Public Comment

Who are the new fighters who have suddenly emerged in Syria called the Khorasan group? The administration claims they were closely linked to Bin Laden but this appears to be a pretext for launching the heavy bombing campaign which had the predictable results of killing a significant number of innocent victims a number who were fighting ISIS. The reason given for the attacks in Iraq and Syria keep changing – first it was humanitarian, now it’s to thwart an imminent attack on our homeland.  

This bombing may have given Obama a new ‘get tough John Wayne’ persona but it will surely backfire much like our disastrous intervention in Libya which has resulted into a brutal civil war. There is absolutely no overall strategy, only a military mindset which is counterproductive and will surely generate more extremism. This war, euphemistically, called a counter-terrorism campaign, is illegal under international law and has no Congressional or UN approval. A far better approach would be to impose a complete embargo on all weapons in the region and elicit the help of Iran and yes, Syria to counter the ISIS and Khorasan threat. We must swallow our national pride and accept Iran’s offer of assistance by first accelerating the unresolved nuclear issues. This will enable our two countries to develop a common strategy to thwart the ISIS/Khorasan threat to regional instability.