Republicans,
Obama and ISIS
By Ann Werner
If
you will recall, back in 2011, Republicans were outraged that President Obama was actually
abiding by the agreement made by his predecessor and bringing the last of the
American troops home.
Remember
just over a year ago when Republicans were happy to side
with the president about
bombing Syria? Senator John McCain was almost giddy at the prospect.
But
now, when the president is asking Congress to vote on giving him the power to
do what they have long been wanting him to do – go back to Iraq and into Syria
so he can bomb ISIS terrorists into eternity – well, they aren’t so up for
doing their job.
On
the one hand, Republicans are doing what they do best: fear mongering. To
listen to some of them, ISIS is on the march and is likely to make an
appearance at your next town picnic. Who knows? Maybe members of ISIS will
launch a real war against Christmas and behead the baby Jesus statue in the
town square.
Never
mind that ISIS poses a more serious threat to those poor souls who reside in
the region and are being systematically tortured and slaughtered by a bunch of
extremists whose goal is the Islamification of the entire world, even though
their brand of Islam is perverted and rejected even by the likes of Al Qaeda.
On
the other hand, our Republican legislators don’t want to actually vote on
whether or not we should provide airstrikes, citing the president’s authority
to do so anyway under the war powers granted to George W. Bush following the
events of 9/11.
A
reading of those authorizations shows that they were particular to those events
and to fighting Al Qaeda, not ISIS, but who’s quibbling when there’s an
opportunity to bag on the president?
Also,
as our illustrious Speaker of the House has pointed out, the president hasn’t sent him a
written memo requesting
authorization. Never mind that the president has publicly asked Congress to
act. Gotta have that memo!
Of
course, if Obama does nothing, he’s weak. If he does something, he’s a dictator
who should be impeached. And meanwhile, Congress is abdicating its responsibility
to vote on matters of national security because they just don’t want to do
anything that might muck up their chances in the upcoming midterm elections.
A
lot of people have a lot of opinions where ISIS is concerned. It’s a real can
of worms; a Pandora’s box that was opened when the Bush administration decided
to remake the Middle East in order to plunder the resources of the region.
Now
we have to deal with the resulting chaos and nobody really knows what to do. So
when the president takes a measured stance and approaches those in the region
who have the most to lose, all we hear is squawking from the right.
As
for me, I agree with the Democrats in Congress who are saying that the
president needs Congress to grant him the powers – or not – to deal with ISIS.
Our tax dollars pay these people to take up the hard issues. Instead of
posturing, I, for one, would like to see them actually do their job! But I’m
not holding my breath.
Ann Werner is a blogger
and the author of Cooper’s
Grove, CRAZY, Dreams and Nightmares
