In “Demystifying ISIS: Case against Obama’s Bush-lite War on Terrorism,” September 10, 2014, I delineated why it’s a patent folly that the United States is meddling, yet again, in the internecine struggle between Sunnis and Shias. Not least because these two factions of Islam have been waging it for a thousand years, and may continue for a thousand more.
Nonetheless, I feel obliged to acknowledge the cogent case President Obama presented on last night’s edition of 60 Minutes for America’s leadership on the global stage. He did it when correspondent Steve Kroft asked him to explain why the United States is assuming the lion’s share of the burden to combat the global threat Daesh (aka ISIS) poses:
That’s always the case … America leads. We are the indispensable nation: we have capacity no one else has, our military is the best in the history of the world, and when trouble comes up anywhere in the world, they don’t call Beijing, they don’t call Moscow, they call us…
When there’s a typhoon in the Philippines, take a look at who’s helping the Philippines deal with that situation; when there’s an earthquake in Haiti, take a look who who’s leading the charge making sure Haiti can rebuild … that’s how we roll.
As it happens, though, Obama was merely echoing what I’ve been saying about the United States as an indispensable nation for years. Here, for example, is how I commented when the United States was assuming the lion’s share of the burden to help Haiti rebuild:
I am convinced that all is being done to execute this relief effort as expeditiously as humanly possible. And I trust it is now plain for the world to see that no country is more willing and able to lead this effort than the United States of America…
China, Brazil, Venezuela, and France have all made politically opportunistic attempts to lead this effort. But the Haitian government endorsed America’s exceptional [or indispensable] standing in this respect by granting the United States exclusive and indefinite command and control of the airport, which has become the nerve center of this relief effort.
(“Haiti’s Three Rs: Relief, Recovery, and Reconstruction,” The iPINIONS Journal, January 15, 2010)
I appreciate, of course, that the uninitiated among you might find a contradiction in touting my case against Obama’s Bush-lite war on terrorism on the one hand, and supporting his proclamation of the United States as the indispensable nation on the other.
But I shall suffice to address this apparent contradiction by piggybacking on the reply Obama gave during the 60 Minutes interview referenced above when Kroft pressed him to explain the contradiction in his policy towards Syria. After all, Obama is trying to get rid of President Assad on the one hand, while bombing the Daesh terrorists who are trying to do just that (i.e., get rid of Assad) on the other.
Here is how he responded:
I recognize the contradiction in a contradictory land and a contradictory circumstance.
Fair enough?
Related commentaries:
Demystifying ISIS…
Haiti…