THE GOP VS. REALITY: THERE ARE NO SIMPLE SOLUTIONS

Mike Rogers, GOP chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, showed up on FOX Faux-News Sunday morning not to offer any nuggets of wisdom as to a comprehensive, workable strategy to employ in the fight against the Islamic State but, of course, to criticize the president for not yet having developed a comprehensive, workable strategy to employ in the fight against the Islamic State.

More honestly stated, Mr. Rogers criticized the president for not having completed a task that his own party---more interested in blaming Mr. Obama for everything from ending two GOP-initiated wars to successfully instituting a healthcare program that has made credible, affordable healthcare available to millions who previously used the ER as their PCP---hasn’t even begun.

Other than John McCain’s incomprehensible rants about “boots on the ground” in both Iraq and Syria (they would become a permanent American “police force”), arming Kurds in northern Iraq (which the president has already done and is still doing), bombing ISIS strongholds (which the president has, in a tactical way, already done and is still doing) and arming Syrian rebels “who are friendly to the U.S.” (Whaaaaat?), the GOP has blessed us with absolutely no credible, coherent strategic plan for blunting the rise of the newest Islamic terror group.

No. Credible. Coherent. Strategic. Plan.

Of course, FOX Faux-News being FOX Faux-News, Mr. Rogers did not have to worry that, when he finally ended his anti-Obama screed, any of the FOX talking-heads would actually ask the obvious: “Having roundly criticized the president for not having completed a comprehensive strategy for fighting ISIS, Mr. Rogers, would you care to share with us what your strategy would be?” There is, after all, a reason why Scott Walker recently encouraged Republican candidates across the country to “Use FOX News to get your message out.”

President Obama actually does have a “strategy” relative to the complex issues surrounding the war on terror’s newest iteration. He is developing as complete an understanding as possible of the “who” and the “what” and the “why” and the “where” of ISIS and its supporters---the latter including more than one of our supposed middle-eastern allies. Given his findings, he will seek to cobble together a European coalition---if the British can break the stranglehold that BP has on their government and if Angela Merkel can find a spine and tell Vladimir Putin that he is as dependent on Germany buying Russian oil and natural gas as Germany is on having that oil and natural gas available to it---whose diplomatic, economic and military actions will be supported by the Saudis (after severe arm-twisting) and other middle-eastern allies who are scared to death of ISIS but are equally afraid to stop funding and arming it.

Given that it makes no sense to talk about developing and implementing effective military strategies/tactics before one even knows who is playing and who is not, that task must await completion of the former two. In the meantime, the president has utilized and will continue to utilize smart, tactical bomb strikes to allay immediate crises related to humanitarian, Iraqi infrastructure or American personnel concerns. That being, of course, a perfect example of sound strategic thinking and standing in stark contrast to the way in which the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice regime lied the U.S. into another war in Iraq and thereby created the petri dish in which the bacteria presently destroying any hope of peace in the middle-east could prosper.

I have taken notice of the fact that, in the thirty hours or so I have spent researching and writing this piece, Mr. Rogers, while continuing to flail away at the president, has not offered any further hints about his “strategic thinking” per ISIS, Iraq and Syria. My guess is that he has not done so because his only “strategy” involves utilizing the same tired talking-points to criticize Mr. Obama. Which, along with his participation in the obstructionist tactics of the GOP House Clown Show (House Republicans, just in case you were wondering, now have favorables of 6%), pretty much sums up his contributions to the country over the past six years.

History will not be kind to either him or his ilk.