If you asked John McCain what he wants in his coffee, I believe he’d answer “US troops”. Senator McCain is the worst stereotypical Republican war hawk. Every time he’s asked about a foreign policy issue, his only solution is to put US boots on the ground. <\/p>\n
While I’m not convinced that the president’s strategy against ISIS (whatever it is) has much chance of succeeding, but, this is what I’ll say in the president’s favor; the Iraqis, the Kurds, the Iranians and the Jordanians are much better suited to defeating the Islamic State than our forces. Not that they’re better trained or better equipped, but because they won’t be restricted by rules of engagement like our troops would be hamstrung. <\/p>\n
The regional forces will kill the enemy without wringing their hands about how it will be viewed by the international press. They won’t be considering the score of lawyers’ opinions, they probably won’t have to deal with prisoner treatment issues, because I don’t expect there be too many survivors.<\/p>\n
I cringe every time I see someone in the media interviewing McCain because I know what he’s going to say. In my opinion, we should give the president an opportunity to make his plan work without putting US troops in jeopardy. Let the Iraqis fight for themselves for a change. Let the Jordanians behead a few Islamic State warriors. Let the Kurds expend as much ammo as we can afford. I’m not crazy about allying ourselves with Iran, but a couple of those suicide assaults they used against the Iraqis in their war would thin the herd at ISIS. <\/p>\n
We can blame the President for letting the ISIS thing happen in the first place, but I’m all for sitting back and watching the regional forces beat the crap out of each other for a change without American troops being placed in imminent danger. Then we can reap the whirlwind. It’s the Arab-speaking world’s problem anyway – let them deal with it.<\/p>\n