Terrorism will always be something to fight against, but taking out their leader is huge. There was a time ISIS was so emboldened they would release their own self-produced videos of them massacring people. Not anymore. I consider that a giant victory.
I don't doubt that things like this happened and frankly the Obama Administration had incidences where they looked contradictory and even weak regarding the use of force. That said this was also the Administration that took a lot of heat for the amount of drone strikes they used. Remember many "conservatives" were complaining when Obama took out Anwar Al-Awlaki. The Trump Administration also has a record of confusion and contradiction regarding the use of force and far from the tough image Trump likes to project. In 2019 the US launched an air strike against Iran after oil facilities in Saudi Arabia were attacked only to suddenly call it off. Trump also called off military exercises with South Korea to appease Kim Jong Un.
Probably is. If you haven't ever been in a direct combat occupation, don't speak. These direct combat proffesions in the military are chalk full of reactionary right wingers and is the overwhelming pervasive thought expressed in these communties. Just read the comment sections of the many closed off infantry related Facebook groups. You dare not ever express vocal support for Obama. I remember Obama's election night victory I was still in school of infantry, and I remember how depressed and angry everyone was. It's a very partisan culture. Hell our Navy Corpsman was Asian and is full MAGA and has even attended protests against local mosques being constructed. And this type of nitpicking is partisan bs. These same people worship Reagan who was responsbile for 220 US Marine deaths in Beirut. I can find a nitpick with a similar style anecdote for any president in existence. I don't know what being Asian American has to do with not being a bigot. There were Asian Americans in my company, and they all settled right into the reactionary right wing culture quite comfortablely. I can make a reasonable educated assumption of the views held by the vast majority of direct combat operators in this country. It's a extremely partisan culture.
True radical Islamic terrorism and terrorism in general is a long term problem but that does show that Trump didn't stop terrorism including of ISIS. As the report notes one of the worst ISIS related terrorist attacks happened during the Trump Presidency.
Link? And the other 3 you can name of the top of your head. He also refused the Yemen raid and we see how that turned.
I think the entire "war on terror" is a disaster. The most blatant metric that shows this is that there are more Islamic extremists today than before "the war in terror" begin which is the exact opposite mission of this supposed "war". We just made the situation worse.
Didn't take you long to go to the Whataboutism... This wasn't just an Obama problem but yea lots of guys didn't like his handling of the war on terrorism. I can go on about Clinton and Bush in the same regard. Bush denied every plan our forces in Tora Bora came up with when they were on Bin Laden's doorstep. Instead they were only allowed to make a full frontal assault led by Afghani War Lords up the mountain which left a backdoor open into Pakistan. Bush also screwed up in Iraq. The CIA was on the ground in Northern Iraq almost a year before the invasion. Yes, all the WMD talk was BS. The decision was already made. The Kurds informed the CIA about Al Qaeda members in NE Iraq that had fled Afghanistan after we came in and smoked Al Qaeda and the Taliban at the beginning of the Afghanistan war. The CIA asked for a special forces team that was already on the ground in Iraq or even an air strike to hit them. Bush refused because it might tip off Saddam. We finally hit the camp after the invasion. All the leadership was gone and already spread into Fallujah, Baghdad, etc. They were some of the leadership that started the insurgency. Clinton refused to let our guys in Somalia have tanks and APCs that the commanders wanted. We all know how that turned out. Biden voted for the Iraq war which is the biggest mistake this country had made since Vietnam. That's why he isn't getting my vote and no poltitican that voted for it will ever get my vote. Neither will Trump because... well, he is a dbag.
Whataboitism? More like calling out your Navy SEAL friend's partisan rhetoric which you try to pass on as sincere criticism. Ask him about Reagan and Beruit killing 220 US Marines. I know the culture well enough to understand that his criticism of Obama is purely partisan.
I'm assuming your friend's disproportionate criticisms of Obama is mostly fueled by partisan culture that he was knee deep in.
I think the biggest mistake this country has made since Vietnam is Trump not getting impeached. His lies, negligence, incompetence, and refusal to listen to medical experts or scientists has led to over 201,334 Americans dead from Coronavirus (Feb 29th - Sep 16th). That's 49,160 more dead in 7 months than in all of these wars combined: American Revolutionary War (1775-83) War of 1812 (1812-15) Mexican–American War (1846-49) World War I (1917-18), Vietnam War (1955-75) Korean War (1950-53) Iraq War (2003-2011) War in Afghanistan (2001-present) (152,174 total casualties of war) Trump has lots of blood on this hands, and now he wants to kill thousands more with herd immunity. He's the biggest threat to Americans right now and needs to be removed from office.
Interesting... so you think Mike Pence would have saved the day. I didn't know you thought so highly of him.
What? Pence is just Trump's yes man. He's just as negligent. All Trump puppets are negligent. None of the GOP enablers will ever get my vote again.
You said the biggest mistake since Vietnam was not Iraq but Trump not being impeached. Then you listed all the covid deaths compared to a bunch of wars. If Trump was impeached then Pence would have been president for Covid... A more appropriate response from you would have been electing Trump as the mistake....
