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poll says Arabs hate ISIS more than they hate us, and broadly support our war against them:
http://www.vox.com/2014/11/14/7216319/poll-arabs-isis
wtf is this the 12th century?
poll says Arabs hate ISIS more than they hate us, and broadly support our war against them:
http://www.vox.com/2014/11/14/7216319/poll-arabs-isis
if Al Qaeda and ISIS patch things up:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world...things_up.htmlThe White House never bought the “enemy of my enemy” logic when it came to ISIS and Nusra—it’s been bombing both of them, after all. This merger, along with growing signs that Washington is resigning itself to Bashar al-Assad’s long-term presence, could be an indication that the overlapping and intersecting battle lines in Syria are starting to clarify themselves. At the moment, the U.S., the Kurds, Iraqi Shiites, and—whether the Obama administration will admit it or not—the Syrian government are on one side, and ISIS and al-Qaida are on the other.
The big loser in all of this is likely to be the U.S.-backed rebels. In addition to ISIS and Nusra finding common cause, there are reports this week that the White House is considering revamping a Syria strategy many senior officials have come to see as unworkable. That strategy, which involved focusing primarily on rolling back ISIS in Iraq and didn’t involve strikes against Assad, never sat well with the rebels. A new one, which could involve a new diplomatic push for a cease-fire deal whose terms would likely be very disadvantageous to the Syrian opposition, would be even worse.
the foregoing, if in fact it resembles the US strategy in the region, aligns us also with Iran.
I wasn't 900 years ago that Catholics and Protestants were killing each other for much the same reason. The Irish just stopped in the last 30 or so years.
relates to Iraq and Afghanistan, but worth reflecting on as we wade back into war:
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/...uses-to-admit/The US fought two long, brutal wars in its response to the atrocity of September 11, 2001. We lost both of them – revealing the biggest military machine in the history of the planet as essentially useless in advancing American objectives through war and occupation. Attempts to quash Islamist extremism through democracy were complete failures. The Taliban still has enormous sway in Afghanistan and the only way to prevent the entire Potemkin democracy from imploding is a permanent US troop presence. In Iraq, we are now confronting the very same Sunni insurgency the invasion created in 2003 – just even more murderous. The Jihadism there has only become more extreme under a democratic veneer. And in all this, the U.S. didn’t just lose the wars; it lost the moral high-ground as well. The president himself unleashed brutal torture across all theaters of war – effectively ending any moral authority the US has in international human rights.
why do you hate America?
not at all. quite the reverse, actually.
Obama ditches Chuck Hagel:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/us...id=tw-bna&_r=1Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel handed in his resignation on Monday under pressure, the first cabinet-level casualty of the collapse of President Obama’s Democratic majority in the Senate and the struggles of his national security team to respond to an onslaught of global crises.
In announcing Mr. Hagel’s resignation from the State Dining Room on Monday, the president, flanked by Mr. Hagel and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., called Mr. Hagel critical to ushering the military “through a significant period of transition” and lauded “a young Army sergeant from Vietnam who rose to serve as America’s 24th secretary of defense.”
Mr. Obama called Mr. Hagel “no ordinary secretary of defense,” adding that he had “been in the dirt” of combat like no other defense chief. He said that Mr. Hagel would remain in the job until his successor is confirmed by the Senate.
Administration officials said that Mr. Obama made the decision to remove Mr. Hagel, the sole Republican on his national security team, last Friday after a series of meetings between the two men over the past two weeks.
perhaps his successor will adopt a more muscular posture toward ISIS and Al Kooky terrorism. resignations of this sort often signal a change of course in policy.
at least one Republican Senator is willing to step up to limit the unitary executive:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...cs/24rand.html
This is fine, but you have to question wether it's just theatrics... I didn't like this one from Rand:
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/1...ns-113042.html
Looking forward to the book.
neither do I.
Political negotiation tactic, perhaps? The successor will have to be approved by the new Congress, IIRC.
Iran bombs ISIS: http://www.janes.com/article/46514/i...-state-in-iraq
The number of foreigners fighting in Syria and Iraq just hit an alarming new record
As if the Syria and Iraq conflicts weren't bad enough, here's some more alarming news: the influx of foreign fighters, which is to say foreigners volunteering to fight for Sunni militant groups such as ISIS or al-Qaeda, has reached an all-time high: as many as 20,000. According to a new estimate from the International Center for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR), no conflict since 1945 has ever attracted this many foreign fighters.
That's a real problem — and not just for Iraq and Syria. Some of these fighters will likely go on to attempt to plot international terrorist attacks; others to travel from war to war, making each of those bloodier in turn, much as the foreigners who fought against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s went on to cause trouble for a generation.
According to the ICSR report, up to 20,730 people have gone to fight for Sunni militant groups in Syria and Iraq. Emphasis on "up to:" ICSR's report contains a range, and the 20,730 figure comes from adding all of the high-end estimates together. Using low-end estimate comes out to around 16,700. These estimates come from collating and comparing government figures, media reports, and statements from the militant groups themselves.
Still, that number already matches or even exceeds credible high-end estimates for the number of foreigners who went to fight against the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (about 20,000 foreign fighters). Until now, that conflict had attracted more foreign fighters than any other since 1945. And the wars in Syria and Iraq are very far from over.
http://www.vox.com/2015/1/26/7915741...-fighters-isis
Thanks, Repugs! How are those US/UK BigOil Iraq profits coming along?
Bush hasn't been in power for 6 years. What exactly has Obama done to make the situation any better? Hmmm?
I've always said that the damage dubya, head, neocons did in Iraq and Aghanistan is unstoppable, and will last for years, decades, in USA and in Middle East, Afganistan. eg, now the Repugs have given us ISIL, thanks!
You must have missed the Repug OUTRAGE when Obama, "making the situation better", withdrew from Iraq on the Repugs' own agreement with Iraq.
just got real. nuke the bas s
ISIS Torches Armenian Church in Mosul
Sobering video.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...-m1-abrams-ta/
The Iraqi army's willingness to let Ramadi fall toISIS "surprised all of us," Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq told CNN on Monday.
"It's not clear for us why such a unit, which was supposed to be trained by the Americans for years, and supposed to be one of the best units in the army, would withdraw from Ramadi in such a way."
"This is not the army that we are willing to see or we are expecting to see."
Al-Mutlaq, a Sunni who leads his own party and often criticizes Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, spoke with CNN's Frederik Pleitgen on "Amanpour," a day after scathing criticism of the Iraqi military by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
"They were not outnumbered," Carter told CNN's Barbara Starr in an exclusive interview. "In fact, they vastly outnumbered the opposing force. And yet they failed to fight; they withdrew from the site."
Watch the full interview 09:50
PLAY VIDEO
"And that says to me, and I think to most of us,that we have an issue with the will of the Iraqis."
rest of article
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/25/world/...laq/index.html
The weapons left behind is disturbing as well.
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#sectio.../p2p-83623029/
Thanks, repugs!
We'll be thanking repugs for decades
Thanks Obama. We'll be thanking Obama for decades.
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