CBS: ‘We Have No Choice’ but to Attack ISIS ‘Before We All Get Killed’
If there’s one thing that animates the discussion of Obama’s war plan against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), it is the idea that the group could attack the United States. There is no evidence of such danger right now–a point that is certainly covered by the press (e.g., Washington Post, 9/13/14)–but the array of voices in the media saying otherwise can seem to overwhelm any reasonable discussions.
After the release of another gruesome beheading video, CBS‘s Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer(9/14/14) had this exchange with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough:
SCHIEFFER: Seeing this video yesterday leads me to believe that if we ever had any doubt about these people posing a threat to the United States, these videos would remove that. Are they a threat to our national security?
MCDONOUGH: There’s no question that they are a threat to our national security. What we have said is that we are not aware of any credible threats to the homeland right now.
Aside from asking a guest to answer a question you’ve already removed “any doubt” about in your own mind, it is strange to consider these execution videos evidence that the group poses a threat to the United States. They have executed people they have taken hostage in violent, war-torn countries. This is criminal behavior, to be sure, but the idea that they constitute a danger to “national security” doesn’t add up. McDonough doesn’t exactly clarify matters either, since he appears to be arguing that a group can pose such a threat without having intelligence about any particular threat.
But for Schieffer, the point is that there should be more of a sense of panic–which he made clear later on in the show during an interview with a Republican lawmaker:
SCHIEFFER: You know, your colleague, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, showed extreme frustration this morning. Here is just a bit of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM: There’s no way in hell you can form an army on the ground to go into Syria to destroy ISIL without a substantial American component. This president needs to rise to the occasion before we all get killed back here at home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHIEFFER: So, should there be more of sense of urgency about meeting this threat? We haven’t had any airstrikes in it seems like a week. And there have been three of these beheadings.
Clearly Schieffer was not playing a clip from a different Sunday show as an example of irresponsible fear-mongering. Instead, Graham’s nonsensical claim that failing to “destroy ISIL” could result in us “all get[ting] killed here back home” was presented as evidence that there should be “more sense of urgency about meeting this threat.”
As for “we haven’t had any airstrikes in it seems like a week”–actually, the CBS Evening News (9/11/14) had reported on airstrikes against ISIS three days earlier, in a broadcast that Schieffer himself appeared in. The Associated Press (9/13/14) reported more attacks on ISIS the following day–two days before Face the Nation. No airstrikes in a week or a day–what’s the difference when you’re trying to generate a sense of urgency?
And then Schieffer explained in his commentary where he’s coming from: “What kind of people kill the innocent, in the hope of impressing their enemies? These kind of people, barbarians, psychopaths. And who are they trying to impress? The video’s title page leaves no doubt. It says, ‘A Message to the Allies of America.'”
He goes on to explain what should be done:
There are still those who say all this has nothing to do with America, that ISIS does not really pose a threat to us. Sadly, ISIS does not seem to see it that way. And these videos make it clear. Yes, America is wary of war, but when fires break out, we fight them before they spread, not when it is convenient. We have no choice now.
Whatever it takes and, as the president said, however long it takes, this evil must be eradicated. These forces must be destroyed.
When the host of a discussion show says, “We have no choice now,” that doesn’t bode well for the show having a discussion that presents a full range of choices.