Sunday, October 05, 2014
The international coalition of the unwilling
My position which has evolved is that there needs to be an international coalition of boots on the ground in both Iraq and northern Syria to combat the psychopathic evil of ISIS. Also this constant conservative sniping at how Obama is handling this international crisis/tragedy is not part of the solution and usually at such times with such a real foreign threat out there their usual counsel is to get behind the president. Even Canada has gotten involved but whenever a new coalition partner makes an announcement it's usually along the lines of we're willing to do airstrikes in Iraq but not Syria. Well ISIS has adapted to airstrikes since they pretty much knew they were coming and Obama should never have ruled out boots on the ground so categorically when his own generals are saying otherwise. Lastly the FBI says they know the identity of "John the Beatle" or that masked hostage-beheader seen in those infamous ISIS videos but are withholding this information and not making it public for strategic reasons it is to be presumed. I don't know why since not making the name a matter of the international record has not stopped the latest hostage Brit Alan Henning from meeting the same fate. So those are my thoughts and I would say the matter is urgent.
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It would seem logical for surrounding Arab nations to put boots in there, but perhaps
ReplyDeletethe 'blood is thicker than water' paradigm is at play (although the US Army talked the
Crows into fighting the Sioux, etc) Am reminded of the old Johnny Carson 'Carnak the Magnificent' curses like "May you be forced to visit a near-sighted proctologist".
Something along the lines of "May you and your minions come down with Ebola and
your genitals fall off" would apply to the ISILthugs.
I had the same idea that the only good that can come out of the Ebola situation is if only ISIL members get it. Well with so many foreign fighters...
ReplyDeleteI am totally in agreement.
ReplyDeleteNice call Z-man... if it is going to take boots on the ground to "save" the Middle East from Isis, then the threatened countries should pony up those troops.
ReplyDeleteIf they are unwilling to defend themselves, why should we?
We can't possibly have more interests there then they do can we?
Dave almost everybody is on board now including those five Arab countries but it's all an air campaign and even here most haven't decided to bomb targets in northern Syria yet except US and those five Arab nations. I'm coming at it from a two-pronged angle though: first I sincerely believe IS is a direct threat to America and also you're not going to stop the latest daily atrocities solely through an air campaign.
DeleteWe note in the news this morning that the FBI arrested a 19 year old US citizen on his way to join ISIS. Among his writings were found,
ReplyDelete"We are all witness that the western societies are getting more immoral day by day. I do not want my kids being exposed to filth like this,” he allegedly wrote. “I extend an invitation, to my family, to join me in the Islamic State.”
We ponder the twisted logic that barbarian beheaders are somehow more moral
than the country he wanted to leave.
In other words Britney Spears caused 9/11.
DeleteIsis most certainly won't be stopped solely with an air campaign. Sadly, that us all a majority of Americans are willing to support.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if a president committed the whole of US resources and went to congress for a declaration of war, it might be different, but we all know that ain't gonna happen.
So were stuck... With few if any good solutions...
Reading in the NY Post the other day some drones spotted "John the Beatle" (the infamous video beheader) and the drones also spotted some hostages in orange jumpsuits. I think the British are somehow involved in this program but anyway some officials with knowledge of this have said to go in there now to rescue those hostages would be suicidal at this point and that part of the purpose of the US air campaign in northern Syria is to degrade ISIS there enough so those hostages can be rescued so in that sense a sustained air campaign does make some sense.
ReplyDeleteThinking of airstrikes, I for one, am disgusted with the USAF getting rid of their A-10 Warthogs. The rationale is to replace its missions with the cross-service F-35. The $20 million Warthog was made for and performed very well in desert and insurgent
ReplyDeleteoperations. The $135 million F-35 cannot fly in rainy weather, its crashes have grounded the entire fleet numerous times and they are still trying to work out the bugs. Talk about a boondoggle that is good for defense contractors, lobbyists,
defense workers, congressmen and generals and bad for US ground operations!
(they refused my advice on the preemptive Iraq invasion, too)
But BB, it does have parts from almost every congressional district, which means the new plane will practically fly on into eternity...
ReplyDeleteTurkey Turkey what to do about Turkey??? Turkey had guaranteed they would secure the Syrian border town of Kobane but they're just watching the action take place and Erdogan has said the town is about to fall to ISIS. The politics is rather complicated, Turkey sees PKK as a terrorist group and they also want the US to topple Assad in addition to ISIS. Turkey reminds me of an annoying person at work, while everyone else is tuned into the same workplace strategy the other one isn't even on the same page and is gumming up the works. What a NATO member!!
ReplyDeleteTurkey is a bit enigmatic in the current situation. They had troops in the Korean War,
ReplyDeleteKosovo and Afghanistan as our ally. They have an impressive army, over 500.000.
Their border includes Syria, Iraq, Iran, the former USSR states of Armenia, Georgia
and Bulgaria; many places which harbor terrorists of varying flavor. Their relations
with the Kurds are for the most part hostile, although they are accepting Kurdish refugees (and Syrian as well). IMO, they are cautious for these reasons and well
aware of the rewards of the 'Fools Rush In' theory. Throw in the old quid pro quo
(what's in it for me) and we have sort of an explantion.
Then there's Ben Affleck denying that Islam is at best a problematic religion. He said on Bill Maher's show yes there's a FEW bad apples. Stick to acting. How 'bout that 7th Heaven Dad.
ReplyDeleteIn the odd news department, we note a contest involving cellphones . In addition, there is
ReplyDeletea secret weapon that terrifies ISIL. You theological
types will have to explain if heaven has a special section for some preachers ?
The old triple-hyperlink. The pastor, don't know where to begin.
ReplyDeleteISIL, Ebola...what happened to Ukraine? A local crank had a letter to the editor in
ReplyDeletethe newspaper today. Basically, that our Mideast bombing campaign is too weak:
he remembered hundreds of daily sorties against the Viet Kong. Like it worked there?
They had some retired colonel/expert on the PBS Newshour the other night saying the US air campaign around Kobani isn't intense enough. Like what do you want to do Dresden the place?
DeleteFor all those conservatives who feel the msm has a pronounced pro-Obama bias their coverage of the ongoing Kobani situation is overwhelmingly NEGATIVE with the BBC being a tad more positive imo. It's true things could be far better but it seems the msm is rooting for ground troops to be sent in.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Ebola, vaccine studies began in 2001. Then starting in 2003, the US health budget was cut and slowly gone down. While that frustrated medical researchers, they reduced work on flu and other contagions and have some trials
ReplyDeleteunderway with potential Ebola vaccinations. In addition, things like 2Mapp and a cocktail of three monoclonal antibodies show some promise. Further, the Canadians
have a potential vaccine and the Russians are working on three more. Standardized
human trials take time, but they are trying to rush. Me, I'm interested in what the
'vaccine deniers', the yuppies who won't vaccinate their own kids, will do.
Something tells me to avoid the Russian one, probably involves Majorska.
DeleteGetting back to ISIL Turkey is definitely not on the same page. We're bombing the hell out of ISIS and they're bombing some past rebel Kurds. We finally got use of some of their air bases but Turkey says no we don't. What is this IS addiction practically with beheadings?? Al-Qaeda has distanced itself with the group over these and other practices. It's like with the mob, many mobsters didn't like the whole John Gotti style of practically flashing your criminal style in the open. I pretty much avoid now almost all conservative carping commentary on Obama's every airstrike like George Bush was a genius with his military moves. I'm tired:)
ReplyDelete