Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019 | 2 a.m.
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The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has not been defeated, as Vice President Mike Pence so boldly claimed recently in support of President Donald Trump’s false pronouncements.
Had either of these politicians listened to military and intelligence experts, they would understand that an insurgent terrorist militia is much like cancer: It can be contained and weakened, but there is rarely a cure.
It is true that the caliphate in Syria, and previously in Iraq, has been greatly reduced by the United States-led 79-member global coalition over the past several years, but to use the term defeated is incorrect and encourages the terrorist group to murderous action, as evidenced by the recent street bombing that took four American lives.
This is not a football game. It is life and death, and words matter. Pence’s myopic parroting of Trump’s tweeting strategy insults Americans, and particularly veterans who know better. ISIS is not defeated and the war on terror is forever ongoing.
Furthermore, the United States military should not come home. We serve our country best by being strategically forward deployed and based to contain and combat the threat with our coalition partners. Military members past and present understand this. Had either Trump or Pence served in a forward deployed military unit, they might have a better appreciation of that fact.
