The Widdershins

Good Thursday, Widdershins.  September 11th is the 254th day of the year.  It is also the anniversary of one of the worst attacks on American soil.  This is one of those days, like Pearl Harbor and the Kennedy Assassination, that anyone alive at the time remembers where they were and what they were doing forever.  I also cannot forget the ensuing years that trapped us in a long and tortuous was that depleted our blood, our treasure, and our standing in the world.

Last night I listened to the President’s speech.  As usual, it was well-delivered, but this time relatively free of soaring rhetoric.  He has decided to authorize airstrikes against ISIS/ISIL, and hopes that Congress will see fit to back him in this venture.  He stated that he would hunt down terrorists, that there would be no safe havens.  We know that to be the case, as evidenced by Osama bin Laden. None can fault him there, and superficially, this sounds fine.

The President then announced that he was sending 475 troops over to ask as advisers.  This also sounds okay, until you realize that whether you are killed holding a clipboard or killed driving a tank, you are just as dead.  Further, “advisers” are likely making their umpteenth trip back, and leaving their families behind again.  Even worse, the VA system has been catastrophically messed up for forty years, so it is safe to assume that if these “advisers” are injured, things won’t have cleared up enough to help them either.

Further, Obama is again counting on a “coalition of nations” to help.  I still cringe when I remember the infamous “coalition of the willing”, some of whom had contributed fewer than 20 troops to the Iraq debacle.  Please, let them be a bit more willing with troops and treasure this time.  Said coalition will strike back at the terrorists and make the world a better place if they do, and I am in complete agreement with that premise at face value.  However, history suggests that the vacuum will promptly be filled with some entity that rapidly manages to become even more repugnant than its predecessor, and this time there is the real possibility that we could manage to help Assad return to power.  I am becoming more and more convinced that the more we try to fix this, the worse it becomes.

A number of Congress folk have been muttering about action against ISIS/ISIL.  Dick Cheyney and the neocons have been making the rounds to crank everybody up about the need for further warfare.  However, I have to wonder if Congress can be realistic about the cost of war and the necessity to raise the revenue necessary to finance said activity.  The President seems confident that the initial Authorization for Use of Military Forces (2001) would cover him, but I really do believe that it’s time for Congress to get off the sidelines and declare themselves.  Decrying his position and catcalling has worked beautifully for years, but the time has come to stand up and be counted.

I have never been fond of Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA).  However, as he is on his way out having run for and lost the Republican primary for Governor (Georgia is one of those states that prohibits you from running for two offices at once), he had a moment of abject truthfulness with the New York Times:

“A lot of people would like to stay on the sideline and say, ‘Just bomb the place and tell us about it later,’ ” said Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia, who supports having an authorization vote. “It’s an election year. A lot of Democrats don’t know how it would play in their party, and Republicans don’t want to change anything. We like the path we’re on now. We can denounce it if it goes bad, and praise it if it goes well and ask what took him so long.”

We’ll see how this goes, now that Congress needs to go on the record.  It will be interesting to see how all of the various Senators and Representatives vote, now that the bright light is shining on them six weeks prior to the midterms.  I just hope that we are not racing toward another debacle for fear of meeting ISIS at the supermarket.  Let’s just say that I am “shock and awe”-d that we find ourselves back at square one.

That said, today is a day of remembrance.  A lot of good people lost their lives on 09/11, and on many days thereafter.  If you think of it, say a prayer for them.  If you have one, light a candle for them.   Above all, think of those they left behind.

This is an open thread.