PPJC's Paul George on ISIS, American Exceptionalism and Perpetual War

Less than three years after President Obama finished the long process of pulling our country out of a long, tragic and expensive war in Iraq, and roughly a year after the American people shouted for Congress to speak out against Obama's abortive rush into war with Syria, we are opening our newspapers and turning on our radios and televisions to read and hear about airstrikes by the U.S. and "coalition partners" in both Iraq and Syria. This is happening up to this point without official Congressional input, though less formal discussion has at times touched on the idea of "boots on the ground" - a possibility that seems unthinkable after our military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan. This new involvement looks ominously like it will grow.

We hear about the barbarism the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and feel that regardless of the approach or the strategy, there seem to be different circumstances involved. Almost nobody argues that this is a serious problem for the region, and it surely needs a solution.

Many advocates for peace are dissatisfied that solution once again looks like a military one, and Paul George, Executive Director of the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, is one of them. Paul will be our guest speaker with a talk he is calling "ISIS, American Exceptionalism and Perpetual War".

Amid the daily airstrikes, questions abound: How did ISIS emerge? What are they capable of? What did the U.S. do or not do (if anything, some might add) to help create the situation in the region? What events might military action further trigger? When and how does this end? What are the alternatives to more war? We expect Paul to address at least some of these questions and perhaps a few others, much in the way he has been questioning U.S. foreign policy at the helm of PPJC for over 20 years. Over that time Paul has been a major voice for peace, justice and action; we are honored to have him, and we hope you will join us.
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