To the Editor:

Really! Well, that’s what the mainstream media reports. I think America is fed up with foolish wars that are endless because we restrict the full power of our military capability. However, when Americans are being beheaded in foreign lands just because they are Americans, then I say, fed up with war or not, we must act. And if that means putting troops on the ground so be it. I don’t think anyone will criticize President Obama if he does an about face on not putting troops on the ground that will protect our people and innocent people who cannot protect themselves. In fact, I believe if he acts, they will applaud him. ISIS is dominating Iraq because we did not end the war there – we abandoned it.

Wanting to end any war is a desirable objective. Promoting peace should be every country’s objective, but pulling our troops out just to satisfy a campaign promise, without realizing the consequences is, without a doubt, a display of ignorance. Acting indecisively, when our people are being beheaded is “Obamanable.” Unfortunately, and more often than not, force is required to keep evil and terrorism from rising the way we’re seeing it rise in Iraq. It is a lot more difficult to put out a forest fire than a brush fire, so why are we allowing Iraq to become a forest fire? Blaming Bush does not solve the problem. I don’t care whether the war was justified or not or who started it. An American was beheaded when we had no troops, other than a small group of advisory personnel there. So how is this working out for Americans? 

We will never have a utopian world. Like it or not dominant countries, such as ours, do have a global responsibility to suppress evil and terrorism throughout the world. Because we do not live in a utopian world, those who have the ability to administer justice must take a leadership roll in accomplishing some form of global stability.  Arbitrarily pulling troops out of countries where terrorists are just waiting for the  opportunity to fill the void shows complete incompetence in world affairs.

Allowing ISIS to establish itself in Iraq and other countries is a serious dereliction of our global responsibility and a catastrophic waste of our servicemen’s lives. In addition to our servicemen, we will see significantly more atrocities committed against Americans if we do not control the situation now. Without our presence, all that was gained in Iraq disintegrated in the blink of an eye, as witnessed today. We cannot stand by as we did in Syria, Benghazi,  or even Fast and Furious. It is time to kick ass!

Al Roznicki

169 Hanover Road, Newtown                    August 22, 2014