Sheldon Richman on Obama Repeating Bush's Folly in Iraq
U.S. politicians are exploiting the gruesome beheadings of two American journalists to whip up war fever against ISIS, the "criminal gang," masquerading as an organization of devout Sunni Muslims, that controls large parts of Syria and Iraq. The American propaganda campaign seems to be working if recent polls are accurate. No decent person is anything but appalled by those executions. But are they grounds for the United States to go to war? No, they are not, writes Sheldon Richman. Barack Obama says his job is to protect Americans wherever they are, but he doesn't cite the source of this power. No such power is implied in the president's oath of office, which obligates him only to "faithfully execute the Office of President" and to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution."