IS IT ANY OF OUR BUSINESS?

The barbaric savages known as ISIS are killing, beheading, and brutalizing people all across the Middle East. They seem to especially favor the killing of women and babies. Maybe it’s because they don’t fight back as hard.

They have retaken much of the territory we gave blood and treasure for. We have spent literally billions in dollars and thousands in lives for this miserable plot of land known as Iraq. This “JV” group has driven the Iraqi army away with their tails tucked between their legs. The army that we spent billions training. ISIS has stolen our weapons that the Iraqi army abandoned. They seem, at this point, to be unstoppable.

The question is, does the civilized world care? Does America care? Do you care? It would appear by our actions that we don’t. We drop a few bombs but ISIS rapidly recovers. We send in an elite unit of “Special Forces” and take out one of their top leaders, but the JVs seem to let it go with no concern.

Some will say that this war between Shiites and Sunnis has been going on for centuries and it isn’t going to stop anytime soon. So is it any of our business? Should we have been there in the first place?

A quick look at history might be helpful. The vast majority of Americans know of Hitler and Stalin only through history books. And what they know may well be clouded by the authors of those books. The fact is both of these men were brutal killers who believed that they were supposed to be rulers of the world. Hitler and his henchmen moved across Europe with little or no resistance. Neville Chamberlain seemed to believe he could appease Hitler and keep him at bay. That turned out to be a farce. Had it not been for our intervention, England and all of Europe would be Germany.

Stalin killed millions in his effort to turn all of Eastern Europe into a Soviet Empire. There was Pol Pot in Cambodia. Another brutal indiscriminate killer. Had we not stopped these tyrants, would we be here today? Would we still be a free nation?

And so the question. Is ISIS and their brutal takeover of the Middle East any of our business? And do we care? Should we care? Is it possible that when they do get all of the Middle East that they will then take over Europe?

To my mind the big question is who, if not us, is going to stop them? Some have suggested that this, being a war between Shiites and Sunnis, will only be won if we arm Shiites and have them deal with the Sunnis. I submit that this is a war between savages who are brutal killers on both sides and neither side seems capable of living in a civilized world.

Here are some facts that should be helpful to all. America is the only world power in existence today. America has the ability and the armaments to destroy ISIS in a matter of seconds if we chose to do so. The problem is clear. We apparently don’t have the will to use our power to stop ISIS or any other tyrants. We seem to be taking a “wait and see” attitude. Neville Chamberlain took the same attitude and you can see where it got him. We, the United States, had to bail Great Britain out.

So do we care? Do we really care? Is it any of our business? My position is clear. If we care, let’s finish it. If we don’t, let’s bring everybody home and turn our weapons into plows. Who knows, maybe when they get all of Europe, killing and beheading any resistance, they will just leave us alone. I wouldn’t want to bet our future on that, would you?

Ron Scarbro