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The nation has watched agape at the atrocities committed by ISIS, an Islamic terrorist group, in Iraq – at least 45 people burned to death, 21 Coptic Christians beheaded, several international journalists beheaded, mass kidnappings, organ harvesting (wait what??), crucifixion of children, and more.
Now, it looks like soldiers from Ft. Carson in Colorado Springs could get the first bite at the apple in responding to these barbaric acts.
The Third Brigade Combat Team, a unit of 4,000 soldiers of the historic 4th Infantry Division, is in the process of moving its people and equipment to a pre-positioning location in Kuwait. Since official combat operations in Iraq ended in 2011, the military has maintained a force about this size in Kuwait, ready to deliver a quick strike over the land if the need arises.
Until now, units have rotated through this assignment with little notice or fanfare, but with President Obama’s post-Iraq strategy in shambles and a terrorist army operating openly across a land that we paid a great price to secure, these Colorado troops may find themselves on center stage if Obama acts on what would be a massive reversal of his post-Iraq policy for combat forces in that region.
Just six months ago, Obama somberly addressed the nation from the White House on this policy, and, then, toured the country re-enforcing his no boots-on-the-ground policy, saying, “as your Commander in Chief, I will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to fighting another ground war in Iraq.”
It should be noted that the President does not express a desire for protracted ground operations as part of an authorization request that he made to Congress. But with the administration’s policy shifting faster than the wind-blown sands in the Iraqi desert, the President has not shown any reason to expect any certainty from this policy, or any other foreign policy.
We expect our Congressional delegation to hold this administration accountable for its strategy (or lackthereof), planning (or lackthereof), and actions. After all, a major unit from Colorado is poised to be first to fight if Obama changes his mind yet again.