Global uncertainty needs bipartisan response from U.S.

Sending troops into battle is the most profound decision a president and nation make. Careful deliberation is mandatory and appreciated.

I know this not on a theoretical, but on a personal level.

My mother's father died when she was two from trauma suffered in World War I, leaving her virtually orphaned with a mentally ill mother during the Great Depression.

Her brother's ship went down in the Pacific in World War II, and he spent the rest of his life institutionalized.

My older brother was awarded the Bronze Star, Air Medal and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and continues to struggle, as do many Vietnam War veterans.

My husband, serving 30 years, was deployed for 15 months after the 9/11 attacks, and I served 24 years in the U.S. Army/Reserves.

So it was demoralizing to observe ISIS overtaking Iraqi towns secured at great cost by noble military men and women.

While few desire to be at war, the gruesome beheadings of American journalists, a British aid worker and Iraqi women and children inform us ISIS is at war with America. Without response, terrorism creates global instability and will come to our shores.

The vacuum of American leadership encourages aggression. We can debate whether we should have gone into Iraq, but having failed to secure a status of forces agreement and leave a stabilizing force has created a quagmire.

Airstrikes may have stemmed ISIS aggression in the short-term, but will have a limited long-term effect unless regional partners are engaged.

Training and equipping other forces also must be part of overall strategy, and will require a U.S. presence. Arming Kurdish combatants, with Turkey's awareness, may be useful.

We also have no choice except to upgrade our intelligence capabilities. Therefore, it is difficult to foresee a successful conclusion with only persistent airstrikes and no troops on the ground.

At home, domestic energy production not only creates jobs and reduces the global price of petroleum products, it slashes the funding stream of ISIS and decreases the leverage of other aggressive nations. This should be an imperative.

Our goals may take time to achieve. Yet, timeliness of decision-making is so necessary, we cannot afford the partisanship that has caused our government to become dysfunctional. The Middle East crisis requires our President to articulate a coherent foreign policy and Congress to work constructively with the executive branch.

National security, above all else, demands collaboration.

' Mariannette Miller-Meeks is Republican candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, District 2. Comments: millermeeks.com