A former US congressman said the United States should be grateful to Iran for its assistance to the Iraqi government in the campaign against the so-called Islamic State (IS) militant group, which poses a serious threat to the US interests.
"Instead of being angered at Iranian help to address the problem of ISIS (another acronym for IS, which stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) perhaps we should send them a 'thank you' note," Ron Paul wrote in a recent article published by Fitsnews.
He said as Iran continues to take an active role in helping Iraq fight IS, "many US neocons are upset that the American military is not over there on the ground doing the fighting… But what is wrong with the countries of the region getting together and deciding to cooperate on a common problem?" adding, "It is far more likely that the ISIS problem will be solved by the countries in the region than by US bombs and ground troops.
"Our bombs will continue to make the problem worse because it was our bombs that helped create the problem in the first place."
Nonsensical Policy
Elsewhere, the former lawmaker said, IS is an idea, not a country or an army, which is why the US declaring war on the militant group "makes no sense."
"It is clear that if we really want to defeat ISIS, the last thing we should be doing is bombing and sending troops back to Iraq and into Syria. Our bombs and involvement in the region only serve to recruit more fighters into ISIS. To make matters worse, many of these radicalized fighters come from Europe and even the US. What happens when they go home"?
In conclusion, Paul said the neocons and other interventionists will not cheer Iran currently taking steps to defeat IS even though they claim that IS is at this time the number one threat to the US.
"Why don't they like this good news? Because they desire the rest of the world to believe that the US is the only indispensable nation. They want the rest of the world… to believe that no problem anywhere can be solved without US involvement," he said, adding, "It diminishes our prestige, they argue, for us not to take the lead in every conflict everywhere on the globe. Perhaps if people overseas begin to see that they can solve their own local and regional problems without the US military involved, more Americans would come to see the neocons as the real threat to our national… security."
