What If John McCain were President?..

I’m going to say that two of the top issues/problems within the past year(s) has been the rise of ISIS and the Syrian Refugee crisis.

The rise of ISIS came about from the U.S. downsizing their military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan and ultimately our complete withdrawal from these countries.  This of course was announced by President Obama months before it occurred and he even gave a timeline of when the downsizing would begin.  This was useful information for the leaders of ISIS to have. Once we were gone, this left these regions up for grabs for any powerful group to come in and fill the void we created.

Did we know that the Iraqi army would be so easily defeated and quickly surrender their weapons and equipment to another army (i.e. ISIS)? Well, if anyone remembers Desert Storm when Iraqi soldiers were surrendering to journalists and camera crews who were covering the war and how easily the “elite” Republican Guard was quickly defeated by the might of the U.S. Military. I would say that we knew that the Iraqi army lacked the courage and integrity based on their previous reactions when confronted by an opposing army.  The “JV Team”, ISIS quickly took hold of these regions and easily took over the Iraqi army’s weapons and equipment. Weapons and equipment that the U.S. paid for and gave to the Iraqi army were now in the hands of ISIS. Not to mention the thousands of deaths, tortures and beheadings committed by ISIS. We gave up real estate that thousands of our military troops died taking and defending. Soldiers that made it home with debilitating injuries, both physical and psychological saw what they almost died for, what their friends did die for, was now handed back over to the enemy, an even more dangerous and sinister enemy.

There is no question that the American people were tired of the wars in the Middle East and the majority of Americans wanted to bring our soldiers home. I am even one of those people that wanted the soldiers to come home. But, I am not privy to all the intel that a President would know and I am not a military expert and would not know that if we pulled our armies out of these regions that it would destabilize them and open the doors for more dangerous factions to come in and wreak havoc. Well, had I really thought about it, it makes sense.  I’m pretty sure there is a video going around YouTube of President Bush exactly this.

But, honestly, I was all caught up in the whole “bring our troops home” thing. The rise of ISIS and the destabilization of the region is what has also caused the Syrian Refugee crisis. This has had an adverse effect on a large portion of Europe. Death, rape and multiple other crimes have resulted in this huge number of people escaping the unstable regions of the Middle East.

Now with that said, we are going to play a game of “what if..?”

What if John McCain was elected President in 2008 instead of Barrack Hussain Obama?

If John McCain was President, do you think that he would have pushed for the complete withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan?  Let alone announced it to the world what he would have done? The fact is that we were there. We were neck deep in the Middle East and our mission was not done. The Iraqi army was far from ready to defend their country. As much as the American people wanted our troops back (including me), it was the wrong thing to do. It destabilized those countries, caused the mass exodus of the Syrian people and as a result, thousands of people died, were murdered, raped and a slew of horrible things occurred.

There are some situations better left for the experts to decide then some poll of Americans that have no clue of foreign affairs and military strategies.

If John McCain had become President in 2008, ISIS would have never gotten as big as they are and most likely would have been squashed by our military had they even tried. Thousands of lives would have been saved. The ripple effect on the nearby countries as a result of the Syrian Refugees would have never happened.  These are just two issues that would have been dramatically different had John McCain been in the White House.

Think about it…

~ Sean