Critical Response Essay on ISIS

Submitted By Eject900
Words: 667
Pages: 3

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/us/politics/house-vote-isis.html?_r=0

This article talks about the ISIS issue in the middle east and what the Obama administration and Congress are going to do about the issue. The resolution that was passed by congress after Barack Obama personally pleaded for support, will have United States military supply and train Syrian rebels to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria or ISIS for short. One of the important points about this is that American Troops are not going to have a combat mission, and is solely responsible for the training and equipping of the Syrian rebel groups. One of the large reasons as to why this was passed was because the president, also known as the Commander in Chief, personally supported this and to have gone against it would’ve weaken his power as a title. This would’ve put strain on foreign relations and would’ve made America as a whole look bad. But this issue was extremely hard to make even when the results were 273 to 156 in favor of the war, because many issues were brought up based on the 2002 decision on the invasion of Iraq. One of the major arguments was how “We need to crush ISIS and not work on arming more Islamic radicals,” said Representative Duncan D. Hunter. But provisions were added by the House Armed Services Committee, that requires that the administration shows how the strategy to training the rebels is going to affect the long term fight on ISIS.
Another major aspect of this is that the US will use airstrikes on ISIS to directly combat them, without putting any US soldiers at major risk. So far over 10,000 ISIS casualties have been the results of around 120 airstrikes. What action that is to be taken in Syria now is disputed but everyone does have the common agreement that some action should be taken in Syria to avenge those that have died because of ISIS. The US government has made relations with Iran, with Iran providing ground troops to fight ISIS while the US supports them. The final note is that the war on terror is predicted to be a long one, and it will be a long one, but it is not going to be a war that will last forever.

Warning: The following section contains opinions, and is not in any way going to be as neutral as I can make it.

The issue in the middle east has been a long one, and it’s really the only thing that we’re really doing that makes military life interesting.