The American and the Brit
It has been widely reported that the man who beheaded James Foley was speaking with a heavy British accent. It has further been reported that the group that was holding Foley was made up of Brits and was nicknamed "the Beatles".
This underscores one very important fact. Hundreds if not thousands of these people now in Iraq and Syria are carrying Western passports and holding citizenship in Western countries including the US. If they are not killed over there, they are coming back here. We have already seen the black flag of ISIS flying in protests in Europe and it has even shown up on the White House wall.
It has reached the point where the US and our allies are going to have to make a very hard decision. This band of barbarians called ISIS/ISIL must be wiped out. Eventually, that is going to require some sort of ground operations. We can start by giving the Kurds whatever arms they need. Germany announced today they will be giving arms to the Kurds. We must do the same.
Now is the time for us to organize our response with our NATO allies as well as friendly governments in the region like Jordan, Egypt (if they are still talking to us) and Saudi Arabia, duplicitous as they are. This time, we cannot lead from behind. If we don't take the lead in this, who will?
Beyond that, diplomacy, sanctions, and talk will not do the job. Animals like this cannot be allowed to walk the earth with the rest of us. Killing these beasts is the only response they understand. The last thing I wanted to see was American troops once again going back to fight a war in the Middle East. Unfortunately, we may have to.
If the British authorities do not identify the ISIS "Brits" and put them away, they can travel to the U.S., with their passports and not have to apply for a visa.
ReplyDeleteThese ISIS types are inhumane butchers. It would be proper to call them psychopaths. If we send special forces to counter these ISIS murderers, who use religion to get a pass on their killing, I hope that the rules of engagement are not like those in Afghanistan, where soldiers have to call home to get permission to shoot the bad guys.
Squid
Squid,
ReplyDeleteYou have raised an interesting point. Of course, ISIS has no connection to the Geneva Convention.
While we could never allow summary executions of captive ISIS fighters, to me I would give wide latitude. In other words, shoot first and ask questions later.