US Obligated To Act

Obama hasn’t uttered a single word about the humanitarian catastrophe that’s going on.

It is complete chaos in the Middle East right now. The Assyrians have been driven from their area of origin and in the weekend that just passed, villages and cities were attacked which belong to another peaceful minority: the Yazidis. They have a monotheistic religion which other Muslims believe idolizes the devil. When the Islamic State’s (ISIL) forces attacked their regions, hundreds were killed. In a video clip from Monday, Fiyan Dakheel, a Yazidi member of parliament, is seen appealing for help from Iraq’s government. Before she breaks down in tears, she explains how women were taken captive and sold on the market in Mosul; that around 150,000 people who fled up the mountain are stuck there, dying of heat and dehydration. According to the Assyrian International News Agency, the extremists are using captive Yazidis as human shields in the fighting against Kurdish forces. Their crime is that their interpretation of Islam isn’t acceptable.

Fiyan Dakheel is appealing to the government in the name of humanity but humanity has so far been at a loss in the face of the inferno that is swallowing up defenseless minorities. It started with a lawlessness in Syria that spread to Iraq, where ISIL has quickly seized control of large areas on its way to proclaiming a caliphate. All religions and peoples have suffered, not least of which are Muslims who are viewed as renegades.

The U.S., which should have acted a long time ago, remains mute. President Barack Obama hasn’t uttered a single word about the humanitarian catastrophe happening right before his and the world’s eyes. At the same time, pictures are spreading of former Republican presidential candidate John McCain posing with “rebels” in Syria.

The U.S. presumably wants to put together the big political puzzle, but it is difficult. In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of people are dying and being driven away.

The Christian Assyrians, like other minorities, are on the verge of being obliterated in Iraq. ISIL has also attacked Lebanon and Iran wants to go into Iraq to support the Shiite Muslim population, which has been hit hard. It is chaos.

For the first time, enemies — the Lebanese army and the Iran-supported Hezbollah militia — are collaborating against ISIL. Kurds across the borders of three nations have mobilized and pushed back ISIL from several directions, according to Kurdish sources. The map is being redrawn. The question is what roll the U.S. has or will have in this.

It isn’t enough that Obama wants to avoid being drawn into war. When the U.S., on loose grounds, went into Iraq in 2003 it contributed to the destabilization and left in its wake a country that wasn’t complete and a corrupt government incapable of holding the country together. The U.S. can’t allow itself the luxury of “wanting” — it’s too mixed up in things for that. The United States is obligated to act; for far too many, it’s already too late.