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Buck Brief: Obama vs. ISIS

July 28, 2015
Staff

WRITER

Filling in for Glenn on Tuesday, Buck Sexton introduced his trademarked "Buck Brief," a short monologue related to national security he performs on his regular afternoon show on TheBlaze Radio. After some cool, digital sound effects and a voice saying, "This is a secure space. All outside comms are down. Prepare to receive the Buck Brief," Buck dove into President Obama's policies dealing with ISIS and other global threats.

Listen or read the full transcript below.

BUCK: Well, it took years. And the casualties in the Syrian civil war have reached well over 250,000. But finally, the United States and Turkey are intervening or planning to intervene in a substantial fashion in that conflict, trying to do something that will have a real effect on the ground. Turkey and the U.S. have agreed in general terms to put together what they're calling a safe zone in northern Syria. Now, this it must be said, is distinct from a no-fly zone, which has been talked about for years as a method of protecting certain areas of Syria. Of course, it hearkens back to the days of the no-fly zone in Iraq, during which the Shia South and the Kurdish North were protected from Saddam's Air Force by the U.S. no-fly zone, by Saddam's helicopters, by whatever else he could put up in the sky.

There's been talk about this for some time. Now, let's keep in mind, there are already efforts that have been underway for years to do something about this conflict that has given rise to not only the Islamic State, but has also seen the usage of chemical weapons. It is believed at least dozens of times, chemical weapons deployed on the battlefield. The creation of mass casualty weapons, deployed as mass casualty weapons, like barrel bombs, which is essentially a giant IED dropped by Assad's helicopters from the sky over civilian-populated areas. Just a large -- large tub of gasoline with shrapnel attached to it, and it just blows up and tries to wound, kill and maim as many people as possible.

That's the conflict as it's been going on now. As I said, grinding on the rise of the Islamic State. Also, other Islamic groups, most notably Jabhat al-Nusra, which is really just al-Qaeda in Syria. We don't call it that. I don't really know why. But it is the al-Qaeda in Syria branch. And then there are other groups like Alra-hasham (phonetic). And these hard-lined Islamist and jihadist groups that are not technically a part of that, but have sort of taken a piece of Syria as their own territory. It is a giant mess. The efforts for the U.S. to do something so far and with coalition allies, has been to call it lackluster would be generous. The airstrikes in Syria have been minimal. There's an unwillingness for this administration to have any real casualties on their side of the battlefield. On ISIS, because they're so afraid of hitting civilians in the process. And that's unfortunately not a method for really hitting an enemy. If you're so concerned with this, you're not going to have any impact. And that's what we've seen so far.

Now, the creation of this safe zone, which will take some time in coordination with Turkey, which, of course, shares the border with Syria could be a good development. It seems to be a welcome development particularly for the rebel forces. The so-called modern Syrian forces. Whatever that means. Your guess is as good as mine. The modern Syrian forces on the ground in this conflict. Who have been, of course, pushed back and have become one of the least effective of all the fighting forces on the ground in Syria. The ones that the US wants to win have been allowed to take a beating and are not in a position to take the fight to the enemy and hold territory.

It was publicized just a few weeks ago that the Pentagon has managed to train a total of 60 fighters for the Syrian conflict. Sixty fighters is what we've pulled together. That is certainly not enough to make any real difference. And it shows you just how slow and plotting the administration's response to this grinding humanitarian and security catastrophe in Syria. Remember, the Islamic State based out of Raqaa still holding a lot of territory, is growing as a state, is becoming increasingly sophisticated, increasingly well armed, and is able to go on offense on multiple fronts at once with coordination and tactical precision. That's the enemy that our allies on the ground face.

Now, finally we're saying, there's going to be a safe zone in northern Syria. Well, that's going to require some doing on our part and from the Turks. And, of course, the Turks have their own problems. Not just with the civil war that is right across their border to the south and the prospect that if they become too enmeshed in all this, they may find themselves targeted by the Islamic State. That's a very real concern. That all of a sudden you could have a series of suicide bombings in Ankara or Istanbul that the Islamic State is claiming credit for. But beyond that, of course, they have their own problems with the Kurds. The Kurds who have been a useful force against the Islamic State are a political risk for Turkey.

Turkey has always had this problem with its Kurdish minority based largely down in the southeast of the country, along the Syrian and Iraqi borders. They're worried that if the Kurds are allowed to be the ones that establish their own de facto safe zone in these areas, groups that are tied to or part of the PKK, which is an insurgent group that has been fighting against the Turks for a very long time, might also stir up trouble on Turkish soil. They'll have to figure out a way to both push back against Kurdish forces, while also creating a safe space in the midst of this massive conflagration that is Syria, that of course has spilled across the border into Iraq and has now spawned a terrorist state, not just a state sponsor of terror, but a full-blown terrorist state with ISIS. That is setting up franchises well outside the Iraq/Syria corridor in places as far flung as Libya, Afghanistan, the Sinai Peninsula, even Boko Haram has pledged its fealty (phonetic) in Nigeria. And, of course, is calling for attacks from all over the world against the West. Against America. Against Europe. With lone wolves given free reign to figure out how best to strike at the Christian and Zionist invaders as the jihadists refer to them.

So this is the reality now of what they're trying to deal with in northern Syria. And, of course, many of us look at this and say, well, this certainly feels like too little too late. Why would this be sufficient to do anything in this conflict that will actually change any trajectory. That will start -- as the stated goal of the administration is to -- to degrade and destroy ISIS. Why do we think that's the case? What evidence do we have that this will be sufficient?

Keep in mind that they're going for a safe zone. Not a no-fly zone. Because once again, the administration thinks, well, if we call it something else and take a half measure, then I can't be blamed as much if this goes wrong. Because at least we're not what that silly Bush administration was. That's really one of the main motivations that they have on a lot of foreign policy issues when it comes to dealing in the Middle East, it's certainly one of the more prominent theories they operate from. Don't be Bush. That's what Obama thinks about whenever he's looking at this on a map, whenever he's briefed by chairman of the JCS, or whoever -- head of the CIA. Head of the various national intelligence agencies. He's got to be sitting there thinking, well, I can't be Bush. I can't be dragged into a quagmire. And so what's the minimum?

What we find out though is that minimum -- and this from a president, by the way, who said never again. Who made it a point to set up some sort of an international response mechanism to ethnic cleansing and to genocide. That half measures and minimalist approaches have allowed for slaughter of Christians in the Middle East. The near extinction of Christian communities in parts of Iraq. An ancient Christian community, by the way. Well, we've as a country been told that it's just a matter of time before they -- the administration gets its act together and takes real action here. Decides that it's going to do something meaningful.

Well, here we have it. It might be a few years too late. But a safe zone. A safe zone that, give it some time, will turn into a no-fly zone. But that will be on the next president's watch. Once again, you see, this president just wants to get out of office without being Bush, without making those same mistakes, without taking us down those same paths. You can decide for yourself what you think the wisdom of all that is. But that's the reality of his policy in Syria.

And that's the Buck Brief for today.

The Crisis of Meaning: Searching for truth and purpose

Mario Tama / Staff | Getty Images

Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The Bubba Effect erupts as America’s power brokers go rogue

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

When institutions betray the public’s trust, the country splits, and the spiral is hard to stop.

Something drastic is happening in American life. Headlines that should leave us stunned barely register anymore. Stories that once would have united the country instead dissolve into silence or shrugs.

It is not apathy exactly. It is something deeper — a growing belief that the people in charge either cannot or will not fix what is broken.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf.

I call this response the Bubba effect. It describes what happens when institutions lose so much public trust that “Bubba,” the average American minding his own business, finally throws his hands up and says, “Fine. I will handle it myself.” Not because he wants to, but because the system that was supposed to protect him now feels indifferent, corrupt, or openly hostile.

The Bubba effect is not a political movement. It is a survival instinct.

What triggers the Bubba effect

We are watching the triggers unfold in real time. When members of Congress publicly encourage active duty troops to disregard orders from the commander in chief, that is not a political squabble. When a federal judge quietly rewrites the rules so one branch of government can secretly surveil another, that is not normal. That is how republics fall. Yet these stories glided across the news cycle without urgency, without consequence, without explanation.

When the American people see the leadership class shrug, they conclude — correctly — that no one is steering the ship.

This is how the Bubba effect spreads. It is not just individuals resisting authority. It is sheriffs refusing to enforce new policies, school boards ignoring state mandates, entire communities saying, “We do not believe you anymore.” It becomes institutional, cultural, national.

A country cracking from the inside

This effect can be seen in Dearborn, Michigan. In the rise of fringe voices like Nick Fuentes. In the Epstein scandal, where powerful people could not seem to locate a single accountable adult. These stories are different in content but identical in message: The system protects itself, not you.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf. That does not mean they suddenly agree with everything that person says. It means they feel abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to be trustworthy.

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

A republic cannot survive without credibility. Congress cannot oversee intelligence agencies if it refuses to discipline its own members. The military cannot remain apolitical if its chain of command becomes optional. The judiciary cannot defend the Constitution while inventing loopholes that erase the separation of powers.

History shows that once a nation militarizes politics, normalizes constitutional shortcuts, or allows government agencies to operate without scrutiny, it does not return to equilibrium peacefully. Something will give.

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

In a healthy country, this is where the media steps in. This is where universities, pastors, journalists, and cultural leaders pause the outrage machine and explain what is at stake. But today, too many see themselves not as guardians of the republic, but of ideology. Their first loyalty is to narrative, not truth.

The founders never trusted the press more than the public. They trusted citizens who understood their rights, lived their responsibilities, and demanded accountability. That is the antidote to the Bubba effect — not rage, but citizenship.

How to respond without breaking ourselves

Do not riot. Do not withdraw. Do not cheer on destruction just because you dislike the target. That is how nations lose themselves. Instead, demand transparency. Call your representatives. Insist on consequences. Refuse to normalize constitutional violations simply because “everyone does it.” If you expect nothing, you will get nothing.

Do not hand your voice to the loudest warrior simply because he is swinging a bat at the establishment. You do not beat corruption by joining a different version of it. You beat it by modeling the country you want to preserve: principled, accountable, rooted in truth.

Adam Gray / Stringer | Getty Images

Every republic reaches a moment when historians will later say, “That was the warning.” We are living in ours. But warnings are gifts if they are recognized. Institutions bend. People fail. The Constitution can recover — if enough Americans still know and cherish it.

It does not take a majority. Twenty percent of the country — awake, educated, and courageous — can reset the system. It has happened before. It can happen again.

Wake up. Stand up. Demand integrity — from leaders, from institutions, and from yourself. Because the Bubba effect will not end until Americans reclaim the duty that has always belonged to them: preserving the republic for the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Warning: Stop letting TikTok activists think for you

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Bad-faith attacks on Israel and AIPAC warp every debate. Real answers emerge only when people set aside scripts and ask what serves America’s long-term interests.

The search for truth has always required something very much in short supply these days: honesty. Not performative questions, not scripted outrage, not whatever happens to be trending on TikTok, but real curiosity.

Some issues, often focused on foreign aid, AIPAC, or Israel, have become hotbeds of debate and disagreement. Before we jump into those debates, however, we must return to a simpler, more important issue: honest questioning. Without it, nothing in these debates matters.

Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

The phrase “just asking questions” has re-entered the zeitgeist, and that’s fine. We should always question power. But too many of those questions feel preloaded with someone else’s answer. If the goal is truth, then the questions should come from a sincere desire to understand, not from a hunt for a villain.

Honest desire for truth is the only foundation that can support a real conversation about these issues.

Truth-seeking is real work

Right now, plenty of people are not seeking the truth at all. They are repeating something they heard from a politician on cable news or from a stranger on TikTok who has never opened a history book. That is not a search for answers. That is simply outsourcing your own thought.

If you want the truth, you need to work for it. You cannot treat the world like a Marvel movie where the good guy appears in a cape and the villain hisses on command. Real life does not give you a neat script with the moral wrapped up in two hours.

But that is how people are approaching politics now. They want the oppressed and the oppressor, the heroic underdog and the cartoon villain. They embrace this fantastical framing because it is easier than wrestling with reality.

This framing took root in the 1960s when the left rebuilt its worldview around colonizers and the colonized. Overnight, Zionism was recast as imperialism. Suddenly, every conflict had to fit the same script. Today’s young activists are just recycling the same narrative with updated graphics. Everything becomes a morality play. No nuance, no context, just the comforting clarity of heroes and villains.

Bad-faith questions

This same mindset is fueling the sudden obsession with Israel, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in particular. You hear it from members of Congress and activists alike: AIPAC pulls the strings, AIPAC controls the government, AIPAC should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The questions are dramatic, but are they being asked in good faith?

FARA is clear. The standard is whether an individual or group acts under the direction or control of a foreign government. AIPAC simply does not qualify.

Here is a detail conveniently left out of these arguments: Dozens of domestic organizations — Armenian, Cuban, Irish, Turkish — lobby Congress on behalf of other countries. None of them registers under FARA because — like AIPAC — they are independent, domestic organizations.

If someone has a sincere problem with the structure of foreign lobbying, fair enough. Let us have that conversation. But singling out AIPAC alone is not a search for truth. It is bias dressed up as bravery.

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

If someone wants to question foreign aid to Israel, fine. Let’s have that debate. But let’s ask the right questions. The issue is not the size of the package but whether the aid advances our interests. What does the United States gain? Does the investment strengthen our position in the region? How does it compare to what we give other nations? And do we examine those countries with the same intensity?

The real target

These questions reflect good-faith scrutiny. But narrowing the entire argument to one country or one dollar amount misses the larger problem. If someone objects to the way America handles foreign aid, the target is not Israel. The target is the system itself — an entrenched bureaucracy, poor transparency, and decades-old commitments that have never been re-examined. Those problems run through programs around the world.

If you want answers, you need to broaden the lens. You have to be willing to put aside the movie script and confront reality. You have to hold yourself to a simple rule: Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

That is the only way this country ever gets clarity on foreign aid, influence, alliances, and our place in the world. Questioning is not just allowed. It is essential. But only if it is honest.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The melting pot fails when we stop agreeing to melt

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Texas now hosts Quran-first academies, Sharia-compliant housing schemes, and rapidly multiplying mosques — all part of a movement building a self-contained society apart from the country around it.

It is time to talk honestly about what is happening inside America’s rapidly growing Muslim communities. In city after city, large pockets of newcomers are choosing to build insulated enclaves rather than enter the broader American culture.

That trend is accelerating, and the longer we ignore it, the harder it becomes to address.

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world.

America has always welcomed people of every faith and people from every corner of the world, but the deal has never changed: You come here and you join the American family. You are free to honor your traditions, keep your faith, but you must embrace the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. You melt into the shared culture that allows all of us to live side by side.

Across the country, this bargain is being rejected by Islamist communities that insist on building a parallel society with its own rules, its own boundaries, and its own vision for how life should be lived.

Texas illustrates the trend. The state now has roughly 330 mosques. At least 48 of them were built in just the last 24 months. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex alone has around 200 Islamic centers. Houston has another hundred or so. Many of these communities have no interest in blending into American life.

This is not the same as past waves of immigration. Irish, Italian, Korean, Mexican, and every other group arrived with pride in their heritage. Still, they also raised American flags and wanted their children to be part of the country’s future. They became doctors, small-business owners, teachers, and soldiers. They wanted to be Americans.

What we are watching now is not the melting pot. It is isolation by design.

Parallel societies do not end well

More than 300 fundamentalist Islamic schools now operate full-time across the country. Many use Quran-first curricula that require students to spend hours memorizing religious texts before they ever reach math or science. In Dallas, Brighter Horizons Academy enrolls more than 1,700 students and draws federal support while operating on a social model that keeps children culturally isolated.

Then there is the Epic City project in Collin and Hunt counties — 402 acres originally designated only for Muslim buyers, with Sharia-compliant financing and a mega-mosque at the center. After public outcry and state investigations, the developers renamed it “The Meadows,” but a new sign does not erase the original intent. It is not a neighborhood. It is a parallel society.

Americans should not hesitate to say that parallel societies are dangerous. Europe tried this experiment, and the results could not be clearer. In Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, entire neighborhoods now operate under their own cultural rules, some openly hostile to Western norms. When citizens speak up, they are branded bigots for asserting a basic right: the ability to live safely in their own communities.

A crisis of confidence

While this separation widens, another crisis is unfolding at home. A recent Gallup survey shows that about 40% of American women ages 18 to 39 would leave the country permanently if given the chance. Nearly half of a rising generation — daughters, sisters, soon-to-be mothers — no longer believe this nation is worth building a future in.

And who shapes the worldview of young boys? Their mothers. If a mother no longer believes America is home, why would her child grow up ready to defend it?

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world. If we lose confidence in our own national identity at the same time that we allow separatist enclaves to spread unchecked, the outcome is predictable. Europe is already showing us what comes next: cultural fracture, political radicalization, and the slow death of national unity.

Brandon Bell / Staff | Getty Images

Stand up and tell the truth

America welcomes Muslims. America defends their right to worship freely. A Muslim who loves the Constitution, respects the rule of law, and wants to raise a family in peace is more than welcome in America.

But an Islamist movement that rejects assimilation, builds enclaves governed by its own religious framework, and treats American law as optional is not simply another participant in our melting pot. It is a direct challenge to it. If we refuse to call this problem out out of fear of being called names, we will bear the consequences.

Europe is already feeling those consequences — rising conflict and a political class too paralyzed to admit the obvious. When people feel their culture, safety, and freedoms slipping away, they will follow anyone who promises to defend them. History has shown that over and over again.

Stand up. Speak plainly. Be unafraid. You can practice any faith in this country, but the supremacy of the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian moral framework that shaped it is non-negotiable. It is what guarantees your freedom in the first place.

If you come here and honor that foundation, welcome. If you come here to undermine it, you do not belong here.

Wake up to what is unfolding before the consequences arrive. Because when a nation refuses to say what is true, the truth eventually forces its way in — and by then, it is always too late.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.