Almost at the same time that President Barack Obama was in Atlanta at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last Tuesday, declaring a commitment of 3,000 U.S. military forces to West Africa to deal with the ravages of the Ebola epidemic, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he would recommend ground troops in the fight against the Islamic State group if necessary.
With an agenda overflowing with critical issues, the Obama administration is now racing against the clock to halt the spread of Ebola that has afflicted nearly 5,000 people and almost half of them resulting in deaths, mainly in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, according to the most recent reports from the World Health Organization.
“The reality is that this epidemic is going to get worse before it gets better,” the president said. “The United States of America intends to do more … to make sure that the world understands the need for them to step alongside us.”
In addition to the promise to deploy troops, $500 million has been redirected from the budget to fight the disease, with Liberia, a former U.S. colony, earmarked for the lion’s share. This will help to meet the goal of establishing 17 treatment centers to speed the creation of 1,000 beds needed in the next week or so.
“Faced with this outbreak,” Obama continued, “the world is looking to us, the United States, and it’s a responsibility that we embrace. It’s a potential threat to global security if these countries break down, if their economies break down, if people panic. That has profound effects on all of us, even if we are not directly contracting the disease.”
Meanwhile, Dempsey, with his comments before the Senate Armed Services Committee, let fly the possibility of U.S. troops being deployed to fight against the spread of another menace, causing some concern from the Obama administration, which has stated its opposition to such a measure.
When Sen. Carl Levin asked Dempsey to clarify his position, he said, “If we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] targets, I will recommend that to the president.”
Moreover, he said the president had requested that he advise the administration on “a case-by-case basis” if the military situation changes. Like the funds directed to West Africa, $500 million is slated to aid in the fight against the Islamic State group.
Critical to all these possibilities is the vote from Congress, which to date is locked in typical paralysis, unsure how to proceed, with partisans on the left and right with different reasons for denying approval. While the major Democrats appear to stand behind the president, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Levin, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, there are other rank-and-file members who are not that enthusiastic about the plan, a few expressing reservations about the “end game.”
Even so, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill told Politico, “By and large, I think people know this is the best alternative among a lot of bad choices.”
Rep. Charles Rangel offered this caveat about the situation, saying that if this country is willing to declare war on the Islamic State group, then every citizen should have to pay a tangible price.
“It’s so easy to try to bring justice to a situation if it doesn’t cost you anything or any inconvenience. Already we have lost trillions of dollars and over 6,000 lives in this area, and I don’t think we have yet to declare war,” he said Tuesday in a press release. And the word “war” is a term that Obama has been very wary of using.
Rangel proposed a “war tax” as part of the sacrifice. “These last wars, the only people who have suffered were those people who had boots on the ground, or those people who know people, or those people who went to the funerals.
“I don’t think it’s asking too much of Americans to be able to say yes, and we’re willing to pay taxes for it, and yes, we’re ready to have mandatory recruitment of young men and women who are prepared to say that if our nation’s in trouble, we all should be doing something,” he concluded.
