We are losing our fight against ISIS. Regardless of a successful strike here, or a temporarily retreating foe there, we are losing ground each day in the hearts and minds of the Syrian people.
We are losing, not because we cannot win and not because the fight is not worth fighting. The truth is, we can win and for the sake of our long term national security and economic stability, as well as, our ability to project the same around the globe victory is worth the fight. We are losing because the promises and statements of President Obama are disconnected from his administration’s actual policies and actions.
Clearly the challenges and dangers of seeking to destroy our stated enemy, the Islamic State, are great and real. Add to this that the battlefield has been shaped by a three-year civil war - a civil war in which multiple opposition factions from a kaleidoscope of ideological leanings battle a desperate and malevolent dictator who continues to survive by way of funds and weapons from Russia and fighters from Iran, the complexity of prudent and effective action becomes almost confounding – almost.
We cannot, however, afford to be confounded. We cannot afford to be drawn to defeat by the claims of many that our options were few but now are none. The member of congress who recognizes the strategic need to be an engaged and credible world power must counter such claims and not allow inaction to turn to paralysis. The member who rests in the slumber of isolationism unmoved by humanitarian motives must be awakened if for no other reason than that history will judge their lack of action harshly, and if our efforts fail leading to ISIS-controlled oil fields in both Syria and Iraq, skyrocketing gasoline will be the ink voters use to write the next chapter in two short years.
On January 21, 2013, I proudly stood outside the capitol building of the U.S. Congress feeling the bite of the D.C. wind on my cheeks and watched the President of the United States stand beside his wife and before a crowd of 700,000, raise his right hand and take the oath of office. Although I am not a Democrat, I am an American, and as he turned to make his second Inaugural Address I felt a pride and confidence that comes from seeing the president, my president paint his vision for the coming four years.
I smiled as he said to the world, “America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe... We will support democracy from Asia to Africa, from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom.”
I listened to him say with passion, “And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice –- not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity, human dignity and justice.”
After his speech, I, along with a sea of overcoats receded from the Capitol and line Pennsylvania Avenue to watch the historic drive/walk of the President back to the White House and so begin a second term unencumbered by re-election worries, free and able to fulfill the promise he made on that cold January afternoon.
Today, war planes of Syrian President Bashar al Assad fired missiles into a school in Rastan, Syria and Iranian forces fighting under the orders of Assad fired rockets into the area of Handarat battling to cut of medical supplies and humanitarian aid routes into the besieged city of Aleppo.
Despite our limited air strikes against ISIS the larger dynamic on the ground has worsened since the President launched a campaign against this twisted self-proclaimed Islamic State. President Assad has used our attacks as cover to dramatically increase his campaign of genocide against all Syrians who oppose his regime.
On October 30th of this year he went so far as to drop to barrel bombs on a refugee tent camp intentionally killing dozens of mostly elderly and young children. The United Nations expressed outrage, but did nothing.
It is true that words matter, but only if actions follow. To date, in his second term President Obama has led our nation to stand and watch the Assad regime target civilians for what can be called nothing short of genocide. We fight ISIS, but do nothing to stop or even slow Assad. Over 200,000 innocent civilians have been killed. Over 9 million Syrians are displaced, sleeping in tents inside and outside Syria. The words of hope inspired. The lack of action indicts.
Someone who has his ear must say to the president, millions upon millions of those you so eloquently spoke of on that cold January day- the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of this brutal dictatorship stand today amid the rubble that once was their world and ask, “Whow will be our source of hope?”
In conversation after conversation with those on the ground inside Syria, the message is clear – hope is dying and with it dies the idea that America stood for something bigger than itself. ISIS will help kill that hope and offer another hope to a desperate people and the U.S. will have helped create a generation of radicalized fighters who see us as the people who promised but walked away. That does not bode well for future security.
There is a path however, that leads to both victory over ISIS and toward a path worthy of the Syrian people. It begins with accepting a simple truth – We need moderate Syrians to fight ISIS. Moderate Syrians need us to stop Assad from killing their families and destroying the fabric of their society. If we recognize these two realities and develop policies respecting both, there is a path for mutual victory and long-term stability.
This begins by affecting the enforcement of U.N. Security Council resolutions 2139 and 2165 that demand that the regime stop the use of indiscriminate weapons such as barrel bombs, as well as, demand that humanitarian access and aid be given to the wounded and desperate civilian populations. These have passed the council unanimously but have not been implemented.
Then, and only then, would the dust of chaos subside. When it did, however, we would see walking from the rubble children, mothers and fathers who long for life, for little more than a civil society free of tyranny. They would stand, as they did when they began their struggle against Assad in March 201,1 and have hope.
The words of the President, along with his actions, and the actions of Congress, can move us away from a path leading to defeat and toward the path to victory.
All must recognize though that this path begins in Aleppo, in Homs, in Wa’ers, in Idlib and yes, in Kobani. Regardless of its city of origin, victory’s path must be walked first by the people of Syria. Our words matter little, our actions much. If we act, they walk – they walk that path, our path. If they do not, we never will.
We are losing, not because we cannot win and not because the fight is not worth fighting. The truth is, we can win and for the sake of our long term national security and economic stability, as well as, our ability to project the same around the globe victory is worth the fight. We are losing because the promises and statements of President Obama are disconnected from his administration’s actual policies and actions.
Clearly the challenges and dangers of seeking to destroy our stated enemy, the Islamic State, are great and real. Add to this that the battlefield has been shaped by a three-year civil war - a civil war in which multiple opposition factions from a kaleidoscope of ideological leanings battle a desperate and malevolent dictator who continues to survive by way of funds and weapons from Russia and fighters from Iran, the complexity of prudent and effective action becomes almost confounding – almost.
We cannot, however, afford to be confounded. We cannot afford to be drawn to defeat by the claims of many that our options were few but now are none. The member of congress who recognizes the strategic need to be an engaged and credible world power must counter such claims and not allow inaction to turn to paralysis. The member who rests in the slumber of isolationism unmoved by humanitarian motives must be awakened if for no other reason than that history will judge their lack of action harshly, and if our efforts fail leading to ISIS-controlled oil fields in both Syria and Iraq, skyrocketing gasoline will be the ink voters use to write the next chapter in two short years.
On January 21, 2013, I proudly stood outside the capitol building of the U.S. Congress feeling the bite of the D.C. wind on my cheeks and watched the President of the United States stand beside his wife and before a crowd of 700,000, raise his right hand and take the oath of office. Although I am not a Democrat, I am an American, and as he turned to make his second Inaugural Address I felt a pride and confidence that comes from seeing the president, my president paint his vision for the coming four years.
I smiled as he said to the world, “America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe... We will support democracy from Asia to Africa, from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom.”
I listened to him say with passion, “And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice –- not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity, human dignity and justice.”
After his speech, I, along with a sea of overcoats receded from the Capitol and line Pennsylvania Avenue to watch the historic drive/walk of the President back to the White House and so begin a second term unencumbered by re-election worries, free and able to fulfill the promise he made on that cold January afternoon.
Today, war planes of Syrian President Bashar al Assad fired missiles into a school in Rastan, Syria and Iranian forces fighting under the orders of Assad fired rockets into the area of Handarat battling to cut of medical supplies and humanitarian aid routes into the besieged city of Aleppo.
Despite our limited air strikes against ISIS the larger dynamic on the ground has worsened since the President launched a campaign against this twisted self-proclaimed Islamic State. President Assad has used our attacks as cover to dramatically increase his campaign of genocide against all Syrians who oppose his regime.
On October 30th of this year he went so far as to drop to barrel bombs on a refugee tent camp intentionally killing dozens of mostly elderly and young children. The United Nations expressed outrage, but did nothing.
It is true that words matter, but only if actions follow. To date, in his second term President Obama has led our nation to stand and watch the Assad regime target civilians for what can be called nothing short of genocide. We fight ISIS, but do nothing to stop or even slow Assad. Over 200,000 innocent civilians have been killed. Over 9 million Syrians are displaced, sleeping in tents inside and outside Syria. The words of hope inspired. The lack of action indicts.
Someone who has his ear must say to the president, millions upon millions of those you so eloquently spoke of on that cold January day- the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of this brutal dictatorship stand today amid the rubble that once was their world and ask, “Whow will be our source of hope?”
In conversation after conversation with those on the ground inside Syria, the message is clear – hope is dying and with it dies the idea that America stood for something bigger than itself. ISIS will help kill that hope and offer another hope to a desperate people and the U.S. will have helped create a generation of radicalized fighters who see us as the people who promised but walked away. That does not bode well for future security.
There is a path however, that leads to both victory over ISIS and toward a path worthy of the Syrian people. It begins with accepting a simple truth – We need moderate Syrians to fight ISIS. Moderate Syrians need us to stop Assad from killing their families and destroying the fabric of their society. If we recognize these two realities and develop policies respecting both, there is a path for mutual victory and long-term stability.
This begins by affecting the enforcement of U.N. Security Council resolutions 2139 and 2165 that demand that the regime stop the use of indiscriminate weapons such as barrel bombs, as well as, demand that humanitarian access and aid be given to the wounded and desperate civilian populations. These have passed the council unanimously but have not been implemented.
Then, and only then, would the dust of chaos subside. When it did, however, we would see walking from the rubble children, mothers and fathers who long for life, for little more than a civil society free of tyranny. They would stand, as they did when they began their struggle against Assad in March 201,1 and have hope.
The words of the President, along with his actions, and the actions of Congress, can move us away from a path leading to defeat and toward the path to victory.
All must recognize though that this path begins in Aleppo, in Homs, in Wa’ers, in Idlib and yes, in Kobani. Regardless of its city of origin, victory’s path must be walked first by the people of Syria. Our words matter little, our actions much. If we act, they walk – they walk that path, our path. If they do not, we never will.
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