ISIL and Genocide

For John, BLUF:  Avoid foreign engagements but be ready to slap down serious terrorism.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Writing in The Washington Post, Reporter Terrence McCoy gives us "The Islamic State’s bloody campaign to exterminate minorities:  ‘Even Genghis Khan didn’t do this’".

This is about the Yazidi People of Northern Iraq.  From the article:

In the back of a cavernous hall, standing behind rows of solemn-looking men, an Iraqi politician known for her passion began to shriek.  Her name was Vian Dakhil:  the lone representative of the Yazidi people in Iraq’s parliament.  And she was asking for someone, anyone, to listen.  The Islamic State had just expelled thousands of her people from the northern town of Sinjar.  Stranded on a barren mountain without food or water, they faced extermination.

Women, she said, were being sold as sexual slaves.  Children, she said, were dying.  Someone, she said, must take notice.

Good luck with that.

However, we need to understand that ISIL, the Islamic State, is a brutal, thuggish, organization.  One is reminded of the Khmer Rouge.

What we should do, absolutely, is open our borders to people like the Yazidi, because they are refugees from serious threats—threats of extermination; threats of genocide.

Regarding ISIL itself, we (the US) aren't going to do anything about the organization, its armed forces and crimes, but by the same token, we should not play nice with this organization without good reason.  We may provide arms and supplies, and trainers, to the Iraqi Government, but we should not be sending ground forces.  Airpower, land or sea based, might be reasonable, but not the Infantry.  Even if we (through our Government) elect not to support Iraq, we need to be ready, if ISIL steps across the line in terms of terrorism against us, to test out the value of the combination of airpower and special operations against such organizations and forces.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff