IRAQ IS ON ITS OWN!

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the
great task remaining before us -- that from
these honored dead we take increased
devotion to that cause for which they gave the
last full measure of devotion -- that we here
highly resolve that these dead shall not have
died in vain..." (The Gettysburg Address)
No life is more wasted than one lost in vain.
After the U.S. military battled heroically to
liberate Iraq from Saddam Hussein's
dictatorship and to eliminate the possibility
that it might become a staging area for
terrorist attacks, the Obama administration
has created a vacuum now being filled by the
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an al-
Qaida affiliate, which has overrun Mosul and
Fallujah, cities liberated by American
soldiers. ISIS now threatens Baghdad.
The administration's nonpolicy policy
proclaiming the war over, has given ISIS a
green light to establish another terrorist state
in the Middle East. Following the withdrawal
of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, al-Qaida will
likely have two states from which it can plan
and execute new assaults on America, Israel,
Britain and other "infidel" nations. Having
declared the war(s) over and al-Qaida "on the
run," President Obama responds with empty
rhetoric about his national security team
studying what to do, then leaves for a trip
that will end on a golf course in Palm
Springs.
Vice President Biden once called Iraq one of
the president's "great achievements."
On Friday, the president announced the U.S.
would not send military forces back to Iraq
unless the Iraqi government finds a way to
bridge sectarian differences. Even then, he
suggested, military power alone won't bring
stability to the country. Basically, the
president said, "Iraq, you're on your own."
Imagine what the families of dead and
wounded U.S. soldiers think about the sudden
resurgence of al-Qaida in Iraq. They were
told their sons and daughters died in a noble
cause. According to "The Costs of War
Project" at Brown University's Watson
Institute for International Studies, "The wars
begun in 2001 have been tremendously
painful for millions of people ... each
additional month and year of war adds to
that toll." The Rock River Times writes,
"Coalition deaths in Iraq totaled more than
4,700, with the United States sustaining more
than 4,480 deaths through the Iraq War's
official end Dec. 15, 2011. More than 32,000
other U.S. troops were wounded in Iraq,
while more than 134,000 Iraqi civilians were
killed during the course of the official war."
The monetary cost is in the trillions of
dollars. Are we now saying, "Never mind"?
The U.S. has no serious counterintelligence
operation in Iraq, because it refuses to
perceive a commensurate threat from a
global enemy or to see the deadly purpose
and scope of this enemy. It does not
appreciate the scale of the upheaval among
the world's 1.3 to 1.6 billion Muslims, and
the money, motives, power and near-total
information control held by the Islamists who
are committed to the destruction of their
enemies and the subordination, forced
conversion and re-education of those they
allow to live. The jihadists in Iraq recently
looted $429 million from Mosul's central
bank, according to the regional governor,
making them possibly the richest terrorist
group ever.
Our focus under this administration is
unimaginatively constrained largely to the
Middle East, but the growing threat of Islamic
terrorism is not just there. The Islamist
infiltration of schools in Birmingham,
England, is an example for what is to come
there and in the U.S. if they are not stopped.
The administration and much of the media
try to separate "fanatical Muslims" from
"peaceful" ones, but the distinction is
meaningless when the fanatics have the
weapons and are willing to die for their
cause.
This war for the future of the planet is not
over and is unlikely to be for generations to
come. While it's true we can't be the
policemen of the world, we can be its
prisoners in a world ruled by Islamic
fundamentalists. If Western nations don't
combine to use their moral, monetary,
religious, intelligence and, yes, military
power to stop this onslaught against freedom,
we will lose it and never get it back.
Withdrawal from this war is a policy of
surrender. What we need is a unified
approach to fighting Islamic extremism by us
and other allied nations. What we need is a
policy that works.