Arjan Dirkse wrote:Meanwhile, according to CNN Obama authorizes "reconaissance flights". What the hell have we been doing so far then, we don't know where IS is already? I am getting a feeling Obama's critics are right in this, we should be hitting IS much harder and quicker than we've done so far.

whereami wrote:What happened to ye olde UN? Has everyone just given up on it?

mrjonno wrote:Iran : it's leadership is busy trying to win a Nobel peace prize

Warren Dew wrote:

mrjonno wrote:Iran : it's leadership is busy trying to win a Nobel peace prize

By getting nuclear weapons?

One of those critics happened to be Russian President Vladimir Putin, who warned against US intervention in Syria in a New York Times op-ed last September.

He wrote: “A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilise the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.

Made of Stars wrote:

One of those critics happened to be Russian President Vladimir Putin, who warned against US intervention in Syria in a New York Times op-ed last September.

He wrote: “A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilise the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.

Oh the irony...

Arjan Dirkse wrote:Second journalist was beheaded.

Voltage wrote:

Arjan Dirkse wrote:Second journalist was beheaded.

The world becomes a scary place when there is a pacifist in the White House I have never see such a useless world leader who is ridiculed by illiterate terrorists....His citizens are being beheaded left and right and he's too much of a flower to bomb these animals.

Bush was 100x better than this hippie. I remember listening to the radio in 2008 of a conservative host saying history will be kind to Bush. I thought he was crazy but hes 100% right now that I think of it in 2014

Voltage wrote:

Arjan Dirkse wrote:Second journalist was beheaded.

The world becomes a scary place when there is a pacifist in the White House I have never see such a useless world leader who is ridiculed by illiterate terrorists....His citizens are being beheaded left and right and he's too much of a flower to bomb these animals.

Bush was 100x better than this hippie. I remember listening to the radio in 2008 of a conservative host saying history will be kind to Bush. I thought he was crazy but hes 100% right now that I think of it in 2014

Americans Fear ISIS Sleeper Cells in the U.S., Overwhelmingly Support Military Action

By Glenn Greenwald

Gallup, 2000: “A new Gallup poll conducted November 13-15, 2000 finds that nearly seven out of 10 Americans (69%) believe that sending troops to Vietnam was a mistake.”

Gallup, 2013: “Ten years have passed since the United States and its allies invaded Iraq, and it appears the majority of Americans consider this a regrettable anniversary. Fifty-three percent of Americans believe their country ‘made a mistake sending troops to fight in Iraq’ and 42% say it was not a mistake.”

Gallup, 2014: “For the first time since the U.S. initially became involved in Afghanistan in 2001, Americans are as likely to say U.S. military involvement there was a mistake as to say it was not.”

New York Times, today: “The Obama administration is preparing to carry out a campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria that may take three years to complete, requiring a sustained effort that could last until after President Obama has left office, according to senior administration officials.”

CNN, today: “Americans are increasingly concerned that ISIS represents a direct terror threat, fearful that ISIS agents are living in the United States, according to a new CNN/ORC International poll. Most now support military action against the terrorist group.”

...
Although Americans favor military action against ISIS, today’s above-cited CNN poll finds that – at least of now – most do not want ground troops in Iraq or Syria (“61%-38%, oppose placing U.S. soldiers on the ground in Iraq and Syria to combat the terrorist group”). But almost every credible expert has said that airstrikes, without troops, is woefully inadequate to achieve any of the stated goals. Other than further inflaming anti-American sentiment in the region and strengthening ISIS, what possible purpose can such airstrikes have? The answer given by much of the U.S. media, as FAIR documented, seems clear: to “flex muscles” and show “toughness”:



What kind of country goes around bombing people with no strategic purpose and with little motive other than to “flex muscles” and “show toughness”? This answer also seems clear: one that is deeply insecure about its ongoing ability to project strength (and one whose elites benefit in terms of power and profit from endless war).
...

...
For those who favor air strikes: if, as most regional and military experts predict, it turns out that airstrikes are insufficient to seriously degrade ISIS, would you then favor a ground invasion? If you really believe that ISIS is a serious threat to the “homeland” and other weighty interests, how could you justify opposing anything needed to defeat them up to and including ground troops? And if you wouldn’t support that, isn’t that a compelling sign that you don’t really see them as the profound threat that one should have to see them as before advocating military action against them?

For those who keep running around beating their chests talking about the imperative to “destroy ISIS”: will that take more or less time than it’s taken to “destroy the Taliban”?

Does it ever occur to such flamboyant warriors to ask why those sorts of groups enjoy so much support, and whether yet more bombing of predominantly Muslim countries – and/or flooding the region with more weapons – will bolster rather than subvert their strength? Just consider how a one-day attack in the U.S., 13 years ago, united most of the American population around the country’s most extreme militarists and unleashed an orgy of collective violence that is still not close to ending. Why does anyone think that constantly bringing violence to that part of the world will have a different effect there?
...

Cthulhu's Trilby wrote:Surely the whole point is US airtsrikes backed up by Iraqi ground forces?