Why Obama's strategy in Iraq/Syria is going to work.

Anything and Everything political, express your view, but play nice
Atomic1
Level 10K poster
Posts: 13366
Joined: Nov 5th, '04, 10:21
Location: Southington Ct.

Re: Why Obama's strategy in Iraq/Syria is going to work.

Post by Atomic1 »

Hey Bubba remember a couple years ago when I said Obama was an Anti-Semite, hated Jews, and I compared him to Hitler and you told me I was crazy ....
You said " this discussion is over the second I used Hitler in comparison to Obama ". ......... so let me say it again............
He is supporting Hamas or the Palestinians when their only goal is to kill Jews. Turns his back on Isreal and supports Iran who has stated they want to " WIPE OUT ISREAL " and he has done as little as he could to stop ISIS. I'm going to call it being an " ANTI-Semitic " JUST LIKE HITLER !
steamboat1
Post Office
Posts: 4540
Joined: Sep 12th, '11, 21:53
Location: Brooklyn, NY/Pittsford,VT

Re: Why Obama's strategy in Iraq/Syria is going to work.

Post by steamboat1 »

BAGHDAD (AP) -- The Islamic State group seized control of the city of Ramadi on Sunday, sending Iraqi forces racing out of the city in a major loss despite the support of U.S.-led airstrikes targeting the extremists.
Online video showed Humvees, trucks and other equipment purportedly speeding out of Ramadi, with some soldiers gripping onto their sides. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered security forces not to abandon their posts across Anbar province, apparently fearing the extremists could capture the entirety of the vast Sunni province that saw intense fighting after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of the country to topple dictator Saddam Hussein.
The retreat recalled the collapse of Iraqi police and military forces last summer, when the Islamic State group's initial blitz into Iraq saw it capture about a third of the country. It also calls into questions American officials hopes of relying solely on airstrikes to support the Iraqi forces in expelling the extremists.
"Ramadi has fallen," said Muhannad Haimour, a spokesman for the governor of Anbar province. "The city was completely taken. ... It was a gradual deterioration. The military is fleeing."
Attachments
08982ec217.gif
08982ec217.gif (54.24 KiB) Viewed 725 times
Bubba
Site Admin
Posts: 26275
Joined: Nov 5th, '04, 08:42
Location: Where the climate suits my clothes

Re: Why Obama's strategy in Iraq/Syria is going to work.

Post by Bubba »

Interesting analysis of the current state of ISIS.

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-ea ... l/n/n/NA/n" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Abandon hope all ye who enter here"

Killington Zone
You can checkout any time you like,
but you can never leave

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function" =
F. Scott Fitzgerald

"There's nothing more frightening than ignorance in action" - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
freeski
Post Office
Posts: 4699
Joined: Feb 13th, '13, 19:55
Location: Concord, N.H.
Contact:

Re: Why Obama's strategy in Iraq/Syria is going to work.

Post by freeski »

Bubba wrote:Interesting analysis of the current state of ISIS.

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-ea ... l/n/n/NA/n" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Yes, good article. Social media and stopping their propaganda is a large part of this fight. Not sure how I feel about the end where the lives are spared. These people are fanatics, but many have probably been forced into joining and can be peaceful members of society when ISIS is defeated.
I Belong A Long Way From Here.
madhatter
Signature Poster
Posts: 18340
Joined: Apr 2nd, '08, 17:26

Re: Why Obama's strategy in Iraq/Syria is going to work.

Post by madhatter »

Image
mach es sehr schnell

'exponential reciprocation'- The practice of always giving back more than you take....
freeski
Post Office
Posts: 4699
Joined: Feb 13th, '13, 19:55
Location: Concord, N.H.
Contact:

Re: Why Obama's strategy in Iraq/Syria is going to work.

Post by freeski »

I guess I was wrong about refugees from the middle east not having skills. Unfortunately these skills are illegal in the US. :oops:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germa ... IP20160105" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I Belong A Long Way From Here.
Bubba
Site Admin
Posts: 26275
Joined: Nov 5th, '04, 08:42
Location: Where the climate suits my clothes

Re: Why Obama's strategy in Iraq/Syria is going to work.

Post by Bubba »

All you have to do is read the first few paragraphs as well as the penultimate one to get the gist of the analysis.

From The Economist

The peril of inaction
Russian daring and American weakness have changed the course of the war—for the worse

Feb 20th 2016


http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/2 ... l/n/n/NA/n" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

IN A war as ugly as the one in Syria, several bleak lessons stand out: the longer it goes on, the bloodier it gets, the more countries are sucked into the vortex and the more unpalatable become the options to stop, or at least contain, the fighting. But perhaps the biggest lesson is how America’s absence creates a vacuum that is filled by dangerous forces: jihadists, Shia militias and now an emboldened Russia.

Syria is a nasty complex of wars within a war: an uprising against dictatorship; a sectarian battle between Sunnis and Alawites (and their Shia allies); an internecine struggle among Sunni Arabs; a Kurdish quest for a homeland; a regional proxy war pitting Saudi Arabia and Turkey against Iran; and a geopolitical contest between a timid America and a resurgent Russia.

Into this blood-soaked mess, Vladimir Putin has thrust himself on the side of Bashar al-Assad and the Shia axis. His air power has transformed the battlefield. Pro-Assad forces have cut off a vital corridor that resupplied rebel-held parts of Aleppo from Turkey. Mr. Assad is on the point of encircling what was once Syria’s biggest city. Refugees are again pressing on Turkey’s borders, but many will stay put. In the diplomatic dance over ceasefires, humanitarian relief and a political settlement, Russia is now setting the terms, much as America did after intervening in the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Barack Obama’s policy in Syria—to wish that Mr. Assad would go, without willing the means to get him out—has been wretched. Mr Assad, it seems, will outlast Mr Obama. But the war will not end. Indeed, it has taken a turn for the worse.


*************

The tragedy of Mr. Obama’s feebleness is that actions that were once feasible—establishing a no-fly zone or creating safe areas—now carry the risk of a clash with Russia. Undeclared humanitarian zones may still be possible. Mr Obama’s best response would be to take his own policy seriously: create a moderate force to push back the caliphate in eastern Syria. This would involve Sunni states; it would give moderate rebels a hinterland from which to establish the nucleus of an alternative government under existing American air cover; and it would call Russia’s bluff about fighting the jihadists
"Abandon hope all ye who enter here"

Killington Zone
You can checkout any time you like,
but you can never leave

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function" =
F. Scott Fitzgerald

"There's nothing more frightening than ignorance in action" - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
madhatter
Signature Poster
Posts: 18340
Joined: Apr 2nd, '08, 17:26

Re: Why Obama's strategy in Iraq/Syria is going to work.

Post by madhatter »

Bubba wrote:All you have to do is read the first few paragraphs as well as the penultimate one to get the gist of the analysis.

From The Economist

The peril of inaction
Russian daring and American weakness have changed the course of the war—for the worse

Feb 20th 2016


http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/2 ... l/n/n/NA/n" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

IN A war as ugly as the one in Syria, several bleak lessons stand out: the longer it goes on, the bloodier it gets, the more countries are sucked into the vortex and the more unpalatable become the options to stop, or at least contain, the fighting. But perhaps the biggest lesson is how America’s absence creates a vacuum that is filled by dangerous forces: jihadists, Shia militias and now an emboldened Russia.

Syria is a nasty complex of wars within a war: an uprising against dictatorship; a sectarian battle between Sunnis and Alawites (and their Shia allies); an internecine struggle among Sunni Arabs; a Kurdish quest for a homeland; a regional proxy war pitting Saudi Arabia and Turkey against Iran; and a geopolitical contest between a timid America and a resurgent Russia.

Into this blood-soaked mess, Vladimir Putin has thrust himself on the side of Bashar al-Assad and the Shia axis. His air power has transformed the battlefield. Pro-Assad forces have cut off a vital corridor that resupplied rebel-held parts of Aleppo from Turkey. Mr. Assad is on the point of encircling what was once Syria’s biggest city. Refugees are again pressing on Turkey’s borders, but many will stay put. In the diplomatic dance over ceasefires, humanitarian relief and a political settlement, Russia is now setting the terms, much as America did after intervening in the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Barack Obama’s policy in Syria—to wish that Mr. Assad would go, without willing the means to get him out—has been wretched. Mr Assad, it seems, will outlast Mr Obama. But the war will not end. Indeed, it has taken a turn for the worse.


*************

The tragedy of Mr. Obama’s feebleness is that actions that were once feasible—establishing a no-fly zone or creating safe areas—now carry the risk of a clash with Russia. Undeclared humanitarian zones may still be possible. Mr Obama’s best response would be to take his own policy seriously: create a moderate force to push back the caliphate in eastern Syria. This would involve Sunni states; it would give moderate rebels a hinterland from which to establish the nucleus of an alternative government under existing American air cover; and it would call Russia’s bluff about fighting the jihadists
if only there was some way we could have predicted this beforehand and took a different course of action...
mach es sehr schnell

'exponential reciprocation'- The practice of always giving back more than you take....
Highway Star
Level 10K poster
Posts: 12009
Joined: Feb 7th, '05, 16:16

Re: Why Obama's strategy in Iraq/Syria is going to work.

Post by Highway Star »

While progress may be slow, they certainly are doing quite a bit over there, grinding away with air power and special forces....also helping American manufacturing:

http://www.defensenews.com/story/defens ... /82557180/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defens ... /82507458/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/mili ... /82389432/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The recent contract is part of the Air Force’s effort to replace the smart bombs it has expended during Operation Inherent Resolve against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. As of late March, the service had dropped 4,748 bombs in 2016; in 2015, aircraft released approximately 28,675 weapons, according to statistics from Air Forces Central Command.
Image
"I'M YELLING BECAUSE YOU DID SOMETHING COOL!" - Humpty Dumpty

"Kzone should bill you for the bandwidth you waste writing novels to try and prove a point, but end up just looking like a deranged narcissistic fool." - Deadheadskier at madhatter

"The key is to not be lame, and know it, and not give a rat's @$$ what anybody thinks......that's real cool." - Highway Star http://goo.gl/xJxo34" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"I am one of the coolest people on the internet..." - Highway Star

"I have a tiny penis...." - C-Rex

XtremeJibber2001 - THE MAIN STREAM MEDIA HAS YOU COMPLETELY HYPNOTIZED. PLEASE WAKE UP AND LEARN HOW TO FILTER REALITY FROM BS NARRATIVES.

"Your life is only interesting when you capture the best, fakest, most curated split second version." - Team Robot regarding Instagram posters
Post Reply