I Have Questions

President Obama told us a few nights ago that the United States would work with coalition partners to attack ISIL. The plan is for the United States to provide air strikes in support of Iraqi, Kurd and Syrian rebel forces while providing those groups with weapons and training.

Is it the right thing to do? It seems all too frequently these days we are willing to use force to impose our will on others. Then we act surprised when they don't appreciate having American values dropped on them 500 pounds at a time. President Obama feels he has the authority to act on his own. It seems like a stupid thing to do. Have an open debate in both houses of Congress. Force a vote before we act especially in Syria. Make members of Congress on both sides vote to authorize use of American forces of any kind. Many on both sides are calling for military action but (and it is a huge but) when this goes wrong they will suddenly claim they were never in favor of the use of military force. They will claim (correctly) that they never voted for the use of force and given the opportunity they would have voted no.

What is our objective? Is it the destruction of ISIL? How long will this take? Do we have an exit strategy? Will more U.S. weapons fall into the hands of the terrorists groups? Is there an imminent threat to the United States at this time? If there isn't why are we doing this? Will bombing create more terrorists than it kills? It would seem before we commit troops, including the use of aircraft to bomb terrorist targets, these questions should be asked and answered. What happens if a U.S. aircraft goes down in ISIL territory? Do we depend on Iraqi or coalition forces to rescue the pilot if he or she survived? Are we willing to put boots on the ground in that case and commit American forces?

Take a minute to think about cost. Not in lives of Americans or those living where we are going to bomb. The cost to the American taxpayer in dollars. Before any expansion of the conflict at this time we are spending 7,5 million dollars a day fighting ISIL. Put another way it is $312,500 per hour. So far the war in Iraq has cost the United States taxpayer in excess of 800 billion dollars. If you are willing to take a look back to 2003 President Bush stated the war would be a "lengthy campaign" and estimated the cost to be about 60 billion dollars. We have spent a huge amount of money in Iraq and Afghanistan that could and should have been invested in our infrastructure, or revitalizing our job market or reducing the burden of student loans. What have we gotten for the investment we made in Iraq? The simple and honest answer is ISIL. Our actions in destroying the Iraqi government have left a power vacuum that groups like ISIL and al-Qaeda are using to fan the flames of centuries old religious and ethnic divisions in the area.

Now for the numbers that really matter. United States casualty figures for Operation Iraqi Freedom as of September 17, 2014 were 4,425 killed, 31,947 wounded. For Operation New Dawn 66 killed and 295 wounded. For Operation Enduring Freedom 2,344 killed and 19,987 wounded. For a moment set aside the economic cost. What have we gotten for these dead and wounded? Has it been worth the cost to the country and the families of those killed and wounded? Will the death of even one more American service person make the situation better?

Those my dear friends are the questions we need to answer before we commit more troops and treasure to the chaos in the Middle East.