As a corollary to Tom’s excellent post on the realities and costs of war below, I have a question: How do y’all see this current US action against ISIS playing out? Are you worried about mission creep?
The original justification for airstrikes was rescuing the people who were besieged on that mountain. Then airstrikes were used to push ISIS back from the Mosul dam. And now god knows how many sorties are being launched to push ISIS back further.
Don’t get me wrong: I hate those ISIS fuckers, I really do. I don’t think the US needs to manufacture propaganda to portray them as evil barbarians; they do it themselves.
But, unless we have clear aims — something clearer than “smoke those fuckers whenever they raise their heads” — aren’t we at risk of getting dragged back into a regional war in the Middle East?
Shouldn’t we at least have a national conversation about the wisdom of that? Doesn’t our Congress — as fucked up and stupid as it is — have to be involved in approving such a measure?
Or am I being a Nervous Nelly?