In a Washington Post guest opinion piece entitled "Obama’s strategy for the Middle East has backfired," Marco Rubio lays out a game plan for the Middle East and calls for "a reassertion of U.S. leadership in the region."
I don't agree with everything that Mr. Rubio writes: Iraq no longer exists as a country, and I think it would be a mistake to "remove restrictions on their ability [of US forces] to embed with the Iraqi units." Iraqi security forces and allied Shiite militias under the direction of Iran have perpetrated atrocities against Sunnis, and the association of US ground forces with the Iraqi military would needlessly antagonize America's longstanding Sunni allies in the area. In addition, American advisers to Iraqi units would run the risk of capture and beheading by ISIS, and this is not worth the risk.
The bottom line, however, is that Rubio makes a great deal of sense and sets himself apart from the pack of Republican presidential contenders, many of whom would have trouble finding Iraq on a map.
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all due respect, I am certain the other GOP contenders can find Iraq on a map because they went to school when the teacher's unions still allowed the teaching of geography, before OneWorldism took root.
ReplyDeleteI await a foreign policy speech that shows the speaker has absorbed a few insights from Bret Stephens book, "America in Retreat". Sounds like Senator Rubio is grappling with that, in a positive way, when he writes about re-asserting American leadership, but Rubio is too optimistic about Turkey in any coalition.
It is Syria and Libya that no longer exist as nation-states. Give Iraq a few more months...
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