America ignoring a real threat

I watched the news this evening concerning the mayhem in Iraq, and I had to cry. The image before my eyes was that of a middle-aged Iraqi soldier, having already apparently been beaten, now handcuffed and on his knees, being slapped about his head and readied for execution by ISIS terrorists. I imagined that the man may have had a wife and kids.

As an American who cherishes freedom, I felt for him. I wondered how he came to be in that uniform. Did he sign up during the Iraq War, perhaps inspired by the hope of a prosperous and democratic Iraq, free of Saddam Hussein's brutality? Could he have been inspired by the courageous and heroic manner in which American troops fought and died for a better Iraqi future? Was he fighting for the dream of an Iraqi democracy free of terrorism, where girls can go to school, where people of different lifestyles and belief systems can live their lives in freedom, without the brutality of Sharia law? We will never know.

Our feckless president has chosen not to intervene against the ISIS terrorists seizing control of Iraq. He apparently believes that preventing ISIS terrorists from controlling an entire Middle Eastern country is not in our national interest. He doesn't seem to recognize that we are their target. One day we will fight these terrorist killers on our own streets in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. And it will be because we did nothing when we had the chance. Add this to the long list of disastrous Obama policies.

Samantha Marino

Plano