There are those moments in life when a mulligan would seem appropriate. On the first tee, with three anxious foursomes watching and waiting, with a big swing you hit a dribbler down the middle of the fairway at least eighty yards. In our rule book of fair play, a mulligan, a do over is required of any respectable golfer caught in this situation. In life most of us have made decisions, life changing decisions at pivotal moments that are worthy of such a mulligan but life rarely gives mulligans. Because life is so ordered, the hindsight that the years force upon us make “what if” fantasies a part of our old age. For this old man it is and was baseball.
Here we are, America in 2014 and we have been told that the threat of radical Muslim terrorism has been put behind us so we Americans can relax. As sure as shooting, up pops ISIS. We can trace their rise to power and attempt to assign blame but the big question remains, what will America do now? Are we going to live in the fantasy land of denial until the killing bits us in the ass here at home? Some of our leaders point to the polls that tell us that the American people are tired of war, tired of paying for a war and tired of sacrificing the best of us on the battle field. These emotions from the people are real and grievously justified.
Hillary Clinton has now questioned the foreign policy of the Obama administration for a lack of guiding principles, their only foreign policy seems to be, at least in her own words, “don’t do stupid stuff”. What she fails to mention is that as Secretary of State, “the don’t do stupid stuff” was all hers and it lead to the terrorist killing of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya. Hillary’s responsibility in this affair does not change the fact that the Bush administration did lots of stupid stuff by going to war as it did in Iraq. The Democrats fault President Bush for leading us into a ground war in Iraq but what they fail to mention is that many Democrats also voted for the war and President Bush at least took the war issue to Congress. Few politicians are squeaky clean on the war..
The war was not stupid but an appropriate response to the twin towers killing of Americans. We were attacked and we are not cowards. Why Iraq? We can second guess the choice but the biggest moments of human history have happened in this land. The stupid part is how we fought the war and the stupid assumptions that made the war so costly. The first incorrect assumption was that the occupation would be a short term venture that could be effectively managed from half way around the world. The second assumption was that a taste of democracy would be embraced by cultures who had been killing each other for a thousand years. Finally, we assumed that the gifting of blood and treasure would instill loyalty and respect for we the American benefactors.
Understanding the many failures of the past, what about ISIS? They just beheaded a journalist for the world to see, they have murdered thousands Christians and are on the march to Baghdad. We were not cowards in 2001, are we cowards now, can this Muslim religious menace be managed or must it be sanitized from the face of the earth? The vacuum we have created by leaving the mid-east has left our friends Jordan, Turkey and Israel vulnerable. There will be no mercy. Strategically, our presence in Iraq for the long term will bring stability and be a buffer against Iran. America .....it is time for an Iraqi mulligan, ISIS has called us out and we have no choice but to fight smart this time. Fighting smart might look something like this:
1. Insist on a twenty to thirty year status of forces agreement with the government of Iraq. 2. All oil revenues are to be distributed through our consulate with a large percentage of these revenues to be repatriated to America. 3. Forge a new alliance of countries in and out of the Arab world to help pay the cost of the war and our safety zone. 4. Establish a protectorate around the largest airbase in the country for the air campaign against ISIS and the training of Iraqi troops. 5. Direct combat against ISIS would involve some American boots on the ground but the Iraqi army must carry the fight. 6. The Iraqi government will continue with their democratic experiment but with an advisory role on national security matters.
Will the above principles work? If these conditions are rejected by Iraq, then we are not responsible for the future of the country. That is their choice but we will not be made fools of again.
G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca
