There are very evil people in this world. However, that doesn’t mean that America always needs to be the hero. If the U.S. wanted to be a real hero, it could take about half of its almost $800 million defense budget and put it towards fixing things here, like getting rid of Justin Bieber.
ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) is a group made entirely of those aforementioned evil people, and it takes it to a new level. Beheading, hostile takeovers, even complaining until KFC takes its expired coupons— it’s all in the name of re-establishing Iraq as Sunni caliphate.
ISIS’ exploits have been making headlines, mostly for the group’s gruesome enforcement tactics. But given the public’s tendency to run around like headless chickens whenever someone says fire, what’s really dominating the news is what exactly President Obama plans to do about these ruffians.
In an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd (c’mon, he has two first names!) on Monday, the President said the strategy is: “We are going to systematically degrade their capabilities. We’re going to shrink the territory that they control. And that’s how we’re going to defeat them.” No boots, no tanks, all cost effective. I’m not terribly familiar with his work, but I’m sure Sun Tzu would be proud.
But does he even need to do anything? Is it our job to be the world police? The short answer is no, and here is the long explanation: what is going on in the Middle East, and in the minds of ISIS members, has been going on since before Ben Franklin’s great-grandpappy was even a thing.
ISIS end directive is purely for religious reasons. Period. Sunni jihadists have been trying to establish their own state before Columbus was calling Native Americans the wrong thing. It was never our business, it never will be our business, and we shouldn’t try to make it our business.
In that same interview with Todd, Obama went on to say that there is currently “no data” suggesting ISIS is targeting America. Nor could it. But we like to think America is the Holy Grail of places, and that everyone just wants to get us.
Sure, we embody everything anti-Western extremists hate, but if they were to come after us based on our ideals, then the whole world would be on their radar. These men do what they do because of their warped views on Islam, and it’s a view very little of the world embraces. Pretty much everyone — including “threats” like China and Russia — want nothing to do with ISIS, and ISIS nothing to do with them. If they were to try and set up a caliphate outside of Iraq (or supporting nations like Syria), they would have the entire United Nations to go through, and the U.N. has labeled ISIS as a terrorist group.
Even if ISIS wanted world domination, it couldn’t have it. The peak of its technology is most likely nothing but a few ground missiles. These are tinker toys compared to even what a country like Israel has. Some may throw out the recent discovery that ISIS has a net worth of $2 billion, but there’s little legitimacy to those claims.
However, the pundits at Fox News support a “go inside” technique. Some, like “Fox & Friends” Steve Doocy have described ISIS as “unstoppable”. This spreads nothing but fear, irrationality, and displays nothing but cowardice. If America were to show force, it would say that we freak out at any sign of an unfriendly shadow, and promptly shoot it with a machine gun. And please, the only “unstoppable” force is Michael Bay, and we’ve accepted it.
Yes, ISIS is an evil group, but if its plans didn’t involve possible genocide, then we would have no reason to intervene. But, seeing as how we are, Obama’s plans are a perfect response. It incorporates strategy, intel, and — unlike Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq —it won’t spread Muslim hate. So have faith, America, there’s no reason to freak out. And hey, if we don’t get them, the camel spiders will.
