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OPINION

The Use of Force

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
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“…Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity,” prayed Franklin D. Roosevelt as he led the American people in a petition to God to protect our brave men who would storm the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944.

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When Roosevelt sent our young men and women off to battle against an evil that aimed for world domination, he felt the full weight of what he was doing on shoulders. He didn’t take that responsibility lightly, and he made sure to place U.S. troops in a position to win. In the end the wisdom of President Roosevelt and of his advisers were rewarded with a victory for the Allied Forces, and the seemingly unstoppable march of tyranny was suddenly and heroically halted.

Over 70 years later, we are facing a similar evil, under a much less adept administration. There are many ideological similarities between the Nazis and radical Islam. The Nazis wanted the world to be under the rule of the Third Reich, while radical Islam seeks to bring it under the rule of the caliphate. The only difference between then and now is in the 1940s both Republicans and Democrats acknowledged the threat the Nazis posed to the world.

Today, the DNC has largely downplayed the very existence of a caliphate, and nothing has been done to stop ISIS as it seeks to build an empire in the Middle East. The Democrat Party chooses instead to believe the world’s various terrorist groups have very different objectives and that there is no single, unified threat Americans need to worry about. This fact was made more evident by the Obama administration’s clear distinction between the wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

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The Obama White House strategically marketed the wars in the Middle East, which even the Middle Easterners themselves see as one, centuries-long conflict, as separate battles so that President Obama could say he had “ended the war in Iraq” and so he could receive the benefits of bringing “peace” to the region, which, of course, has not happened.

Recently, it has been announced that Obama is going to leave troops in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future. Roughly 9,800 troops will be maintained in the region. If 68,000 troops in 2009 didn’t get the job done, a point made clear by Colin Powell in a 2010 interview with ABC, what difference will less than 10,000 make?

It has long been known by the military community that the funding of terrorism has and continues to come from Iran. In Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorist attacks seem to follow a fiscal cycle, much like how government agencies function here in the United States. In the beginning of the cycle, the number of terrorist attacks are more frequent and larger in scale, and our casualties increase. As the year goes on and they have less money, the attacks become less frequent and more sporadic.

Earlier this year President Obama, sidestepping Congress, tried to sell to the American people the ludicrous idea the Iran deal was a clear path to peace with Iran. He did so with the knowledge that we have been fighting a war against them for the past 15 years, only not on their soil.

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President Obama is now in a position where he must choose between his own agenda and the security of the United States of America, as well our Allies, and based on the deal made with Iran and the decision to leave less than 10,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, his decision is clear: politics trumps all.

In order to end the war, Obama would have to stop dealing with Iran on their terms and hold them responsible for bankrolling terrorism. The problem is in order to do that he needs to put America and the mission first and put his own agenda aside, scrapping the Iran deal and flushing out the true enemy.

As a veteran of the Iraq war, I have seen firsthand what happens when leadership has a personal agenda in mind, as opposed to one focused on the mission. The brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces do not exist to maintain one man’s political career or a party’s political agenda; they serve to maintain the safety and security of the United States.

President Obama, the brave soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen that make up the greatest military in the world do not belong to you. They belong to almighty God, and the people of the United States of America. Their lives have been entrusted to you and Congress for necessary purposes related to the preservation of liberty, not to throw around on a whim or to score political points. Either put them in a position to engage and destroy the enemy with overwhelming force or bring them home safely.

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