is your worst nightmare come to life.  They have no regard for human life.  It’s as if the gates of hell opened up and these monsters emerged.  The only way to stop them is to obliterate them.  Dialog will be useless.  There can be no peace talks.  Their aim is to establish an Islamic Caliphate based on Sheria law throughout the Middle East, killing or enslaving anyone who disagrees with them.  Once accomplished, they will turn their twisted, evil ideology towards the USA, probably much sooner.

So what kind of strategy does the USA have?  Apparently none.  Our politicians spend time quibbling about whether the decision was right or wrong in pulling the troops out of Iraq.  At this time, who cares?  The policy must be to confront ISIS and defeat them.  Historians will have plenty of time to determine whether that foreign policy decision was correct (my prediction is no).

But this administration seems to have no real strategy or policy other than not putting boos on the ground in Iraq.  Yes, the President approved the delivery of relief supplies to the Yazidis on Mount Sinjar and the Defense Department is looking for a corridor to provide safe passage from the mountain for these people, but it’s not enough.  ISIS continues the genocide, and we send an additional 130 advisors to Iraq. 

There is only one country with the ability to defeat ISIS and that is us.  Waiting for the new Prime Minister of Iraq to form a new government takes time and ISIS will continue their march across Iraq.  Our President believes that once the government has formed, the Sunnis will suddenly throw down their arms and join with the government.  It’s a nice dream but not based on the reality in the field. 

The United States is the only country with the ability to defeat ISIS and it will take boots on the ground.  I realize people are war-weary.  Too many of our soldiers were killed or wounded during the Afghan and Iraq wars, and billions of dollars spent.  What was the point, considering Al-Qaeda and the Taliban appear poised to take control of Afghanistan once we leave, and ISIS now controls a wide swath of Iraq.  But I believe we must act immediately.  Every day we wait, more people die from starvation or at the hands of ISIS.  I don’t understand how the majority of Americans can watch the video from that area and not be moved to assist the people on that mountain or to confront ISIS.  I guess many believe it is just another violent video game.  We’ve become a nation of narcissists, thinking only of ourselves.  I believe we must act now.  President Nixon wrote a book, “No More Vietnams”.  He writes that when you use your military power by deploying troops you must commit to winning.  You can’t just use limited power.  The current air strikes against ISIS may have stopped their advance, but ISIS is savvy enough to change their tactics and will blend in with the civilian population, or at least those civilians they have yet to kill, making it impossible for us to use airpower alone. 

We can’t wait.  The Yazidis can’t wait.  I can only pray that God will find that place in the President’s heart that will move him to lead us to save those desperate people and decimate the ISIS forces.