Iraq unravels!

[piece-itpete]

It's not because of Iraq, it's because he could've hit ISIS in its' infancy. He knew it but caved under pressure from his own party, and didn't. Leading from behind?

Air support and the weapons we see fit to supply to Iraq and the Kurds, and it's past time we helped the Free Syria Army fight them too. ISIS is evil.

Pete

[4-2-7]

The one thing I can say that Obama's inept lack of action has provided is consolidation.

ISIS and Hamas have both recruted world wide and consolidated in their respective reigions. We should strike with a furry that the world has not seen since WWII and acualy would be far grater becuse of technology.

Then we can go "talk" to Iran...

[4-2-7]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

It's not because of Iraq, it's because he could've hit ISIS in its' infancy. He knew it but caved under pressure from his own party, and didn't. Leading from behind?

Air support and the weapons we see fit to supply to Iraq and the Kurds, and it's past time we helped the Free Syria Army fight them too. ISIS is evil.

Pete

Our great campaigner and chief, how's his golf score lately?

[nailer]

Originally Posted by icenine

I heard on Chuck Todd that that the Kurds are indeed a good guerilla fighting force but lack the experience or capability to take on a standing army with modern (in this case stolen American) weapons. Which in a way is what ISIS is....it is a sort of quick strike logistically optimized lightning army. Nihilistic maybe, but at this point capable of great damage and terror to those in their sights.

ISIS is preparing the way for an Arab Caliphate. First step - destroy secular Arab governments. The way ISIS is doing this will leave the ground more fertile for Islamic rule.

BTW those weapons were captured.

[icenine]

stolen captured

semantics

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

It's not because of Iraq, it's because he could've hit ISIS in its' infancy. He knew it but caved under pressure from his own party, and didn't. Leading from behind?

Air support and the weapons we see fit to supply to Iraq and the Kurds, and it's past time we helped the Free Syria Army fight them too. ISIS is evil.

Pete

The aid we were considering back in the "red line" days in Syria was not targeted towards destroying ISIS, but in fighting/overthrowing Assad. The problem was that this aligned us with ISIS and we couldn't discriminate between the good and bad Sunnis in Syria. As it is now, a number of ISIS fighters were in fact good/moderate Sunnis that felt that ISIS is the lesser of three evils - ISIS, Assad and Maliki's Shia government.

[Rajoo]

Eric Alterman Warns: Pundits and Partisans Are Up to Old Tricks in Iraq
http://billmoyers.com/2014/06/19/mai...amber-on-iraq/

[nailer]

Originally Posted by icenine

stolen captured

simianantics

Fixed.

[nailer]

Originally Posted by finnbow

The aid we were considering back in the "red line" days in Syria was not targeted towards destroying ISIS, but in fighting/overthrowing Assad. The problem was that this aligned us with ISIS and we couldn't discriminate between the good and bad Sunnis in Syria. As it is now, a number of ISIS fighters were in fact good/moderate Sunnis that felt that ISIS is the lesser of three evils - ISIS, Assad and Maliki's Shia government.

Our desire to replace the Syrian Baathist regime with a secular Arab democracy predates the current administration. In the spring/summer of 2004 I was working on a reconstitution of OIF units report . On multiple occasions, after the meeting was over, staff officers expressed concern about a near-term follow-on liberation operation. They weren't hinting at Iran.

[Rajoo]

Originally Posted by nailer

ISIS is preparing the way for an Arab Caliphate. First step - destroy secular Arab governments. The way ISIS is doing this will leave the ground more fertile for Islamic rule.

BTW those weapons were captured.

Wasn't that the original mission of Bin Laden/Al Qaeda? With dictators ruling Iraq, Libya and Syria, Afghanistan was probably a more fertile ground. So had we focused on Afghanistan then instead of invading Iraq, and probably with the consent and support of the three dictators, Al Qaeda could have been neutralized from the very beginning.

Now we have ISIS and Obama is going to get the blame due to his inaction in Syria?