The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill

Funding the turmoil in Syria

by Michael McCarthy - 12/08/15 6:41 PM ET

Where will the money go?

President Obama is now asking for $5 billion to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). This is in addition to the $500 million already spent, and not counting the millions spent to train, arm and support Sunni militias, like the Free Syrian Army. Yet, these militias have not, are not and will not fight ISIS terrorists; rather, they fight to overthrow the Shiite Assad government. This is part of the same Arab Spring policy that overthrew the Gadhafi government in Libya, the Mubarak government in Egypt and armed militias and terrorists throughout North Africa, Syria and Iraq.

{mosads}In addition to funding Sunni terrorism, we just gave Shiite Iran $130 billion, which it will use to help the Shiite Assad regime. In effect, we’re funding both sides.

However, the Russians have now rescued the Assad regime by taking control of the oil pipeline terminus and bombing the militia’s supply routes from Turkey. As a result, millions of Sunni militia fighters, their families and supporters in northwest Syria are surrounded, displaced and ready to migrate to Europe or America.

Congress must stop funding this militia; halt any refugee resettlement here; and, instead fund demilitarized safe zones for these people in Syria and Bosnia. Urge Congress to act!

From Michael McCarthy, Hayward, Calif.

A history of convenient violence

If we are to truly confront the terrorist menace that threatens our society, we must examine the reasons why terrorists wish to do us harm (“Terrorism recasts gun debate,” Dec. 5).

For decades, our “leaders” have subscribed to the philosophy that the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” by covertly allying themselves with and supplying Islamic terrorists in such places as Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and many other places in an effort to enable regime change in countries that they don’t like by using these terrorists to do their dirty work. This is akin to making a deal with the devil.

As a result, we have received and will continue to receive significant blowback as the world becomes ever more dangerous. The more we illegally intervene and seek to destroy nations such as Syria or Yugoslavia, which never threatened us, the more consequences of action and reaction that we will have to face.

It’s high time we stop our costly and dangerous quixotic adventurism abroad and focus on the critical issues needing to be resolved at home, such as properly regulating the ownership of weapons and addressing/discouraging Hollywood’s obsession with violence.

From Michael Pravica, Henderson, Nev.

Shutter congressional pay streams

Here we go again with the potential shutdown of the federal government. This time it’s about Planned Parenthood funding.

Millions of Americans depend on a host of federal government programs that would be affected by such nonsense. Of course our congressional politicians with their herculean salaries and benefits would not be affected by such dislocations. In that context, should Congress shut down the government, these lawmakers and their respective staffs’ income streams and benefits likewise must be discontinued for the duration of such an event.

Hopefully, with a suspension of revenue streams, these eggheads would finally realize the time has arrived to begin acting in a statesman-like fashion as elected representatives on behalf of the American people, and not for their core special interest, lobbyist-backed, campaign-funded constituencies.

From Earl Beal, Terre Haute, Ind.