The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy

 

 

"Having this guy on our side will be worse than supporting Saddam during the Iraq/Iran War..."

It has been said that politics makes strange bedfellows. What has not been said, but is probably still as true, is war and conflicts make even stranger bedfellows. After the Pentagon's news conference yesterday, it became clear that we are going to be doing SOMETHING in Syria as well as Iraq. All of a sudden the light has gone on and we realize that ISIS needs to be dealt with at their source. And that source right now is in Iraq and Syria.

It just seems like yesterday that our President was painting a bright red line in the sand for Assad not to cross. And yet he did, as chemical weapons were used on his own people. Not only were chemical weapons used, but Assad was throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the rebels. As fighting continued, the numbers of dead and wounded continued to rise. Now well over 100,000. As the United States stood by and did NOTHING, Syria was coming apart at the seams.

Just like in Libya, a new group of terrorists saw an opening and opportunity in Syria. All of a sudden, the true freedom fighters, who were in a struggle against the tyrant Assad, had real bad apples fighting right next to them. ISIS had sensed the fertile ground which was developing in Syria. They also believed this land was part of their heritage, part of the Levant from centuries ago. This upstart group, which few had head about only a couple years ago, now had credibility. They had money, power, and a message. They recruited internationally, their numbers began to swell, and they are an army of 17,000.

Back to today. POTUS might be on the golf course, but the brass from the Pentagon are not. This rapidly emerging new threat has worry beads out of deck drawers and into fidgeting hands. The rapid growth and daring of this group has caught our State Department flat footed. This is now a wake up call. It is the ice bucket dumped on the heads of war weary war planners. We might have to reinsert ourselves in the region with boots on the ground. By doing so, we might need to fight side by side with troops supporting the hated Assad.

As messy as our involvement was in Iraq during the Gulf War and then the Iraq War, this will be far messier. However, to do nothing could spell disaster for Israel, Europe and the United States. Just like some cancers are easy to treat if caught early, this group can be stopped now with the proper resolve. However, to keep golfing while the cancer spreads across the region, will make our prognosis much darker.

The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy. However, my enemy might have to be my temporary bedfellow. Move over Assad - we might be climbing into bed with you for a while.