Now that the US midterm elections are over, with Republicans making gains in the House and especially the Senate, neocon desktop bombardier Max Boot takes to Commentary Magazine to explain to President Obama what the results really mean.
The foreign-born Boot, who was not himself inspired to join the military of his adopted country, nevertheless sees the election result as a clear mandate for…you guessed it: more and larger US wars overseas.
The rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria are all Obama’s fault, writes Boot. Obama’s failure to attack Assad in Syria last year “created an image of weakness and indecision” that provided fertile ground for the rise of ISIS.
By Boot’s logic, only the destruction of the one force actively fighting ISIS in Syria (Assad’s Syrian Arab Army) could have prevented ISIS’s blitzkrieg through the region.
His logic goes something like this: The enemy of my enemy must be destroyed so that my enemy can be destroyed.
And neocons are supposed to be the smartest kids in the class?
It is telling that this illogic does not undermine the ability of neocon foreign policy pundits to earn well-paid positions in places like the Council for Foreign Relations, whence Boot enjoys a no-doubt considerable paycheck.
So how does Generalfeldmarschall Boot see Obama’s only way out of the foreign policy mess?
He must first end the “mindless cuts” to the Pentagon budget under the sequestration, which are resulting in a “hollow” military.
Of course, these “cuts” are not cuts at all, as CATO pointed out a couple of years ago, but rather very slight decreases in the projected increase in military spending. Here is a handy chart to demonstrate the point.
Second, according to Boot, once military spending is fully ramped up, Obama must set out to provoke a war with nuclear-armed Russia — because, hey, why not go in big?
Recommends Boot: “Impose tougher sanctions on Russia, freezing Russian companies entirely out of dollar-denominated transactions, while sending arms and trainers to Kiev.”
Then, Obama must commit to keeping troops in Afghanistan forever. No drawdown!
Fourth, “Increase the tempo of airstrikes against ISIS, and send a lot more troops to Iraq and Syria…”
On Iran, Boot waxes nostalgic, advising that Obama end talks and return to the US’s “post-1979 role of containing Iranian power and siding with the likes of Israel…” Oh yes, that anti-Israel US foreign policy of late simply must go!
Max Boot is reasonable, however. He does not expect Obama to fulfill his demands all in a day. But he would like a little bit of reassurance:
“A good sign of such a commitment would be launching airstrikes on Iran’s proxy, Bashar al-Assad,” he writes.
Another front in the war? Oh…is that all?
