Gun control not the issue

I am a retired Army officer. In my 28-year military career, I have had tactical command in a combat environment and, at times, operated at the strategic level. I say this:

Gun control is not the issue in relation to the the Orlando terror incident. The issue President Obama’s short-sighted withdrawal from Iraq. It created a vacuum which spawned ISIS and other terror groups. Terror was contained in Iraq after 9/11 which has now , predictably, spilled over to U.S. shores. And now 49 are dead in Orlando.

I hate war. I have seen it, lived it and it has affected my family. My brothers lost their lives, their sanity and their innocence taking Mosul, Tikrit and Baghdad in order to contain terror. Unfortunately, in conjunction with the Iraqi Army, we need to take these cities back, stabilize the region and restore order along the lines of a Marshall Plan policy to create order and contain the terrorist ideology at the source.

This story was originally published June 13, 2016 at 10:13 PM with the headline "Gun control not the issue."