Long haul? I don’t know about that. Let them pop their heads up and we’ll happily shoot them off. Invade and occupy? This president isn’t into that. Thank the deity of your choice.
Presumably we’ll be targeting armed militants and not UN schools, for example. We’ll see though- it can only be ugly.
So were Israelis - targeting militants and not UN schools. Like US in Kosovo was targeting militants and not Chinese embassies.
They’ve got a lot of captured US equipment, yes? Perhaps if it were supplied by Haliburton, our problem will solve itself.
One thing yet to be hoped for: the common enemy, the one bunch of guys so fucking rotten that everybody sets aside their grievances for the moment. Even the Devil’s schemes don’t always work as planned.
I was wondering about the military equipment they stole from the Iraqi surrender monkeys. How long can it last without Cheney resupplying them? Or is he?
Erbil isn’t looking good right now from this just in from NYT…
Personally, I don’t think Maleki is worth protecting, given his unwillingness to forge a political solution with the Sunnis. (And OBTW, there are a lot of Sunni groups running around with guns in Iraq other than ISIS. Expect infighting if ISIS can hold territory.)
The Kurds are another story. They might deserve air support.
Hear tell that ISIS is selling oil. To whom? I want to know their names, I want everyone to know their names.
The US won’t buy oil from Kurds. Also curious who is buying IS oil.
Ha ha ha ha! Good one.
No, by all means, fuck ISIS, yes, deservedly so. But this? This is just jingoistic tripe. What’s the US doing about Darfur right now? What did the US do about Boko Haram?
Kovac, Pratt and Carter.
(but it’s Kovač)
It is good and right that the US will stem the tide of ISIS.
It is good and right that the US will hurt ISIS in the process. (Fuck 'em, indeed.)
It is good and right that the US will help those most urgently in need of humanitarian aid.
But this will not do a damn thing to change anything with respect to islamic extremist aggression in the area or it’s threat in other parts of the world.
This action is like fighting fires in California. You have no choice but to send out water bombers and fire crews to put out the fires. But nothing you do today will prevent more fires starting next week, next month, next year, elsewhere.
The US needs allies to defeat a ragtag bunch of religious fanatics? We’ve got plenty: The Kurds and the Iraqi army.
When ISIS arrived the Iraqi army crapped its pants and ran. They’re useless.
The Kurds, though - they will stand and fight, and are.
Not so much since last night though.
Good to know you haven’t lost your ability to bring Teh Stupid.
I wonder just who “all those people” are who you’re talking about, and just what contradiction you think you’re about to catch them in.
Most people who are opposed to the indiscriminate slaughter in Gaza are pretty much opposed to indiscriminate slaughter by anyone, anywhere. That’s certainly how I roll.
I’m relieved to know Obama is going to do what he can about ISIS. But realistically, there’s only so much we can do. We can rescue some refugees, and we can arm the Kurds. That’s about it. We can’t protect the Sunni areas of Iraq from ISIS, the Iraqi army won’t, and the Kurds won’t go much beyond the parts of Iraq they regard as rightfully theirs.
We opened a can of worms when we invaded Iraq in 2003, and the consequences continue to be grave. Somewhere, Thomas Hobbes is laughing bitterly.
Isis has grown because the Iraqi government has excluded Sunnis. Bombing them won’t change the fact these groups refuse to cooperate in any functioning political organization.
I see American intervention getting us nowhere in the longer term.
The Pentagon just announced ISIS artillery was hit by US warplanes.