Splashed on the NY Times' front page is the news that President Obama, speaking on "60 Minutes" tonight, concedes error in the administration's past assessment of ISIS. But the more unsettling news, from several hours ago, comes several paragraphs down in the NYT story:
"These are barbarians," Mr. Boehner told George Stephanopoulos on the ABC News program "This Week." "They intend to kill us. And if we donβt destroy them first, weβre going to pay the price."
Mr. Stephanopoulos asked, "If no one else will step up, would you recommend putting American boots on the ground?"
"We have no choice," said Mr. Boehner.
They--and you know who they are--will get us there yet. They'll yet get us into another ground war in the Middle East. With each passing day, another Republican hawk imperturbably speaks of the necessity of American combat forces in Syria and Iraq, for we, it seems, are the world's only effective policemen; and not a day has gone by this month that I haven't heard some retired Army colonel or Air Force general speak similarly, on CNN, of America's inexorable mission.
The monstrous Islamic State is a regional menace, but it is not a threat to U.S. security interests. As such our regional "allies"--each of them up to their taqiyah caps in American military hardware--have a security interest in putting their boots on Syrian or Iraqi ground.
Yes, we do have a choice, Mr. Boehner. But do proceed: Hype the situation some more, frighten the children, spook the midterm ranks of the rednecks over the "barbarians" coming "to kill us," ratchet up the fever and take us into some post-election hysteria about the Democratic commander in chief's "weakness," and then, just let politics and palsied old generals on cable news take care of the rest. You'll have your war.