This piece is not intended to be wonky or policy driven. It is all about common sense. The reality is that policy wonks have failed America over the last several decades, writing op-eds that are ultimately proven wrong, at best. In the case of some New York Times columnists, they were outright designed to mislead. No one should forget that New York Times' Judith Miller was used as a conduit to mislead during the run-up to the Iraq War.
Doesn't feel right now like 2002 and 2003 all over again? The drumbeat to war is in full vogue, with the traditional media using the same discredited cabal to bolster the case for war. Except for a surprising blip on Fox News where Megyn Kelly seemed to challenge neocons John Bolton and Andrew C McCarthy, the traditional media, true to form, is touting the military industrial complex’s narrative.
America must resist being conned into another war or irresponsible military action. Ask yourself a question: How can 10,000 or so soldiers in pickup trucks with guns welded on flatbeds, along with a few captured American tanks, be a threat to the world order? How would they function to sustain those they oppress without an eventual internal revolt? A contained ISIS can wreak havoc in its immediate vicinity but will die the way epidemics burn themselves out. It will take longer if those in the vicinity capable of resisting the threat do not immediately resist.
Follow below the fold for more.
ISIS is playing to a West that is fearful of a vicious violence, beheadings, and mass executions many have never seen before. ISIS displays these propaganda videos as members threaten attacks on the West, America, and beyond. ISIS has become its own media, using social media as a weapon of fear and and as a method to get the West to engage. It needs the West to engage in order to put out the false narrative of a West predisposed to kill Muslims, providing an existential need for ISIS.
The military-industrial complex and its puppets in the media and Congress play into the game. After all, it is a gain for them both. The military-industrial complex profits from the bombs, military hardware, and service provided. Congress helps by keeping Americans in a state of fear, paralyzed and taking their eyes off the ball, no longer focused on a plutocracy extracting their wealth and squandering their economic future.
Americans must wise up and make it absolutely clear to President Obama and Congress that ISIS is not an existential threat to this country. Instead of spending billions over there, spend it over here. Improve our security. Rebuild our infrastructure. Invest in America's human capital.
Those who believe this is naive should remember one thing: It doesn't matter how many terrorists we kill over there. We cannot kill them all. And any number, irrespective of a war over there, can hurt us over here.
Additionally terrorism from within—right-wing groups and American militias—are likely a bigger threat than ISIS. The largest act of terror against America before 9/11 was perpetuated by a right-winger, Timothy McVeigh, who detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. American taxpayer dollars are best spent over here on security and on improving our economy.
Remember the following: Osama Bin Laden was responsible for killing 2,996 Americans and residents in the 9/11 attacks. America's reaction to that horrific act led to the deaths so far of 5,281 American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, up to and likely more than 1,033,000 innocent civilians died in Iraq, and north of 18,000 died in Afghanistan. It does not take rocket science to understand that America can never win the game of proportions because we have unlimited killing potential. There is a better way, and the president must be given the latitude to pursue it.
The excerpts from one of David Gregory's last Meet The Press segments on ISIS in the video above should be watched over and over again. The sensible narrative from Dick Durbin and the other panelists should be played every time neocons and their proteges in the traditional media and Congress attempt to drive America, once again, into war.