PCG's Chickenhawk Dreams

Following the recent and tragic fall of Ramadi to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's lackeys PCG's Callum Wood wrote an article in which he tried to exploit this event to fear monger not about ISIL, as one might intuitively expect, but about Iran.

The U.S. has also taken an interest in the city [Ramadi]. It has been pounding the [so-called] Islamic State with airstrikes in an attempt to weaken the terrorists before the Shiite assault. But airstrikes gain very little for America. USA Today quoted Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren stating “We will retake Ramadi.” The reality is that the U.S. won’t be retaking anything. Iran will retake Ramadi. It will do so with the aid of U.S. airstrikes and Iraqi Army support. The U.S. may supply the air firepower, but to control a city takes boots on the ground. That is why it will be Iran’s gain, not Iraq or America’s.

Whether the city falls tomorrow or next week, the truth is that Iran will come out on top. This scenario has played out in numerous battles already. Meanwhile, Iraq is powerless to stop it. The 30 miles to Baghdad that stretches out to Ramadi remain heavily fortified by Shiites. Baghdad cannot afford to lose Iran’s help. Neither can America. The war-weary superpower doesn’t want to reengage. But to defeat the Islamic State takes troops—troops that the U.S. is unwilling to commit. So the more troops and militias Iran supplies, the less the U.S. has to involve itself. (Callum Wood, Iran to Capitalize on Fall of Ramadi, May 21, 2015.)

What hypocritical prattle. As though Wood understands anything about military campaigns.

Wood seems to be advocating the United States to send US troops into Iraq. What many of his readers will not know is that Wood's organization, the Philadelphia Church of God, a small and insignificant group composed of only about 5000 members, forbids their followers from joining the military. This was seen in a previous post.

The battles of those of us in the Church of God are not of this physical world (John 18:36). Should conscription be required in our own countries, it should be confidently refused, and we should be able to unashamedly state the biblical reasons why... (Christopher Eames, The Young Soldiers of Israel, January 6, 2015.)

It is not good that Wood should subtly call for US troops on the ground while he will never join any military because he follows PCG's ban on military service. He seems to be willing to put others in dangers that neither he not any member of PCG is not willing to endure themselves. He should ask himself if it is right to call for people to do things he would not do himself.