ISIS have done a pretty good job at getting their aim with propaganda by drawing the US into yet another war in the Middle-East. However I am not talking about ISIS generated propaganda, but our own fear-mongering
"It is true, that we know that ISIS is present in Ciudad Juarez or they were within the last few weeks," Franks said. "So there’s no question that they have designs on trying to come into Arizona. The comment that I’ve made is that if unaccompanied minors can cross the border then certainly trained terrorists probably can to. It is something that is real."
Several other politicians have made similar claims, including Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. And the claims are spreading around conservative online media, like the Daily Caller, Breitbart News and pundit Sean Hannity at Fox News.
Our
politicians are avoiding even trying to deny this type of rhetoric
President Obama on Wednesday noted that intelligence leaders "have not yet detected specific plotting against our homeland." Despite that, the conversation focused on what to do, not why it should be done.
From a political standpoint, it's very easy to see why. There's little to no value for members of either major party to suggest that the threat posed by the Islamic State to the United States is anything but significant. The Islamic State, with a series of gruesome and horrible beheadings, have earned front page headlines and regular segments on national television news broadcasts. National Republicans have done an excellent job of pinning their opponents into a difficult position on a response, first critiquing Obama for not acting, and, more recently, criticizing him for not acting enough. Republican candidates have begun running ads that feature the Islamic State; as we noted on Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) demanded that the United States send troops to the region, "before we all get killed here at home."
Why is ISIS a global threat and Boko Haram is not? Where has the outrage over "our girls" gone?
Am I alone in remembering that we were also fed the line that Saddam Hussein presented a clear threat to the US despite all the evidence to the contrary? Yellow cake!
Yes ISIS are horrible, but do we really have to exaggerate any threat to the United States?
At what point does this rhetoric become a form of terrorism, because this is going to result in tens of thousands of dead.
We are going to train good Sunnis for the civil war in Syria, we are going to attack bad Sunnis in Iraq and Syria. We are going to kill citizens of our allies in the region no matter whose "side" they are actually on.
Do we really think that this will be the end of it, or do we just accept the idea of a state of permanent war?
Do we really believe that our "allies" in the region are going to help us in any real and meaningful way?
Do we really think this is a good idea or are we just letting the fear-mongering control our reactions?
Once again our actions are being determined by the likes of John McCain and Lindsey Graham neither of whom have ever come across a war they didn't like.
Now about that ISIS aircraft carrier floating in Chesapeake Bay.