Our Warrior King

Our Pacifist Prince has suddenly decided to become our Warrior King. Who expected that? The war hating liberal who despised George Bush because Bush attacked Iraq due to the evil excesses of Saddam Hussein.  Obama, the man who set a date and broadcast it to the world when we would leave Iraq, has suddenly decided to return to war in Iraq.

Could Barack Obama's worldview be changing? Is he finally realizing that his wishing does not make it so? One can but hope. But it is more likely that he feels backed into a corner. It is certain to me that his naivete has left both our country and the world floundering and in danger.

A month ago ISIS was the JV team and no real danger to anyone beyond tribal Iraq. Two weeks ago our Warrior King raised their status and began calling them ISIL, giving them reign over the Levant, Jordan and Israel. Maybe he doesn't realize that he sent our two best allies in the area into figurative subjugation. At this point he glaringly admitted to the world that he had no strategy.

There were strategies galore available to him from the military. He just hadn't found one that gave him political cover if something went wrong. A smart Warrior King always has someone set up to throw under the bus. 

Then Obama decided that he needed to claim there actually was a strategy. It was to degrade ISIL and make them a manageable problem. That is like saying, "we are not going to cure cancer. We will just slow it's growth down so fewer people die". Meanwhile the Vice Warrior King is out shouting to the world that "we will drive ISIL to the gates of hell". Maybe he has his own strategy. Obama, Biden, and Kerry. I see a potential "Three Stooges" movie here.

But now Obama has a new grand strategy. He will "degrade and destroy ISIL". And as soon as he figures out how, he will let the world know. But right now he's lining up our close friends to go in with him. Good luck there. He's driven all our close friends off. He claims some recruits from that neighborhood, like the Arab League. Remember how helpful they were in Libya? I don't either.

Today, they are saying there will be years of fighting to destroy ISIL.  Latest guesstimate, they have around 16,000 troops. No air force. No navy. We defeated 100,000 Iraqi troops in three weeks. Why years to defeat ISIL? Get a better strategy. I guess that just because you appoint yourself Warrior King, you aren't necessarily good at the job.

So, onward, ever onward, into the dark forest of political incompetence. The forest is large and the trails are overgrown. But Americans are a stalwart people. We forge on and eventually come back out into the sunshine. But this time the hike is longer and harder than any in my lifetime and we still have years to go. Somehow we will get there in spite of newly minted Warrior Kings.