Schieffer on the turning point for Obama and ISIS
Some will say the President made a wrong turn. Some -- and I am one of them -- believe it was the right way to go.
- Obama: We must dismantle ISIS "network of death" (CBS News, 09/24/14)
- Obama pushes to build coalition against ISIS at U.N. ("CBS This Morning," 09/24/14)
Reality is not always to our liking, but it is reality. The president's decision to go after ISIS was a recognition that the war on terror is not over, and won't be over until the terrorists say it's over -- which they will never do, and which is why they must be destroyed.
Some will criticize the president for being too slow to act, and I do believe he should have acted more quickly. But reluctance to put American lives on the line until absolutely necessary is not a bad thing.
Critics on the other side will argue he's taking us into another war, when he campaigned to take us out of war. I have said before that we went to Iraq for the wrong reasons and left in the wrong way, but that was then and this is now.
No one wants more war, but we can't pick and choose when to confront threats to our national security.
We do that when the threat emerges.
Last week was a turning point for the administration, but to my mind, the president had no choice but to do what he did.