America is the real target of ISIS

Members of the Islam State of Iraq and Shaam (Isis) with senior commander Abu Waheeb 

Isolationism may finally be decreasing in the GOP. Advocating an American leadership role and opposition to the Islamic State has been a lonely struggle for many years. John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Kelly Ayotte, Mike Rogers, Buck McKeon, Wall Street Journal and the Weekly Standard were always steadfast in this struggle, but far too many Republicans swallowed the Liberty Caucus, FreedomWorks and Tea Party Patriots do nothing line.

The reasonable Republicans won some important primary victories this year over the suicide caucus, but the war is far from over. It was important that we won those primaries, but the isolationists demonstrated major strength within the party. They will continue to advocate isolationist policies which will defeat us in a general election.

FreedomWorks is a libertarian organization, but they describe themselves as conservative. They claim Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) is the "Number one conservative" in Congress. Amash has an 18% rating from the pro-defense Center for Security Policy. The problem is not one congressman though, it is that many groups are portraying anti-defense policies as conservative views.

Senators McCain and Graham were repeatedly accused of wanting to help the Islamic State. Far too many people believed that ridiculous accusation. Rand Paul was silent for five days after Obama's speech, but even he is now supporting the President's pinprick air strategy.

 Jedediah "Jeddy" Bila, Fox News

Obviously far more has to be done, but at least president Obama is backing some military action. Today we should be praising Jedediah Bila for her wisdom on Iraq and Syria, and encouraging her present viewpoint.  She said on Fox: "Memo to Obama: ISIS doesn't care about political solutions. They care about killing and destruction. Wake up and start handling evil properly. ISIS must be destroyed. . ."  Is Jedediah a wise foreign policy analyst?  Of course not!  She was firmly opposed to assisting the Free Syrian Army which is battling Assad and ISIS, she is only one pundit, but we should be glad her tone has changed.

This week's Pew Poll has Republicans backing aggressive action against the Islamic State by a 71 to 14 margin. That is far different from the past. Last year 171 House Republicans were opposed to helping the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the final whip count. They believed the FSA was helping the Islamic State. 103 Republicans voted for the Fortenberry amendment to cut off all aid to the FSA. Many of them wanted to oppose Obama and public opinion was against the aid. Many groups claiming to be conservative were also against the aid package. The United States did nothing and "nothing" was an enormous help to the Islamic State.

They have killed over 170,000, wounded 630,000 and there are over 11 million refugees in both Syria and Iraq. The Islamic State is not going to stop. They are already attacking Lebanon and Jordan will be next.

Their cruel beheading video this week clearly says: "America you are our real target!"

In no way should this be considered  a "We told you so" article, but rather a praise to Jedediah and all the other recent new hawks. Recriminations will not help us now. Republicans must unite behind the GOP lawmakers who are now saying the right things about the Islamic State. We at Dyed in the Wool Republican hope our new hawk friends don't flip back to isolationism, our way of life depends on how we deal with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). It will be a long difficult struggle.

May God Bless America!