Islamic State vs. The World (except Canada)

[patrick1]

Sanchez, you really think that we can't claim moral high ground from ISIS? This is a group too extreme even for Al Qaeda- a group that cuts heads off for fun...

[patrick1]

Sanchez, you really think that we can't claim moral high ground from ISIS? This is a group too extreme even for Al Qaeda- a group that cuts heads off for fun...

Do I personally feel that? No. But from a policy stand point, who is the arbitrator of who is and who isn't right and wrong these days? Radical Islam are more complex than “they kill those who disagree” and “they hate freedom.” We are never going to stomp out radical Islam, and we might just fan it’s flames like we did when we first invaded in ’03.

I hope this backfires. I really do. We need to learn a lesson. I guarentee that when the bombs begin to fall we are going to nail a hospital or a school, and ISIS's ranks will only continue to swell.

Ok Snowstalker.

The great irony is that he is likely the one person who is going to be making sense in this thread.

The facts on the ground are the arbiter of what to do from a policy standpoint.  There is a wide spectrum of radical islam. ISIS is the worst to come around. They are actively conducting slaughter on many fronts. We have a humanitarian duty to the people of the region. Additionally, we have a duty to ourselves not to have wasted so much blood and treasure to have an even worse entity in Iraq than Hussein.

[patrick1]

I wish I had followed through with my investment advice in Toyota's pickup division.  This really should have happened months ago when the so many fighters were convoying it from Syria. ISIS is appalling in their brutality and fanaticism. Sadly, some civilians will be killed, however, in the brutal calculus of war, more innocent life will be saved.

[patrick1]

I wish I had followed through with my investment advice in Toyota's pickup division.  This really should have happened months ago when the so many fighters were convoying it from Syria. ISIS is appalling in their brutality and fanaticism. Sadly, some civilians will be killed, however, in the brutal calculus of war, more innocent life will be saved.

Will it though? Even if we somehow drive ISIS out of Northern Iraq (which is going to take more than a few airstrikes and cost the lives of more than "some" civilians), they'll be back. A direct fight against the the United States, the symbol of the sinful West, will be a huge motivator for these fanatics and a boon for recruitment throughout the Middle East. Then, we'll either have to stay and perpetually pour even more blood and treasure into this Godforsaken desert, or leave and see them return even stronger and crazier than before, like angry hornets (if that happens, the interventionist crowd will say we have to stay because "we created this mess"). The Kurds need to fight this out themselves. It just isn't possible for them to rely on a foreign power, especially the United States, for their defense forever. We'll have to leave at some point, and the later we get out permanently the worse it'll be for us and them.

This isnt your standard radical Islamist organization like a Muslim Brotherhood. ISIS is a very extreme group. You do not have an inexhaustible supply of people willing to lob peoples heads off.  When they congregate in large convoys and go on an offensive, we kill them. If these extremists re-surface, kill those replacements. The Kurds and the Sunni population that gets sick of their behavior will have to do the ground fighting. For me, when you can save civilians from this lot and kill a good number of the rotten bastards, you go ahead.

[patrick1]

Just an absolute horror.   It is time for us to ramp up our sorties and take this thing on the other side of the border. Destroy the whole organization before they scatter and many of them head back to their places of origin in the west.

[patrick1]

By behead, they mean slowly sawed off his head with a knife.

That is the worst part. They (ISI) even have instructional videos where a room full of socially backward men listen intently and with sheer joy on the proper way to behead a kafir or apostate. There is a real darkness in their ideology that cannot be reasoned with.

[patrick1]

I hope the CINC will take the air campaign into Syria. I'm not bloodthirsty but we really need to kill as many of these militants as we can while they are an organized force. There are way too many Westerners that I think this represents a clear and direct threat. Id say the US and allies also must cultivate local relationships so that we can properly close off escape routes.

[patrick1]

RIP to Foley, Sotloff and all of the nameless victims of ISIS terror. There needs to be a coordinated strategy to relagate them to the dustbin of history.

[patrick1]

How did the the Iraqi army just melt away in the face of ISIS attacks ? Their performance was frankly an embarrassment. The Iraqi army is armed to the teeth with US military toys like the M-1 Abrams, the Apache Helicopter etc.

Weak readiness, deployment of their forces and will. Many of the leaders simply went home and some Sunnis commanders bowed out or switched sides.  They essentially ceded what was hostile ground and regrouped down to the Shia areas.

The Iraqi army now has some fight back in them again but the dangerous thing is that their will is being hardened by the use of Shia militias.

[patrick1]

Tender I watched the VICE doc a month ago.  Raqqa seems like the worse place in the world...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2768352/Extraordinary-footage-heart-ISIS-regime-filmed-woman-wore-secret-camera-burqa.html

[patrick1]

I really can't believe we are going to let Kobane fall....saddened.

[patrick1]

...still very disappointed in our floundering IS "strategy".  You dont let a cancer grow.  The dominoes could really start to fall if we don't get our asses in gear here.

[patrick1]

RIP to Mr. Kassig and the Syrian forces murdered in what was like some Satanic ritual in a horror film.
ISIS must be wholly eradicated.