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

[madhatter]

Syria was, and continues to be a no-win situation. Staying out of it for as long as possible is inherently an effective strategy. One could even argue that we are not involved in the syrian civil war - we are eliminating a terror organization which is basically a branch of Al-Queda. Should we have attacked them earlier? Sure. Were there LOTS of reasons not to? Definitely.

Except we're not staying out of it. Obama's strategy, which you claimed earlier to be a successful one, included arming Syrian rebels. It's not clear if you're still trying to support your point about Obama's strategy or conceding his strategy is ineffective.

Iraq is an ally and we came to their aide with millitary support when it was proven that they needed it, a relatively nutral governemtn was put in place, and regional countries brought on board.

Can this even be called a strategy? Should the US only get involved when another country asks for help, even when there may be a threat to US national security?

Iraq's shites have close ties with Iran. We don't want to be seen as aiding only the Shites against the ISIS sunni's, which would really tick off our Sunni allies in the region. (mainly the saudis)

Are we not aiding the Shiites by bombing the ISIS Sunni's? This is part of Obama's strategy.

If you think the CIA and DIA go around underestimating the situation anywhere in the middle east, you're kidding yourself and are just looking to hate on the government. They were widely warning throughout the past year that ISIS was growing strongly, going to take territory, etc. Obama, the millitary and congress were ALL aware of it. However, it is still accurate for him to say that he was still suprised by it and underestimated it. Read the full 60-minutes interview from 9/28/14, not just the Fox news spin:

I heard it from the horses mouth, Obama. Sounds like you feel Obama knew about the threat and ignored it. Although your point is contrary to your point earlier where you said "ISIS only became a threat in Iraq in the past year or so".

By what you post it seems like you're pretty down on Obama's strategy - sounds like you think he's supporting the wrong people and was slow to act. Stark contrast to your original post where you hailed his strategy as a successful one.

I don't watch FOX and I saw the 60 minutes interview. There's nothing the transcript offers contrary to my point.

I'm not sure what your point is. I never said it was a great strategy, it's simply a strategy that will succeed.

Obama's plan is brilliant SERIOUSLY STFU already... yer completely full of $hit...are you f@ckin schizophrenic?

Obama, along with ALL rest of our government were aware of the threat, did NOT ignore it, and still underestimated it in a very reasonable way. reality says otherwise...They aren't psychic, you know.

As far as Shite vs. Sunni, it is EXTREMELY important in our current foreign policy that we not be seen as picking sides based on religion, sect, or race.

I haven't made contradictory points, you've made contradictory distortions of what I've said.[/quote]


unless you adjust everything else for inflation this chart has no bearing on your statement about bush and oil prices... where did you go to school? no matter HOW you slice it gasoline cost more per gallon under obama than bush... by a significant amount...

do you even know what "contradictory " means???

here's a clue: Your assertions are contradictory to your premise...

Honestly your "thought" process is painful to watch...

[XtremeJibber2001]

I'm not sure what your point is. I never said it was a great strategy, it's simply a strategy that will succeed.

Obama, along with ALL rest of our government were aware of the threat, did NOT ignore it, and still underestimated it in a very reasonable way. They aren't psychic, you know.

As far as Shite vs. Sunni, it is EXTREMELY important in our current foreign policy that we not be seen as picking sides based on religion, sect, or race.

I haven't made contradictory points, you've made contradictory distortions of what I've said.

My point was to demonstrate you have opposing views to a strategy you've concluded as (or will be) successful.

As for being psychic, they're not. However, defense spending accounts for >50% of the annual budget so our intelligence community should be pretty near psychic.

As I mentioned above, we are picking sides by supplying rebels with arms. If it's extremely important to avoid doing what we're currently doing, I'm not sure how, in the same breath, you have faith the current strategy will succeed.

[Rime & Reason]

Meanwhile, both HighwayStar and XtremeJibber2001 continue their reasonable discussion while completely ignoring Madhatter's stupid expletive filled posts. Awesome!

[Highway Star]

I'm not sure what your point is. I never said it was a great strategy, it's simply a strategy that will succeed.

Obama, along with ALL rest of our government were aware of the threat, did NOT ignore it, and still underestimated it in a very reasonable way. They aren't psychic, you know.

As far as Shite vs. Sunni, it is EXTREMELY important in our current foreign policy that we not be seen as picking sides based on religion, sect, or race.

I haven't made contradictory points, you've made contradictory distortions of what I've said.

My point was to demonstrate you have opposing views to a strategy you've concluded as (or will be) successful.

As for being psychic, they're not. However, defense spending accounts for >50% of the annual budget so our intelligence community should be pretty near psychic.

As I mentioned above, we are picking sides by supplying rebels with arms. If it's extremely important to avoid doing what we're currently doing, I'm not sure how, in the same breath, you have faith the current strategy will succeed.

I will coincide that I certainly have pragmatic views regarding the strategy.

Defense spending is about 18% of the budget, BTW, but still an amazingly massive number. Keep in mind that a very large percentage of that money gets paid out to federal employees and the employees of contractors, and goes right back into the economy. Yes, they are nearly psychic, but not perfect.

Yes we do pick sides, based on our interests and who seeks to do us harm. However, for example, we are strong allies with Saudi Arabia which is essentially a Sunni Islamic Fundamentalist state, while fighting terrorist groups that are Sunni Islamic Fundamentalists - quite an obvious contradiction that has bothered many people for many years. Its pretty clear that various states have been pretty liberal with supplying Islamist rebels in Syria with arms for the past few years, so to get them to change course and join in attacking them was no small diplomatic feat.

[Highway Star]

Here is an excellent discussion of the complexities of the situation....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mid ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Bubba]

Every time right before the elections the gas prices drop dramatically.

Elections are held in November. Gasoline prices often dip in the fall as people don't drive as much after the peak summer travel season. Is it a coincidence or a politically influenced plot to influence elections? Could the Koch brothers be sleeping with Nancy Pelosi? Are others in the oil industry forcing prices down in order to preserve a Democrat Senate? Is big oil secretly Democratic? Atomic1 reports. You decide.

[Atomic1]

So after reading Blabba's usual sarcasm in regards to my post I googled ' gas prices and elections years ' 'and this is just one of the dozen posts listed. Looks like I'm not the only one who sees a correlation between the two . This link is from a couple years ago but things haven't changed. It's a good read .
http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles ... ine-prices" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dickc]

So after reading Blabba's usual sarcasm in regards to my post I googled ' gas prices and elections years ' 'and this is just one of the dozen posts listed. Looks like I'm not the only one who sees a correlation between the two . This link is from a couple years ago but things haven't changed. It's a good read .
http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles ... ine-prices" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wall Street, and that includes the hedge funds, are forward looking financial interests. They know all spring that the big summer driving season is coming. They get into the gas and oil market to get locked in at lower prices to sell at higher ones. They have done this for YEARS! This drives up prices all spring, and drives them back down during the actual driving season. If you actually go out and look at NYMEX data for gas prices, you will further note that with the October futures, the prices go down about fifteen cents, and with the April data the prices go back UP by that same fifteen cents. This is a result of blend changes from summer to winter and back.

http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/energy/ ... oline.html

Or you can fashion a new tinfoil hat and play Chicken Little............

[Geoff]

Read the full 60-minutes interview from 9/28/14, not just the Fox news spin:

Last week was a long and momentous one in the presidency of Barack Obama. On Monday, he began a bombing campaign with members of an international coalition against ISIS and other terrorist targets in Syria, while continuing airstrikes in northern Iraq.

You didn't quote ZeroHedge and sprinkle funky bolded and colored comments in it that make it impossible to read. Therefore, you have no credibility, you LibTard, you.

[madhatter]

Read the full 60-minutes interview from 9/28/14, not just the Fox news spin:

Last week was a long and momentous one in the presidency of Barack Obama. On Monday, he began a bombing campaign with members of an international coalition against ISIS and other terrorist targets in Syria, while continuing airstrikes in northern Iraq.

You didn't quote ZeroHedge and sprinkle funky bolded and colored comments in it that make it impossible to read. Therefore, you have no credibility, you LibTard, you.

hey king stupid tell us about your alcohol lotion ebola cure.... idiot...hard to be any more F@cking clueless than you are...wallow in your ignorance you bloated bag of $hit...

[Highway Star]

Just so people don't miss this one:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014 ... v=top-news" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[XtremeJibber2001]

Just so people don't miss this one:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014 ... v=top-news" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is a great article, thanks for posting.

[Highway Star]

Seems to be going a bit better today in Kobane.....

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29647314" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[freeski]

Seems to be going a bit better today in Kobane.....

Yes, that is good news. Hopefully they'll bomb ISIS as they retreat and take out as many as possible. I read there were hundreds killed in Kobane lets get the number up to a thousand. If it starts to look like they are not going to be successful a lot of their fighters will go back to what they were doing before.

[Highway Star]

Airdrops to Kobani by C-130's on Sunday....

http://online.wsj.com/articles/us-airdr ... 83656.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;