The Reluctant Sheriff

The Reluctant Sheriff

Like it or not, the United States continues to occupy the position and bear the responsibility of the global enforcer of justice.  We inherited this ominous responsibility since effectively dealing with the Axis powers in World War II.  From the time of our defeat of the Nazi menace in Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific, the world looks to the United States as the ultimate enforcer of good and our President as the “Matt Dillon” who wears the star on his chest.

In recent years, there has been increasing disdain for this role and for the”Matt Dillon” of the era.  One cannot help but to reflect on history when we observe what is taking place in today’s world.  The Radical Islamists are a cruel and barbaric collection of organizations who claim to be involved in a succession of Jihads aimed at advancing the Islamic faith and the glory of Allah.  In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.  No person who is truly religious and believes in a loving God would ever engage in the kind of cruel and evil brutality that we have recently witnessed.  As you may remember from my previous writings, I am a strong proponent of the “Golden Rule”.  As a matter of fact, I feel that the “Golden Rule” is the foremost lesson to be taken from any religion and the rest is mere window dressing.  The Radical Islamists practice the antithesis of the “Golden Rule” and they need to be clearly labelled as anti-Islamists by that religion that they are attempting to highjack.

But what is to be done to eliminate this threat?  Unchecked evil rapidly grows in strength.  We should have learned this from the misguided attempt by the European community to appease Hitler.  I have no doubt that had it not been for the U.S. being awakened by the savage Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor,  the world would now look entirely different.  All of Europe would now be speaking German and Japan would have run roughshod throughout Asia.  Whether we like it or not, the world looks to the U.S. to enforce worldwide law and order.  The United Nations was a good idea for a world body to assume this role but, sadly, it didn’t work.  At no time did this become more clear than in the  Saddam Hussein eara in Iraq.  Saddam was lobbing missiles here and there, primarily into Israel, taking aggressive actions against his neighbors and brutalizing his own people.  The UN was grossly unsuccessful in attempting to deal with the situation.  Saddam simply ignored 16 or so UN resolutions which demanded him to curtail his aggressions.  It was then the world learned that the UN was all bark and no bite.  At the time someone described them as a nearly useless debating society.

I remember listening to a PBS program where a number of Iraqis who had escaped the country were interviewed and their tales of brutality, torture and murder taking place under the repressive regime of Saddam were sickening.  I thought to myself at the time that the only way this “Hitler-like” behavior would be ended would be for the US to again take the lead and act decisively to end this terrible regime.  We did and I will remind everyone that we did so with the full approval of leaders in both parties.  For me, at the time, the issue of weapons of mass destruction was a sidelight.  My concern was for the many poor helpless souls in Iraq who were being brutalized and murdered.  Although we achieved our goal of putting Saddam Hussein’s regime out of business, since that time, President Bush has received constant, politically-motivated, criticism for his actions, although, at the time, leaders of both parties supported this war effort.

Fast forward ahead to today, is it any wonder that President Obama has been very hesitant to play the role of enforcer?   After seeing what happened to President Bush, he has tried his utmost to avoid pinning that star on his chest.  Can anyone blame him?  Our politics can be as cruel as any world tyrant.  But the atrocities we are currently witnessing rival Hitler’s Holocaust brutality in nature if not in magnitude.  Our President needs to realize that in assuming the Presidency of this “Super Power”, one not only assumes the role of  leading on national issues but also the ominous responsibility for leading in the protection of the world against evil.  He needs to pin that star to his chest