Whatever the Problem, Very Serious People’s Solution is Always More All-Out War

The Washington Post editorial board, which Republicans would have you believe is part of our “liberal” media, today demands President Obama lead us into nothing short of all-out, indefinite war in Iraq, Syria, and wherever else war takes us:

Already, the group has seized far more of Iraq and Syria than is compatible with the safety and human rights of the people living there, and its sights are set on further destabilization in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kurdistan, as well as terror attacks in Europe and, if it’s capable of them, the United States. The two Americans butchered by the Islamic State will not be the last if the group’s leaders have their way. This murderous terrorist army, whose scarily effective global recruitment matches its global ambitions, can be neither contained nor “managed,” as the president implied in some of his more hesitant previous comments. […]

In seeking their support for what may be the first long-term overseas war to begin entirely on his watch, the president should be utterly forthright about the risks of inaction but also about the potential costs of action. Only a clear-eyed president, backed by an informed people and their representatives, can lead the world in this crucial mission.

It doesn’t matter than John McCain was palling around with ISIS just last year. It doesn’t matter that the last war the Washington Post pushed caused the destabilization that ushered in ISIS. And no mention of the 100,000+ Iraqi civilians killed in that war – gee, do you think that might have something to do with why ISIS is having no trouble recruiting a new generation of terrorists? Never mind, bomb more! If only you damn peaceniks had let us bomb more and get more kids killed for no good reason last time, we wouldn’t have to bomb and kill kids again now!

Since World War II, we’ve gone to war in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq (twice) and Afghanistan, and only in Afghanistan could I give you a very good reason why. Otherwise, this seems like yet another case of the Very Serious People inside the Beltway warning us that we face an Imminent Threat that only Clear-Eyed People can see, and if you can’t see it, clearly you are not Clear-Eyed and cannot be trusted to discuss national security.

As Dave Weigel writes at Slate, ISIS’ beheading videos were “surely meant to sow fear and breed over-reaction, [and] succeeded magnificently.” There are always Very Serious People ready to play war games with someone else’s kids, and war profiteers ready to cash in.

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