'Toontime: Je Suis Entendu Avant

credit: Gary Varvel
Wackydoodle axes: Is this here war official?

Barack Obama was elected partly because he promised to end the wars his predecessor started in Central Asia. Understandably many of his supporters were sorely disaffected when he authorized a proxy war in Libya and involved the US in the Syrian Civil War. Now he is asking Congress to give him carte blanche for three years to use troops against the stateless terror group, ISIS. NOT! 'Mericas propensity for seeking out enemies, regardless of how far away from our shores or how insignificant the actual threat is too obvious to deny plausibly. Three years just happens to give his possibly more militant imperial successor time to ask for an extension or expansion. Endless war is now officially authorized.

The Afghanistan war is still underway with American forces on the ground a year after the Current Occupant said our presence would end. A request, not surprisingly, has been made for them to delay their departure even further.  Iraq is full of American special forces advisors and clandestine operatives trying to stifle another sectarian revolt five years after the regular troops left. A Congressional resolution will make all that and much more official policy instead of an ad hoc bombing campaign that has proved embarrassingly unsuccessful in stopping the jihadis from creating a de-facto state in the Arab borderlands. What makes the administration any more confident our conventional military can be more successful against a fanatical religious army than they were against the Taliban or Sunni militias, both of which are still operational?* Motivated by revenge, ISIS intends to draw the United States into a disastrous unconventional ground war in Central Asia that pales in comparison to Vietnam. Shocking brutality used as a propaganda weapon is a means. ISIS is nothing if not calculating. Even its brutality exhibits a perverse logic. The UN believes that $50 million has been paid in ransoms within the last 12 months. When hostage negotiations fail, the bodies are sold back to grieving families.

The burning man spectacle is brutal revenge against a Jordanian government closely identified with the United States and fighting against the extremists. Jordan's former King Hussein was on the CIA payroll. The execution took place at the site of a bombing that killed 30 fighters of ISIS. The horrendous video evidence will be displayed by western warmongers to stir hatred among 'Mericans against Muslims, and the death of American aid worker Kayla Mueller will be exploited for cynical political purposes. Exactly what ISIS wants. Where will an outraged Uncle Sam find terrorists next? You betcha! It starts with a U and rhymes with the same old refrain.

*the number and sophistication of weapons captured or purchased in the global weapons market by ISIS is startling. It is no longer just a light infantry column. The militants have captured modern tanks and artillery from the retreating Iraqi army, and they are buying Chinese and Russian weapons. They possess both anti-tank and anti-aircraft shoulder-fired missiles that they use with devastating effect. Twenty-eight Abrams tanks, reputedly the best in the world, have been damaged in fighting including five that suffered full armor penetration. Six Iraqi helicopters have been shot down and sixty others damaged. Syrian rebels have provided the T-72 tank, a relatively modern Russian design. It will cost billions to defeat such a well armed force. One authoritative estimate is $15 to $20 billion annually. The next pilot to be burned may well be an American.