IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
What a state of fiasco we are in. As Sunni militants press forward towards Baghdad, Iraq, President Obama announced that no troops will be sent over to defend that nation’s capital. After 4,446 servicemen lost their lives in Iraq, the country we fought to bring about a representative government is simply being given back to the terrorists. I have mixed feelings about whether we should send troops over there and risk more lives, but I strongly believe that if the fight isn’t over there, it will occur on American soil.
Nick Cowan, an Iraqi veteran who also works for me as a loan officer, offered his perspective as someone who was at the front lines and seen the horrors of war. He finds the current state of policy regarding Iraq beyond frustrating and is upset that if the fight in Iraq was all for nought, then it was an extreme waste of time for him and thousands of others who served in Iraq, a waste of their mental health and risk to their lives.
Nick’s opinion is that we need to go back and fight for Iraq with support from other countries. It boils down to the sake of being humans and even if that means putting American soldiers’ lives at risk, he feels that there’s an obligation to keep terrorists away from the U.S. and to protect those who can’t protect themselves. It’s an interesting perspective and I agree that we need to keep terrorists and their militancy away from our homeland.
Last Thursday Obama indicated that Iraq will need additional aid and that he and his team are working “around the clock” to identify how to provide effective assistance. “Around the clock?” He took his family to California for the weekend on Air Force One. Do you know how much it costs to run Air Force One? $180,000 an hour! That’s over $1 million for their one-way transcontinental trip for him to play golf in Palm Springs and visit Laguna Beach. It’s Father’s Day, you say? Tough! Do your damn job!
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has returned to the States and is in San Antonio going through the reintegration process. More has come to light about Bergdahl, the deserter who walked off his post in the middle of the night in Afghanistan five years ago who Obama negotiated the release of by liberating five dangerous Taliban leaders from Guantanamo Bay. Obama has stated that since fighting has ceased, there’s an obligation to release prisoners of war. If we align ourselves with that logic, should we have been obligated, then, to free Manson after the blood was cleaned?
These are Taliban leaders who were freed to the neutral nation of Qatar, where they are required to remain for one year. There is no guarantee that they will do so, but I can almost guarantee that they will return to their terrorist circles. Do you honestly think that twelve years in Guantanamo would rid them of their resolve to kill us, or tame their extreme hatred towards Americans and all we stand for?
Judge Andrew Napolitano, in an interview with Fox newscaster Shepard Smith, outlined the two laws that Obama broke in the release of the detainees in exchange for Bergdahl. The first was his failure to abide by the 30-day notification to Congress clause that prohibits the use of federal funds or tax dollars to pay for the release of detainees in the Intelligence Authorization Act that he signed into law in 2012. The second is that by releasing the terrorists back into the theater of war he provided material assistance to terrorist organizations. It is presumable that these five dangerous Taliban leaders will return to terrorist activity.
Judge Jeanine Pirro had similar sentiments in which I agree. She argues that there exists a sacred trust between a country and its leader and when that trust is violated, the people have an inalienable right to impeach him. The government knew the whereabouts of Bergdahl a year before the exchange occurred, why not send in Seal Team Six or drones to rescue him? He needed an excuse to release the worst of the worst. Obama didn’t just release them, he unleashed them and teed us up for death and destruction. The stage has been set for terrorists to kidnap Americans and use them as leverage because we showed we are willing to negotiate. Never in the history of this country have we traded enemies for a deserter.
What kind of commander-in-chief reduces benefits to veterans, and decreases the military to pre-WWII levels? Obama is destroying this country and diminished the U.S. on the world stage. We have impeached a president for lying about his sexual affairs, and Obama’s actions are far more egregious and demand impeachment.
Ed Hoffman is the host of the Main Event on AM590 which airs Saturday 9:30AM- 10:30AM and Sunday 4:00PM- 5:00PM.
