Editorial voices from elsewhere
Editorial voices from newspapers around the country as compiled by the Associated Press:
A 42-year-old intruder entered the White House Sept. 19 in less time and with less trouble than a tourist waiting in line for a guided tour might encounter.
Iraq war veteran Omar Gonzalez, who apparently suffers from mental problems, scaled the 7-foot spiked fence that surrounds the White House, ran across the front lawn and walked inside through an open door where he was stopped by a security guard. Fortunately, President Barack Obama and his family had left the grounds about 10 minutes before Gonzalez arrived.
Agents guarding the White House might have become a little complacent. And the charge that the Secret Service needs to shape up is bolstered by recent stories about agents’ wild parties while off duty in foreign cities where they were part of the presidential entourage.
Times have changed since President Harry Truman used to take unescorted walks outside the White House.
In an otherwise unhinged diatribe, the Islamic State’s chief spokesman made a boast that is uncomfortably close to the truth:
“O crusaders, you have realized the threat of the Islamic State, but you have not become aware of the cure, and you will not discover the cure because there is no cure,” Abu Mohammed al Adnani said on an audiotape released Monday. “If you fight it, it becomes stronger and tougher. If you leave it alone, it grows and expands.”
This is precisely the predicament in which the United States and the West find themselves. Ignoring this growing threat only invites its expansion and increased stability. Attempting to destroy it requires a level of engagement that most Americans will not support, and is probably futile in any case.
A majority of Americans, and of Congress, support the Obama administration’s current airstrike campaign against ISIS targets in Syria. A new Washington Post-ABC poll found that 71 percent of respondents back airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, and nearly two-thirds support them in Syria.
That’s nearly a complete reversal from a year ago. Public support for military action is fickle, though, and could taper quickly the deeper America and its allies trudge in chasing President Obama’s stated goal of “destroying” the Islamic State. The airstrikes are easy to get behind, given the low risk they pose to U.S. personnel. They are insufficient, however, for eliminating the extremist network. That would require a significant and prolonged American military presence on the ground in Syria and elsewhere, a scenario that neither we nor a majority of the public embraces.
Americans, though, need to fully understand that the bombing is just one more step in a very long fight. The unsettling truth is that international relations have evolved and the West is now in a fight not with a nation-state but with a radical ideology that spreads like a virus across parts of the world. The fight against that virus is likely to last as long as we all live.
Even for this do-nothing Congress, this is appalling. After a five-week summer vacation, the honorables spent barely a week at work before heading home again – this time until after the November election.
From their perspective, that may be their most important task – to get re-elected, though most are running for relatively safe seats. That makes it even more important for constituents to show up at town halls to ask tough questions and hold members of Congress accountable.
The current recess means that between Aug. 1 and Nov. 12, the Republican-led House will be in session a grand total of 10 days. That’s shameful given the state of our nation and world.
The 113th Congress is on track to be the least productive in 60 years. Is it any wonder that Obama has resorted to executive actions to get things done?