We can cut out the tumor, by bombing Syria and Iraq, but the cancer then metastasizes wildly to places like north Africa and now Europe. And such a wide swath of land has been immune to the chemotherapy of reason.
Plus, for whatever success we're having bombing the terrorists, it proves to attract more converts to the cause. As if beheadings on YouTube weren't horrific enough, men and some women still flock to join ISIS/ISIL from around the world.
It's a terrible sickness that has engulfed the Middle East and beyond.
There doesn't seem to be a cure.
We had troops "on the ground" for more than a decade in Iraq and, instead of stabilizing the country, it destabilized the entire region and gave rise to ISIS.
More troops in Syria or Iraq is likely to destabilize Turkey, Jordan and others.
There are too many enemies, Kurds vs Iraqis and Syrians, Sunni (Saudi Arabia) vs Shia (Iran), to figure out who are the bad guys and who are the good guys. Throw in Russia's backing of Syria's Assad and we have the makings of a major regional war.
Should that happen, side conflicts will surely flare up elsewhere as either religious, ethnic or racial scores are settled while the world is distracted by the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Republicans want President Obama to stop ISIS now, even though they have no ideas how to do it. Strangely, these same folks were unconcerned when terrorists struck Madrid and London after our invasion of Iraq. Hey, it wasn't the U.S. that was attacked, they said then.
Plus, how does anyone think we can solve the problems in the Middle East when we can't even solve our decades-long gang violence in Chicago and other big cities. Also, we have about 12,000 killings per year from guns and about 18,000 suicides by guns. And, we have no political will to stem those annual numbers.
Republicans also want Obama to protect Christians in the region but not Muslims.
Great. That'll play well. What a bunch of idiots.
Until people of all stripes give up the hate, and there is no sign that they will, this cancer of terrorism will continue to eat away at the soul of the world.
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