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Beheading Video Changes Obama's ISIS Policy
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
August 20, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Reluctant
to get sucked back into the morass in Iraq, President Barack Obama has begun to
pivot U.S. strategy in Northern Iraq where the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
has seized large swaths of territory.
Watching the beheading of 40-year-old captive U.S. journalist James
Foley, Obama appears to get the consequences of inaction in Northern Iraq. With Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki out of the picture and newly minted 62-year-old Shiite politician
Haider al-Abadi taking over Aug. 15 , Obama realized that his Iraq foreign
policy needed an overhaul. After
ending the Iraq war Dec. 15, 2011, Obama had little to do in Iraq, allowing
al-Maliki to manage Iraq’s security.
With infiltration and defections in al-Maliki’s security services, Sunni
extremist 43-year-old Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has captured strategic Iraqi and
Syrian territory, declaring a new Islamic caliphate July 1.
Before millionaire Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden was brought to justice
by U.S. Special Forces May 1, 2011, he had not seized one inch of sovereign land
during his 25-year reign of terror, attacking U.S. and allies interests on
multiple continents, culminating Sept. 11, 2001 in the most deadly attack on the
homeland in U.S. history. When Bin
Laden was erased, it didn’t take long for the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s
vicious al-Qaeda affilitate to step out on its own. Al-Baghdadi quickly broke ranks with Bin Laden’s replacement, the aging former Muslim
Brotherhood terrorist, 64-year-old bearded-and-bespeckled Ayman al-Zawahri. Capitalizing on the Sunni civil war
against 48-year-old Bashar al-Assad in Syria, al-Baghdadi tricked Sen. John
McCain’s (R-Ariz.) friend Brig. Gen. Salim Idris into joining the battle against
al-Assad Alawite Damacus governemnt.
Once the U.S. government armed Idris, it didn’t take long for al-Baghdadi to
seize the weapons and move into ungoverned areas of Syria and Iraq. When Obama finally agreed to
targeted air strikes against al-Baghdadi in Kurdish lands in Northern Iraq, it
was only after a potential genocide of the ancient Yazidi population in Kurdish
lands seized by al-Baghdadi.
Obama ignored calls from Christians when al-Baghdadi kicked out Christian monks
and desecrated 4th century monastery, destroying priceless historic artifacts. Since leaving Iraq at the end of
2011, Obama turned over Iraq’s security to al-Maliki. It didn’t take long for al-Maliki to
lose his grip on Iraq, especially in the Northern territories. Armed with sophisticated U.S.
weapons, al-Baghdadi quickly crushed Sunni and Shiite opposition, massacring
local populations unable to defend themselves against superior firepower.
Obama began to pay more attention when Iraq’s second largest oil-rich
city Mosul fell to al-Baghdadi June 1.
Watching the ancient Zoroastrian Yazidi’s driven to Mt. Sinjar Aug. 6,
Obama finally had to stop al-Baghdadi’s genocide. Ordering air strikes Aug. 8 stopped
the genocide, delivered humanitarian aid and evacuated the Yazidi’s to safe
havens in Kurdish controlled territory.
For the first time since former President George W. Bush started the Iraq
War March 20, 2003, Obama agreed to directly arm the Kurds, bypassing Iraq’s
Baghdad government, essentially recognizing the Kurds as a sovereign state. When a British-sounding jihadist
beheaded Foley Aug. 19, he blamed his death on Obama’s air strikes. After watching Foley’s behdeading,
Obama finally got the same message as Bush when he watched al-Zarqawi behead
American businessman Nick Berg May 7, 2004 on global TV.
Whatever mistakes Bush made in Iraq, the U.S. faces another implacable
challenge killing al-Baghdadi and destroying ISIS, now that it’s taking over
sovereign land in Iraq, Syria and Jordan.
“The United States of America will continue to do what we must do to
protect our people. We will be
vigilant and relentless. When
people harm Americans anywhere, we do what’s necessary to see that justice is
done,” said Obama, expressing his policy against ISIS. However reluctant, Obama had no
choice but to stop a growing Islamic threat to U.S. national security. When Bin Laden finally unloaded on
the U.S. Sept. 11, it took years of complacency before the U.S. developed a
coherent anti-terror policy. Aside
from getting Bin Laden May 1, 2011, Obama has turned back the clock on U.S.
terrorism policy. Going after ISIS
in Northern Iraq represents a welcomed change to Obama’s anti-terror policy.
Bad news for ISIS-captured 31-year-old journalist Steven Sotloff, Obama’s
new terror policy won’t make concessions for U.S. hostages. “The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your decision,” said an
unidentified ISIS militant, urging him to stop bombing the Islamic group. Salvaging a feckless foreign policy,
Obama’s decision to arm the Kurds and go after ISIS in the Kurdish territories
of Northern Iraq offers a new beginning.
Whether or not Obama can help save Sotloff is doubtful. Whatever went wrong for Bush in
Iraq, arming the Kurds and degrading ISIS is the right thing to do now. “Their ideology is bankrupt. They may claim, out of expediency,
that they are at war with the United States or the West, but the fact is, they
terrorize their neighbors and offer them nothing but an endless slavery to their
empty vision and collapse of any definition of civilized behavior,” declared
Obama.
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