Action Alert! Demand that Congress debate and vote on military action against ISIS

Wake up, America! It’s happening again. After 13 years of failed Neocon wet dreams of a Pax Americana empire at the point of an American gun and military occupation, the Neocon war mongers are beating their war drums for yet another war.

There is always, of course, our Neocon Senator John McCain and his puppet boy Little Lindsey Graham, and the military-industrial complex corporate media who are always ready to hand them a microphone from which to trumpet their next war.

And we are about to be subjected again to this kind of ridiculous nonsense from former Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH): “ISIS is as real and as evil as any enemy we have seen since Nazi Germany.” Gregg: Two weeks to take the fight to ISIS. What is it with Republicans and Nazi/Hitler comparisons? One Of These Things is Not Like The Others.

“A rough count of ISIS’ fighting strength suggests it has a bit more than 7,000 combat troops, and it can occasionally grab reinforcements from other extremist militias.” The Iraqi army is much stronger than ISIS, but it’s also kind of a mess. “Thirty-thousand Iraqi troops ran from 800 ISIS fighters. Those are 40:1 odds! Yet Iraqi troops ran because they simply didn’t want to fight and die for this [Iraq] government.” So Americans should?

7,000 combat troops is approximately equivalent to two brigades in the U.S. Army, not enough for even one division. We are talking about the “Toyota Taliban” here. Toyota Hilux by far is terrorists pickup of choice.  The manufacturer’s recommended retail price for a 2013 Toyota Hilux Workmate ranges from $18,990 to $29,740. 2013 Toyota Hilux Price Guide. The U.S. Air Force is blowing up pickup trucks with AGM-114 Hellfire Missiles that cost approximately $70,000 a piece.

Here’s an idea: get Toyota to stop selling its pickup trucks in the region — it would be a helluva lot cheaper.  And who exactly are the car dealers in the region who sell these trucks to terrorists? Fucking car dealers are the same the world over!

As for the American armoured vehicles that we inadvertently supplied to ISIS (oops!) when the Iraqi Army we equipped and trained turned tail and ran leaving everything behind, those vehicles are quickly becoming useless to ISIS. These are high maintenance vehicles that require air filters and treads to be replaced frequently. ISIS does not have resupply and maintenance, they are running these vehicles into the ground. This is not the Wehrmacht Nazi Army with multiple divisions of  Panzer tanks and mechanized infantry.

And by the way Sen. Gregg, ISIS also does not have the Luftwaffe Air Force or the Kriegsmarine Navy of Nazi Germany. Your Nazi comparison just identifies you as a complete fucking idiot.

ISIS, for all its pretense to being a Muslim Caliphate, does not represent any branch or sect of the Muslim faith. Muslim Leaders Worldwide Condemn ISIS | Global Research. Some of its Western recruits know no more about the Muslim faith than what they read in Islam For Dummies (an actual guide).

ISIS is a criminal terrorist organization that engages in rape, pillage and plunder, kidnapping and ransoming hostages. They are similar to the Somali pirates who seize oil tankers and cargo ships, only ISIS engages in “piracy” on land.

For the criminal element attracted to ISIS, this is an adventure for soldiers of fortune in a lawless region of the world in which chaos was unleashed as a result of the unnecessary and illegal U.S. war with Iraq. Nature abhors a vacuum, and ISIS is opportunistic in seeking to fill the vacuum left by the failed Nouri al-Maliki government of Iraq.

This is the “blowback” to Neocon wars of adventure that Sens. McCain and Graham never even consider as a consequence of their war mongering. Blowback, Second Edition: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire.

This is the mess that President Obama has been asked to clean up. On Sunday, President Obama said he would speak to the nation on Wednesday to try to make a case for launching a wider United States-led offensive against ISIS in the Middle East. Obama to Present Case for Broader U.S. Mission Against Militants:

President Obama will use a speech to the nation on Wednesday to make his case for launching a United States-led offensive against Sunni militants gaining ground in the Middle East, seeking to rally support for a broad military mission while reassuring the public he is not plunging American forces into another Iraq war.

“I’m preparing the country to make sure that we deal with a threat from” the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, Mr. Obama said in an interview broadcast Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“What I want people to understand,” he said, “is that over the course of months, we are going to be able to not just blunt the momentum” of the militants. “We are going to systematically degrade their capabilities; we’re going to shrink the territory that they control; and, ultimately, we’re going to defeat them,” he added.

The planned speech suggests that the president may be moving closer to a decision on whether to expand the month-old air campaign against ISIS in Iraq into Syria, and it is Mr. Obama’s latest attempt to answer critics who charge that he lacks a viable plan or the fortitude to go after the group.

The president was adamant that he had no intention of sending American combat troops to go after ISIS, repeating no fewer than three times during the interview that he would not do so, and calling the idea of putting United States boots on the ground “a profound mistake.”

“This is not going to be an announcement about U.S. ground troops,” Mr. Obama said. “This is not the equivalent of the Iraq war.”

Regardless, the current air campaign in Iraq is subject the 60 day duration of the War Powers Resolution. Congress must authorize any military action in Iraq beyond 60 days. This is not a short-term proposition. Destroying ISIS May Take Years, U.S. Officials Say.

Any military action to be taken inside Syria, a sovereign nation, requires an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) from Congress — something Congress would not do exactly one year ago when President Obama asked for such an authorization to pursue Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile (now destroyed after diplomatic negotiations).

Any military action inside Syria should be part of a broad international coalition, one that includes the neighboring Arab League states. This must also be taken before the United Nations. The 69th Session of the UN General Assembly will convene at UN Headquarters on Tuesday, September 16, 2014.

Congress cannot on the one hand sue the president and threaten his impeachment for taking executive actions on “ObamaCare,” and on the other hand completely abdicate its constitutionally prescribed duties to decide questions of war under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. Several bills are currently being floated for an AUMF.

The Maddow Blog is maintaining a Whip Count: Congressional Calls for a Vote on Fighting ISIS. Members of the Arizona Congressional Delegation who are on record calling for a vote:

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
Rep. Ed Pastor (D-AZ)
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ)
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ)

Contact your Senators and Congressional members and demand that they state their position for a debate and a vote on any further military action in Iraq (and Syria) against ISIS. They must do their constitutional duty!