By Joe Carbonari
ISIS must be stopped, and disbanded, as quickly as possible. Yes, they truly are a current, and growing, threat to us – even here at home. It would be irresponsible to let them grow.
As of now, their leaders’ attention has been directed toward financing operations, expanding territory and absorbing recruits from around the world. They may number roughly 10,000, a military force with funding from like-minded extremists, mostly Sunni Muslims, many oil-wealthy – the ruling family of Qatar prominent among them. Qatar, by the way, also largely controlling Hamas – the Gaza extremists who lob rockets into Israel, as if it were their daily chore.
All this has got to stop. And it will not stop at the flash of an American passport or at a porous port of entry. We will not be safe at home or abroad. Nor will the rest of the world’s citizenry.
ISIS is truly a world threat. It is a way of thinking, and acting, that is unacceptable in our time. It is not conducive to world society well-being and it is spreading.
ISIS, and its brand of ultra-extremist thought, must, in the end, be controlled by its own friends and neighbors. ISIS feeds on angry, confused young men. Their own societies must address their needs and boundaries, but first we must restore order. Diplomatically and militarily.
By Tim Baldwin
Some Americans, mostly in the “conservative” circles, believe the United States should use military force to fight ISIS (so-called Islamic State). They claim that ISIS threatens freedom in the Western world, including the U.S. I am not convinced.
Everyone knows that there are religious crazies killing people in the Middle East in violation of basic natural laws. Very sad, yes; but to me, this does not rise to the level of sending our families to a foreign country to fight a war. If ISIS was such a threat to all free countries, we would secure our borders tightly and become self-reliant in energy, commerce and agriculture. But both Republicans and Democrats encourage foreign invasion and reliance on foreign nations for energy and food.
Using just a bit of common sense, if ISIS is really the threat people say it is to our freedom and way of life, we would have an entirely different approach to domestic and foreign policies. As I can gather, the threat is presupposed by those who gain political and commercial power by perpetuating war across the world.
If there is a real threat, we should protect our own country first and then go from there.