This week, Obama authorized airlift support to help out the Yazidis that were and are huddled on the mountain Sinjar awaiting help. This small effort, for thousands of refugees, was at least a start. Then, on Wednesday, the day after a team of 130 troops visited the mountain to ascertain what support is needed, Admiral Kirby, spokesman for the Pentagon, immediately went on the air to announce that the Yazidis were not as numerous on the mountain as first thought, the ISIS terrorists were being beaten back, and so, the US didn’t need to do any more. Thus, based on a quick look, Obama has decided the siege has been broken and the airlift can cease. This is like having Operation Overlord start from Dover in England, the first troops land, move forward a foot, and then Eisenhower say “We’ve won the war and we can go home!”, while removing all Allied troops and troopships from the Channel, despite what Churchill thinks. Glad Obama wasn’t president during World War II. England, as well as most of Europe, would be speaking German as a first language.

We cannot determine what the state of anything is with one 12 hour trip to something as large as a mountain. Despite the so-called technological edge, there are thousands of people, in dire straits, who need our assistance. The siege isn’t broken on the mountain. In the last two days, hundreds have been captured or killed by ISIS. The Peshmarga, some of the hardest fighting military around, are hard put to shelter those who can make it to their lines. The Kurdish military have asked and asked for military aid, and Obama continually turns them down. His excuse is that the US is not authorized to provide military equipment to another member of a sovereign country. This didn’t stop him from sending weapons and other military equipment to Syria, Libya, and other countries as he saw fit.

We are the last true superpower. We have an obligation to help others. This is not just an altruistic notion. Our, the US, strategic policy used to be, support our allies, defend those who cannot defend themselves, fight injustice, help build democracy wherever we could, help support those governments that look out for their people, and defy those who would attempt to tear down civilization in the quest to dominate the planet. The US has had its issues. No country can claim a moral superiority to us, as all have their dark sides, their skeletons in their closets. The difference with the US is: We don’t hide our faults, we use them as learning lessons to improve ourselves, and to help improve others.

We have an obligation to those in Iraq we summarily left behind. The decision to leave was one reached jointly by Obama, and Hillary as the Secretary of State. We need to return to Iraq, in full force, with support from our Coalition partners, to bulwark Iraq, help build and train their military, provide security and stability for the country, until the country can truly stand on its own. And we need to remain there afterwards. We did not leave Europe after World War II. We did not desert South Korea in the ‘50s. We didn’t leave Saudi Arabia or Kuwait or the rest of the Middle East after Desert Storm. So why did we leave Iraq? The reason, the only reason, was for political expediency only. We must return and fulfill our obligations to restore and sustain Iraq, with its fledgling democracy. Iraq is only one of the very few secular countries in the Middle East. Iraq is home to the cradle of civilization. We owe it to Iraq, and to the Iraqi people, to help re-stabilize the country, help rebuild its military, and support an important ally for us in the Middle East.

“We Must All Stand Together, Or Assuredly, We Shall All Swing Separate…”