Oh, and for those who think that ISIS is going to stop at Baghdad, think again. I have been saying for years that these guys are ambitious, and their religion dictates that they must push on until every living person on this planet is a muslim. From the horse's mouth: ISIS Threatens to Invade Jordan, 'Slaughter' King Abdullah Islamist terrorists in Iraq and Syria have begun creeping toward neighboring countries, sources close to the Islamic fundamentalists revealed this week. The terrorists, who belong to The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS -- known as DAESH in Arabic] and are said to be an offshoot of al-Qaeda, are planning to take their jihad to Jordan, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula -- after having already captured large parts of Syria and Iraq, the sources said. The capture this week by ISIS of the cities of Mosul and Tikrit in Iraq has left many Arabs and Muslims in the region worried that their countries soon may be targeted by the terrorists, who seek to create a radical Islamist emirate in the Middle East. According to the sources, ISIS leader Abu Baker al-Baghdadi recently discussed with his lieutenants the possibility of extending the group's control beyond Syria and Iraq. Full Story: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4354/isis-jordan No one wants to have to intervene in the region again. But at what point do you say "that's as far as this can go"?
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gung ho? You always come with the solid pronouncements of a future you can't know but I am pretty sure 100,000 Americans for another 10 years and however many trillions more dollars aren't going to turn Iraq, Syria, Somalia et. al. around. Maybe if you support a ruthless strongman who kills everyone who opposes him with sarin gas, but then, you're right back where you started. viva saddam
This is extremely disingenuous. No one - at any point - asked for another 100,000 troops for another 10 years. The Pentagon wanted about 10,000 for 6-7 years. When that was denied they were told 3K or so. You know what? That would have been better than NOTHING. It would have been a FAR preferable outcome to watching Al Qaeda establish its caliphate in Baghdad. Do you not agree?
once again, Obama proves that he is in completely over his head on foreign policy. He totally underestimated the insurgency in Iraq.
And Dubious - I must ask: What is your solution going to be if/when ISIS gobbles up Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi, and the emirates, and then launches an all out war against Israel? What will your policy when the pan-Arabic super-state develops nuclear capability? What will your policy be when it begins launching attacks against Europe and the US homeland? If you think this stops at Iraq's borders then you truly do not understand what it is these guys want, or what their plan is. Alternatively, what will your plan be to deal with Iran if they are able to stamp these guys out? Understand that if they are able to do so, they will *own* Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. They will be THE regional power player. And they will soon have nuclear capability. They have islamic revolutionary ambitions as well, just opting for a different path than the Sunnis. How will you deal with them, then? You have probably given exactly as much thought to these matters as you gave the notion of bombing Assad last year. Not much.
Where'd everybody go? Ah, I suppose everyone is out getting their "I [heart] the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps" t-shirts ready. Or I suppose printing their "I'm with Hizbollah" placards, or maybe painting their "Give Assad Back His Gas" banners in preparation for the "peace" marches that are sure to come? The scale of this foreign policy clusferfark is truly mindboggling. Even more so because it was so easily preventable - and it was forseen. But ignored. Say, what will Hillary's policy be on the new Islamic Caliphate? Will we use smart power and try to talk with them? When her SoS assigns a woman to talk with their representative and he refuses to talk to a lowly woman, will she try to reset the situation? Will she have her Secretary of State (I'd suggest Dennis Kucinic for the post) present the Caliph with a "Reset" button that says "Overcharged" in Arabic? And after we end up deploying our Army over there again and they capture one of our deserters, how many high-level former AQI detainees (who most assuredly would never be a threat again, at least until they rejoined their comrades) will we give up to get the deserter back? We're in the freaking Twilight Zone of foreign policy now. So why not ask absurd questions like this? It doesn't get much worse than giving islamofascists their caliphate.
Bingo. The foreign policy has truly reached remarkable depths. It's shocking how incompetent Obama and team are. If Hillary's the president then my money is on either Bradley Manning (err Chelsea Manning) or Bowe Bergdahl for Secretary of State.
Incidentally... Well, I guess, NOT incidentally... I must point out that if the ISIS/ISIL/AQI monsters succeed in taking Baghdad and establishing their caliphate, then not only was the entire effort in Iraq a waste of blood, sweat, and tears (and money), but so was the effort in Afghanistan. If the sh!theads establish the caliphate in Baghdad, then they no longer need Afghanistan, and there will be absolutely no point in us being there. If Baghdad falls, then Al Zawahiri will have little choice but to give deference to the new masters in Baghdad. They will have accomplished the first step that he has spent his life advocating for, even if he disagreed with their strategy. The sh!theads of the world will unite under one banner, and they will have oil wealth to fuel their operations. This would be the greatest recruiting coup ever in the islamic world, BTW. If ISIS pulls it off then hundreds of thousands - millions, maybe - of young starry-eyed muslims will flock to their banner. They are very media-savvy. They know how to appeal to young muslim brains full of mush. Understand the potential scale of the catastrophe that is unfolding before our eyes. I blame Obama, you blame Bush - but that is irrelevant either way. It is what it is. The question is what to do about it now. We have no good options at this point. And the most decisive options we have are not politically tenable because our people are too shortsighted to see the threats before they emerge. There are ZERO palatable options for us at this point. My question: which unpalatable option will we choose?
There were zero palatable options from the moment we went into Iraq. The whole thing was a waste of time from the beginning. Unless we want to occupy a country for several generations, we shouldn't go there in the first place. The people that don't like us aren't going start liking us after we kill their families, friends and way of life. There is no where for them to go. It doesn't matter if we stay for another 2-10 years. They are just going to wait until we leave. We essentially have to stay there until the people that don't like us die or get killed off and the only people who are left are the ones that don't remember what we did to them. We are still in Germany and Japan from WWII. We are still in Korea, and we didn't even win there. Don't blame the current administration(not a fan) for wasting our time in Iraq. Blame the people that sent us on this fool's errand in the first place. I can't believe that there were people who actual bought into the idea that we would be there for a year or two.
rockbox your post could have been made with a quick "we never should have been there". And my post could be summed up as "Well, we were. And what are we going to do about it now?" In other words, thanks for nothing. At this point our best hope is that the Pesh (kurdish peshmergas) rally and tear these guys a new one. The Pesh are on a different level than the other Iraqis. They can and will fight hard. The question is whether the Bagdad regime (shiite) will ask for their help. My guess is that the govt asks the Iranians for help first (they already have, and Iranian troops are already there). The Kurds try to mind their own business generally, but I doubt they will be able to stay out of this one.
Could this be the beginning of you finally realizing the entire effort was a waste? If, If If, IF IF.... OMG the Caliphate!! The Caliphate!! Even worse than the Commies taking over the world for sure. Sounds pretty scary, but sorry I'm not buying it. Is that Caliphate thingee sort of like a deathstar? Hope you can still get some sleep occasionally. No wmd. You guaranteed it. Fooled by the multi-generation alcoholic prep boy who went awol. who you thinks cares about vets etc. etc. Does being almost always wrong ever cause you any doubt? I'll make a prediction. No Caliphate despite the fact that they hate us for destroying their country. Of course there was no Al Qaeda or these types of extremists like them in Iraq before Dubya. No bogeman. Your bodily fluids will remain safe per Dr.Strangelove, the movie which you should watch. We don't blame you for the contribution to our invasion which at the least opened this bag or worms as real Mid East experts, not naive neo-con guys you worhshipped., predicted from the beginning. Of course a good case can be made for our policy in Afghanistan and especially Iraq as being the main cause this is happening not just what opened the can. The one thing you are probably right on is that the Iranians will help the Shia in Baghdad and southern Iraq stop them, if your favorite neo-cons, the nuttier of the Zionists, and our big buds the Saudi Wahabi Dictators don't prevent them because they hate the fact that our wars basically strengthened Iran's position so much.
It absolutely WAS a waste, because we didn't stay to see it through. Had we kept a residual force there as the Pentagon wanted we would NOT be watching this happen. [qiote]If, If If, IF IF.... OMG the Caliphate!! The Caliphate!! Even worse than the Commies taking over the world for sure. Sounds pretty scary, but sorry I'm not buying it. [/quote] I know you're not going to buy it. You're a moron. I don't expect you to ever get it, glynch, it's too late for you. You are in total, complete denial aboput what Al Qaeda wants - you always have been. I remember our charts from over a decade ago, right after 9/11, when you said that Al Qaeda wasn't a threat to us, and it wasn't worth fighting for. I expect no less from you now. You are what you are, and you will never change. Oh, you mean the WMD thing? Well, two points: 1) there actually were a sizeavle amount of WMD found there (with larger stocks confirmed existing in captured intel files, only destroyed before we got there). and 2) I was wrong along with every other intelligence agency on the planet. Everyone's intel was off. Your refusal to admit that basic fact is what has made it an impossible subject to discuss rationally. I can throw "Look at the Duelfer report" posts all day long at you, but they will just bounce off because all you care about is talking points, not truth. It is what it is, just as you are what you are. And I truly hope you are accurate in your prediction. I have zero confidence in that, as you have never been right in any prediction. And note: we have to hope for the Iranians to win. Or the Peshmergas. Your man in the WH has led us to a miserable point on foreign policy. Jesus, you are nuts. I mean really, babbling on about Zionists... Are the big fat Jews gobbling on their cigars, sitting at the 59th penthouse floor of some building in NY devising ways they can use this crisis to maximize their profit? You're insane.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IGWSy1YnhNI This is for the one guy that thinks it's no big deal that it was stupid to go to Iraq in the first place. Just hundreds of thousands of people dying for oil and money. And that is ok. I hope humans evolve one day before it is too late.
Sometimes you have to go outside the US media to find good news. Usually, that is. Our media just takes reports like this an regurgitates, mostly: Iraq: US President Obama warns of action as jihadists near Baghdad http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/iraq-us-president-obama-warns-of-action-as-jihadists-near-baghdad/article1-1228958.aspx Yes, yes, I know, I'm a crazy-ass-cracker-white-right-wing-extremist. And of course I can't be trusted. But if you never click on the links I post will you really ever know how crazy I am? Or how best to handle my feeble mind? Clicky. Please. Clicky.
