What better way for a king to show solidarity with his people and make ISIS pay for their unconscionable crimes than by personally strapping on armor and going to war against them? Via Mary Katharine Ham and The DC:
Jordan’s King Abdullah ibn al-Hussein, who has trained as a pilot, may fly a bomber himself on Thursday in the country’s retaliation against the ISIS.Several Arabic-language newspapers reported late Wednesday that the monarch would personally participate in bombing raids on the terrorist group, citing his vow Tuesday to “strike them in their strongholds.”
The king was in Washington when news broke Tuesday of pilot Muadh al-Kasasbeh’s demise at the hands of ISIS extremists. Meeting with the House Armed Services Committee shortly before leaving for Amman, he reportedly quoted the Clint Eastwood’s film “Unforgiven” and said that Jordan would pursue the jihadis until it ran “out of fuel and bullets.”
Rep. Duncan Hunter, who was in the meeting, told Fox News that given the ruler’s immediate and vehement reaction, “King Abdullah is not President Obama.”
In fairness, President Obama is not a trained military professional. As a matter of fact, he has no military training whatsoever. So in the same way we would not expect Mitt Romney to fight America’s battles had he won the 2012 president election -- or any president, for that matter -- we cannot hold the current occupant of the White House to the same standard. Obviously.
By contrast, the King of Jordan is a warrior by training and while it’s probably ill-advisable for him to go marching off to war to conduct aerial raids against a dangerous enemy, that’s his prerogative. We do things differently here in the United States.
Nonetheless, the president can and should be criticized from time to time for how he responds to acts of terrorism perpetrated against our country. For example, his delayed reaction to the beheading of an American journalist last summer was disrespectful and optically unserious. Compare that response to how he is still punishing the leader of a close ally of ours (hint: Israel) for merely accepting an invitation to speak in front of Congress.
If that sounds ludicrous, that's because it is. Don't we have much bigger problems to solve?