Islamists taking over Iraq

[britwrit]

I guess some (I'm not saying YOU are doing this) could argue that the only way to maintain order in that region is to commit the war crimes and atrocities Saddam committed, but I can't accept that, and neither should the U.S. and its allies.

OK, so you say Plan A cannot be accepted. Understandable.

We tried Plan B. It was a catastrophe.

What is/was Plan C?

In a perfect world, getting Saudi Arabia and the other gulf states who are funding ISIS to knock it off. Failing that, we can help the Iraqi government.... at the price of them stopping supporting Iran as they support the Assad regime in Syria.

Of course, what will happen is that we'll muddle through, keeping the Sunni radicals from stringing up Shiite thugs from Baghdad lampposts and the body count of the innocents will skyrocket. Hooray.

Well, that's the problem. How are we going to get them to knock it off? The answer is, we won't. And as far as helping the Iraqi government, hell, we created it. We've picked leaders and guided things along the way. That hasn't worked out so well.

According to the article I read in the Times this morning, the Pentagon estimates that hardcore fighters in Iraq only number 3,000 to 5,000. Using air power and drones would go a long way to helping the Iraqi army (which, admittedly, seems to need all the help it can get.)

Otherwise, what happens? Iran steps in and crushes ISIS. They're going to get crushed no matter what, so we might as well be the ones doing the crushing.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I dunno Britwrit. I'm old enough to remember that air power was going to crush the Viet Cong and then North Vietnam, too.

 

[old_tony]

Wounded Warrior J.R. Salzman can be expecting a rectal probe from the IRS any day now.

http://bit.ly/1lv7KWo

"You promised to fix the world's problems, yet you somehow lost a war THAT WAS ALREADY WON. How is that even possible. @BarackObama?!?"

 

[LanceyHoward]

Wounded Warrior J.R. Salzman can be expecting a rectal probe from the IRS any day now.

http://bit.ly/1lv7KWo

"You promised to fix the world's problems, yet you somehow lost a war THAT WAS ALREADY WON. How is that even possible. @BarackObama?!?"

When was the war in Iraq "won"?

 

[Michael_ Gee]

It was always "won" in the minds of the people who started it. I can understand why a vet would not like to believe we lost, so I might cut one some slack, but for the civilians who began, supported, and now want to restart the war, I have no sympathy, only contempt.

 

[TigerVols]

Since America's on the cusp of being the world's largest oil producer, WTF cares what these religious wackos do to each other? Let them fight it out for the crown of Allah's favorite and we'll sit back and reap rising oil profits and get on with developing cleaner, greener energy for the 21st Century.

 

[Boom_70]

Since America's on the cusp of being the world's largest oil producer, WTF cares what these religious wackos do to each other? Let them fight it out for the crown of Allah's favorite and we'll sit back and reap raising oil profits and get on with developing cleaner, greener energy for the 21st Century.

Pretty much where I am at. The landscape has changed. Let The Saudis take up the fight of protecting
their brothers. That said, we still need to be sure Israel is taken care of.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Wounded Warrior J.R. Salzman can be expecting a rectal probe from the IRS any day now.

http://bit.ly/1lv7KWo

"You promised to fix the world's problems, yet you somehow lost a war THAT WAS ALREADY WON. How is that even possible. @BarackObama?!?"

When was the war in Iraq "won"?