For Obama, Any War Is Better Than No War

The White House recently announced that Obama has approved a plan to send 450 new troops into Iraq to fight ISIS. These “troops” aren’t ground troops, but instead are going in an adviser role to assist the Iraqi military.

Now, everyone who believes that please, go stand on your head.

It’s been four years since the US “officially” pulled their ground troops out of Iraq, yet CNN reports that, “There are currently 3,050 U.S. forces in Iraq – with 2,250 of them devoted to supporting Iraqi security forces, 800 protecting US personnel and facilities, 450 training Iraqi troops and 200 in advising and assisting roles.”

Does it sound like war has ended in Iraq for the US military? Does it sound like the taxpayer is all of the sudden not going to have their money stolen to benefit the military-industrial complex? Does it sound like, in such a war torn country (thanks in no small part to the US), that these new 450 soldiers will really have much of a choice in whether they’re combat troops or not?

I am also unsure how it could even be tracked whether these troops stay in their “adviser” role. Maybe some decide to go off and shoot some folks anyway. How would we know? Or maybe there will be some who are de facto turned into ground troops because of the unpredictability of war torn countries. There are many questions about unaccountability that need to be answered.

To top it off, the National Journal points out that this announcement comes only two days after Obama admitted that he has no “complete strategy” for training Iraqi forces in fighting ISIS. So why are more troops being sent in?

Obama’s reasoning in the past for not sending in more explicit ground troops is that he does not want to do what the Iraqis need to do for themselves. If that’s the case, then why send advisers?

There’s also a basic question of military strength and insanity. The networked resistance of ISIS, as terrifying and awful as it is, has shown, time and time again, capable to beat the Iraqi military and outwit the US assistance. I don’t claim to have the answer for what would work best militarily, but it seems foolhardy to keep trying the same thing over and over again. Specifically, the militaries are trying to test their centralized might against networked cell-based terrorist organization. Do they really expect history to be on their side at this point?

Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who is much more qualified than I, has also gone on record saying that there is “no clear U.S. policy in Iraq and Syria.” Which, again, begs the question, what does Obama think he’s accomplishing by sending even more people to Iraq.

Even with all of this though there’s some amount of credit one must give to Obama, however begrudgingly. Consider that the troop count back in 2007 was over 170,000 and is now reduced to 3,000 which is something in my opinion worth celebrating.

But there’s also a danger in acting like those 3,000 plus troops and the debate surrounding them is only what they should be doing there and not why they are there to begin with. That’s a question that Obama and company as leaders of state, probably won’t be asking themselves anytime soon.

This article is reprinted with permission from Center for a Stateless Society.

14 thoughts on “For Obama, Any War Is Better Than No War”

  1. Twice the US voters voted decisively for Obama, and twice they were fooled into thinking they were voting for peace. In '08, an unknown first-term black senator from Illinois, with a suspicious sounding name to boot, came from nowhere in the primaries to defeat a woman with 100% name recognition, mostly because he said he was anti-war, while clearly she was not. Romney, who sounded much better on the economy than did Obama, was defeated primarily because too many were afraid he would start a war against Iran on Israel's behalf. This was when Ukraine was not yet a blip on the radar screen. If the voters cannot get a change in US war policy despite voting twice to change it, what hope is there for the people of this awful nation?

    1. That is why it is pure folly to engage in electoral politics in the U.S. The entire U.S. political system is completely controlled by wealthy capitalists. Activists must find alternative, non violent avenues for change of the current political system. The occupy protests are an example of effective grass roots nonviolent protest. The next downturn may be the last for the capitalist west as it has spent itself into bankruptcy. When the national bankruptcy reorganization is put into effect a real chance for radical change may exist.

  2. “no clear U.S. policy in Iraq and Syria.”

    These sentiments were also expressed by Chuck Hegel while in office.

  3. First of all, an Educators JOB is teach the WORDS of a LANGUAGE … NOT to teach anyone WHAT anything that exists IS, which is why it says Dictionary of the English Language on the cover of the book that Educators use as a learning TOOL teach us with and WHY the definition of a 'dictionary' is a book that contains the words of one Language and gives information about the words of the language … NOT THE THINGS THAT EXIST and why the definition of a WORD is something that person says … NOT something that a person HAS!!! and why the definition of a letter of the Alphabet is a symbol that represents a speech sound, NOT a symbol that represents a THING!!! A 'dictionary" tells us what a WORD 'means' NOT what something that exists IS!!! The only reason that an English speaking 'person' thinks that what they say exists, is because when they look at something, their mind 'converts' what they see into a word of the English language, without their conscious knowledge. They know that what they see exists, but because they do NOT see the word that pops into their mind when they look at something … this gives them a false sense about what the thing that they are looking at IS! The same applies to someone who speaks "French, Spanish, German, etc.Perhaps if an Educator started a students day with "Good Moring Class, we are here to learn how to read and write the words of the English language, not to learn what the things that exist ARE" … everyone would understand that the sound of their voice is NOT a physical thing and WAR and the consumption of "animals" would have never happened. Nor would racism for that matter. Thus explaining why are there no signs that say "learn what everything that exists IS" and only signs that say "Learn French", "Learn English", Learn Spanish etc.! In conclusion, all that Education has ever taught anyone since the first day that this system was first invented is the words of language, which by the way is the product of imagination. Hence: I know one thing and that is that I know nothing!!! In a nut shell, this means that the Education System has been getting away with murder every since it was invented and we are all the unsuspecting victims of a science project gone terribly wrong. When you tell a child they ARE 'human' or 'black or 'white', what you are really doing is telling them that they ARE a word of the English language, thus making them think that the sound of their voice IS something that physically exists. We are all more than capable of comprehending that what Education taught us is how to read and write the words of the English language … NOT what anything that exists, including us IS … the fact that you can read this message should have been your first clue. We are ALL that we have left. Be kind to each other and everything else that exists. Be the change. ~sp If we don't start teaching our kids that what they are learning IN school is how to read and write the words of a language, NOT what the things that exist ARE … NOTHING WILL SURVIVE. You good with that?

  5. Pingback: For Obama, Any War Is Better Than No War | 9/11 - A Cheap Magic Trick

  6. The values of the us policy mostly could not stand in the exam ,while the notion of "my enemy's enemy is my ally " takes the lead of the foreign policy in the middle east .
    Isn't it clear that the state department finds in ISIS a kind of an ally as long as ISIS continues to attack the Syrian army and government institutions ?

  11. Sommetider folk ved ikke, hvornår turisme findes en sikreste løsning i at modtage os til at blive sundere. Jeg har mange idé til dem af jer der kan have været kede med aktiviteterne i hverdagen, der er ved for at læse artikler relateret i rejse information, som jeg skrev, og titlen eller sikkert hvis du har mere du evner også lytte til artikler andre attraktioner, som jeg titlen jeg håber det, jeg giver over disse kommentarer kan skænke en positiv værdi og værd fortil dig verden.

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