Dear editor:
In his article printed in The Sentinel-Record on Sept. 14, 2014, columnist David Ignatius of the Washington Post referred to our president as the "Reluctant Warrior" and stated that his "innate cautiousness is now actually a reassurance that he'll fight this war sensibly, partnering will allies in the region, and in a way that doesn't needlessly exacerbate American problems with the Muslim World."
All of us, regardless of your personal feelings about President Obama, need to give thanks that we have a commander in chief who acts with caution and deliberation regarding decisions to send our young men and women into another ground ward in a foreign country. You don't have to look very far to see those who criticize the president for "not going far enough." All you have to do is to watch the Sunday talk shows and listen to the conservative pundits.
One can certainly argue that ISIS will not be defeated or degraded on air strikes alone. As ISIS is driven from land that they now occupy, someone has to step in and provide the security necessary to prohibit their return. With that said, let's agree that ground troops are necessary to carryout the goal of defeating ISIS. Why should those ground troops include either our troops or those of our allies? If estimates are nearly correct, ISIS has approximately 30,000 troops spread over Iraq and Syria. Our figures indicate that we have trained about 193,000 troops in Iraq, not including the pesh merga (Kurds) who are already fighting ISIS.
We have all heard how the Iraqi army threw down their weapons and refused to fight. My guess is that their action was far less about fear than it was about not supporting an Iraq government, that was unwilling to share the governing with Sunnis and Kurds. Now that their government is in the process of fixing that problem, we should once again look to those who we trained in Iraq to take up arms against those who would devastate their country and their citizens. Recent reports from that area indicate that the new Iraq government does not want foreign fighters on their soil once again. Let's give them the chance to step up for themselves. We can provide both the logistical and air support to defeat ISIS without the intervention of ground troops from the U.S. or out allies.
Finally, let's not get caught up in the "what if" that seems to be such on the minds of so many. That is a bridge too far and one that the United States and our allies can cross if necessary. Thank you President Obama for being our "Reluctant Warrior."
Ray Warner
Hot Springs
Editorial on 09/17/2014