BOENHER IS WRONG

A thoughtful President Obama gave his “ISIL” speech with a great deal of success; however, I am afraid that many people fail to see the deep wisdom in what he said about our response to Islamic fundamentalism. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Boehner completely failed to understand what the President said:  Boehner’s statement reads as follows:

“It is also a cause for concern that the president appears to view the effort against ISIL as an isolated counterterrorism campaign, rather than as what it must be: an all-out effort to destroy an enemy that has declared a holy war against America and the principles for which we stand”. - See more at: http://www.speaker.gov/press-release/boehner-destroying-terrorist-threat-requires-decisive-action#sthash.UpGIm8DJ.dpuf

He makes clear the errors of his thinking when he declared we must make an all out effort to “destroy the enemy”. This group waging terrorist activity in Iraq and Syria is the visible “head of the snake” that wants to start an all out war with the Christian World and our leader in the House of Representatives is willing to oblige them. He made this narrow-minded statement just after hearing the president correctly explain this group is not Islam but a narrowly focused radical group. Although they do not represent the sect, they arise mainly from one sect. ISIL is focused on fighting another Islamic sect, not just the few Christians, or other minor groups, found in that country, which the President recognized but Speaker Boehner did not.

This group is drawing fighters from all over the Muslim world, which means that the only way they can get enough people to form the formidable force is, is by recruiting them. Everyone knows radicals are not unique to one sect or another. In addition, we are aware some people in the occupied villages and areas are supporting the radicals. There is no way to knowing how many people voice their support out of fear or are truly ideological supporters—radicals driven by ideology. In fact, they are recruiting people in the United States as fighters, who we assume include Muslim converts from Christianity. There are people with personalities who see glory in killing people; these are the “tough guy want-to-be” with the assault rifles. They are the ones who join militias, and become “soldiers of fortune”. Still, the estimates are that there are only around 10 to 17 thousands active fighters.

This morning, the anniversary of that horrible day, I listened to Tom Brokhow, NBC announcer, in a recount of his coverage of the attacks on the World Trade centers 9/11/01. Like Boehner he declared, “This is war!” Like-wise, George W. Bush declared a “war on terrorism” transforming the attack on the 9/11. No one could define what he and his advisors meant by that statement. After many years of stumbling and fumbling in Iraq and Afghanistan, and indeed in the entire world, the United States knowingly widened the scope of the response. Admirals and Generals were quick to respond by expanding the Pentagon budget to create huge fleets and armies and the military industrial complex was stimulated to start talking to congress, which is precisely what Boehner is implying we do again in response to ISIL. He seems oblivious of the fact that ISIL is a product of the failure on the “war on terror”.

President Obama recognizes the conflict for what it is. Accordingly, some time ago, he had formulated a response aimed at forcing the Iraqi people to form a multi sect government to fight these radicals. Our State Department helped them form that government; once that government was in place, the President is prepared to act in support of that government. Our president also is moving to garner support from governments around the world: although not much is required for the response, Obama has formulated in terms of both moral and economic support. Rather than agreeing to join the fight against ISIL, characteristically, those government, our so-called friends, responded by dragging their feet while negotiating for some economic or geo-political advantage. In addition, it is my opinion that those governments are reluctant to join us for fear of the Boehner logic.

 Our country has to live down the shame of past Untied States foreign policy and especially the Dick Cheney era goal of making the world subservient to United States wishes through fear. Obama is a leader aimed at making the United States respected and not feared. He wants to drag the world out of the crusade era and into the 21^st century. Conservatives don’t like that; they seem to want a massive war to end all wars; all Christian fighting all Muslims. Read the right wing press; “When all the rag heads are dead then we will have peace”. No. No, No, what we need is 330,000,000 Americans to convince 1.2 billion Muslims by example that the only way to survive is to separate church and state and that is what we are doing. 

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