Once more unto the breach

US foreign policy is flawed; it is directed by US military imperatives. The US is a militarised democracy with a President captive to the industrial/military complex.

Questions abound. We have gone to war with the IS in conjunction with the Iraqi military in order to support the government of Iraq, but what if the government in Iraq collapses and/or the Iraqi military fades into the desert? Will the 'Coalition' continue the war? Will they take over the instruments of the failed Iraqi state? If Vietnam is any guide the answer is yes and with predictable and catastrophic results.

What if IS should have further success, gaining more ground and assets; and in the process look and behave more like a functioning state to the point that an number, perhaps a majority of Arab countries give recognition and trade with the new entity or state? What then if Arab states desert the 'Coalition'? What if they turn against the 'Coalition' on the basis that it comprises interfering infidels?

What if the Taliban in Afghanistan use the ruggedness and remoteness of the country to train IS and other fighters?

Some say involvement with the IS could be a drawn out affair, it could also come to range over a wide area; as such it might start to bleed US military and financial power and influence. Is Australia prepared to be similarly disadvantaged?

As the war drags on, or perhaps before even that situation is reached, will the Abbott government introduce a war levy (tax) and re-introduce selective conscription, for what is likely to become an unpopular war?

To top off Abbott's silly and alarming sabre rattling, we have heard little from the immature government he leads regarding the far greater threat to the world posed by the Ebola plague.