About time someone in power said it. I’m not generally supportive of Biden but damn this needed to be said.
There’s a reason our President is also Commander in Chief and it’s not to go golfing after an American is executed on camera. Now a 2nd American dies while Obama is openly taunted.
Yeah, I know ISIS is trying to goad us into doing something stupid. Maybe it’s time to do something proactive like putting together a coalition of European and Arab forces? Rethink Afghanistan or are we going to gift that to ISIS too?
Why not work with Assad’s forces and wipe these vermin out? We’ve worked with a hell of a lot worse. We aided Saddam in the 80’s against Iran and supported various regimes in South America. It’s time to quit acting like a Pollyanna and be practical. Get our hands dirty. Assad is there,in power, with trained forces and weapons. Let’s support him against our mutual enemy. Consider the classic attack from the front and flank. Iraqi forces on one side and Assad’s forces on the other. Squeeze ISIS right into a bloody pulp. ISIS can’t support a war on two fronts.
I heard that same attitude when I questioned pulling out of Iraq. Anyone doubt that even a small force of 20,000 would have prevented ISIS from even capturing one town? They started with only a few hundred fighters and are easily up to ten thousand now. Just wait until next year and the year after.
Now we sit back and watch as Obama makes the identical mistake in Afghanistan. Guaranteed there will be terrorist training camps there within 2 to 3 years of our withdrawal.
We had secure bases in Iraq and Afghanistan when Obama took office. We could have drawn down forces and kept them on base. Safely away from most attacks. There would be a few isolated incidents and some troops would be working with Iraqi forces to keep order. They would be at some risk. Much like it was in 2009 before we pulled out.
The alternative to letting these countries descend into anarchy will cost far more lives. Sooner or later we’re going back in to clean up this mess that Obama has created. Special Forces are already on the ground with the Kurds acting as spotters for the planes. I’m not sure what can be done now. All the money that was spent building bases and getting equipment over there is wasted. I’m sure the bases have been ransacked. ISIS has a lot of the equipment we left. It is one big mess now. A mess that shouldn’t have ever happened.
I am glad we are supporting the Kurds. They’ve shown amazing progress throughout the 1990’s (with the No Fly zone protection) and throughout the 2000’s. They are fighting hard to keep ISIS from destroying what they spent 20 years building. They will be very good allies if we continue supporting them. If Iraq breaks up and there’s a Kurdistan they will be a good friend in that region.
Would you agree appearances and world perceptions matter? It’s true Obama couldn’t have saved these two people, but exhibiting leadership and attention to the problem brings respect.
We do have the largest and best equipped army in the world. It’s time Obama acted like a Commander in Chief. Show leadership and engage into the work of finding a solution.
The situation has degraded into such a mess that there is no easy solutions now. It seems logical that creating a coalition is step one. It needs to include Arab forces and European forces. Just like we had in the first Gulf War. Hate him or not Assad has to play a role in this. ISIS is entrenched in Syria and we need to support Assad’s army. No US troops. Just Air Support and give them older weapons and supplies they can use without turning Assad into another Saddam. Where we go from there is up to the experts. Nothing will get done while Obama has checked out of his duties as President.
That’s true. But at least someone in the administration showed some backbone.
I’m not a supporter of Biden at all. This is one of the rare times he said the right thing at the right time.
Sadly I suspect foreign policy will only get worse. I don’t see Obama developing any leadership skills. We’re stuck until his term is over. The next President will have his hands full. I just hope we elect someone that’s up for the job. Right now, I have no idea who that might be.
Dang! I bet we’d have won WWII, also, if FDR hadn’t been having his portrait painted in between bouts of cavorting at a spa with his former mistress!
Oh, wait…
Or maybe Ike would have been an adequate president, were it not for his pesky golf habit - almost 800 rounds during his two terms.
Maybe JQ Adams could have successfully fought against the spread of slavery if he hadn’t spent every morning skinny-dipping in the Potomac.
Or maybe, just maybe, you’re focused on something completely irrelevant to the current political situation. Presidents have hobbies. Some are necessarily more public than others. Exercise and recreation hardly prevent most presidents from performing the duties of their office.
Just words. He’s not in a position of power. He’s hardly the type to challenge Obama. He’s just saying what he thinks will make people feel good. His main job is to preside over the Senate, after all.
A strong statement needs to be made for the consumption of the public, and Biden has done that. Succinct to the point of just being short of crude.
It is the job of the commander in chief to consult with the leaders of Congress from both parties and get their non-objections to send the ISIS weirdos the same sort of personally delivered surprise party that was thrown for Osama bin Ladin in Abattobad. Preferably without publicity and to each and every member of ISIS that can be found in the next 10 years.
I disapprove of what happens to Palestinian civilians, but I wholehearted approve of the sort of payback that Mossad delivered to the Munich murderers, or, in the alternative, the capture and trial of Eichmann. I wouldn’t have hung Eichmann, that was too good for him. I’d keep him alive as long as possible watching closed circuit TV of Jewish children playing.
The ISIS creeps can either turn themselves in, or die as criminals when the US armed forces catch up with them. And for Pete’s sake, let’s make sure not to bomb any weddings.
