Back to Iraq?

backslashbaby · Aug 11, 2014

I haven't caught up with any very recent events on the rescue and airstrikes, but I saw this video on CNN, and it nearly made me cry:

Yazidi survivors in Dohuk rescued by helicopter.

Published on Aug 11, 2014
Ivan Watson Monday journeys to Dohuk where Yazidis rescued from the Mount Sinjar siege have been taken by Kurdish forces.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=188htwkPv1Y

From 1:55 on is when they are leaving, so that's the best part

Elias Graves · Aug 12, 2014

waylander said:
I am of the opinion that the US (and NATO) will eventually have to put troops back in.

I agree. ISIS is a group of subhumans and need to be exterminated. 200,000 Christians are missing from Iraq now. 100,000 Yazidis are dying on a mountain.
This group is crucifying people and selling women and children as sex slaves.
They have no right to exist.

AncientEagle · Aug 12, 2014

c.e.lawson said:
It is unfortunate that things did not turn out better in Iraq after 2011, and that the cost of the war was high. But I think a lot of people don't remember that there were several solid reasons to invade Iraq in 2003, as evidenced by the overwhelming bipartisan support Bush had in congress - he was able to obtain a joint resolution from Congress for the invasion. As well, easily 2/3 of Americans (I think I recently saw 70%) supported invading. Hilary Clinton, Harry Reid, John Kerry all worried about WMD and supported invading. The majority of major players in the media, both liberal and democrat, supported it. This was not lil' ol' Dubya by himself, by any stretch. Which means, in the context of the time, this seemed like the correct option to the majority of Americans.

There was a time when the vast majority of Americans supported subjugating or eliminating Native Americans, wholesale. Didn't make it right.
There was a time when a huge number of Americans supported slavery, and many if not most of those who didn't support it were still not in favor of social equality of the races. Didn't make it right.
I, for one, felt exactly the same way about invading Iraq when it was clearly about to happen as I feel today - that it was stupid, misguided, unnecessary, and was not being done for the reasons sold to the public. I wrote my opposition for publication, to the dismay of old friends. I was not brilliant. It didn't require brilliance to see this folly as the disaster it was. It's sad to see efforts to retroactively justify such a crime.

c.e.lawson · Aug 12, 2014

Elias Graves said:
I agree. ISIS is a group of subhumans and need to be exterminated. 200,000 Christians are missing from Iraq now. 100,000 Yazidis are dying on a mountain.
This group is crucifying people and selling women and children as sex slaves.
They have no right to exist.

Agreed. They have wiped out thousands and thousands of Christians, Christians who have been in Iraq for 1800 years. It is genocide, barbaric and done with glee. Horrible.

At the very least, we need to arm the Kurds ASAP. What is Obama waiting for? They are our allies. This narrow mission to help the Yazdis is commendable, and the airstrikes are a temporary help, but not nearly enough and much too late. I realize that Obama wants Iraq to fix itself, but ISIS is gaining momentum and weapons and money and support every day. We are seriously running out of time here.

ETA - this is an interesting run down of some approaches we can take.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/mich...g-the-isis-vulnerabilities-in-iraq-1407884145

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, aka ISIS, captured hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. military equipment as the Iraqi Security Forces fled the terrorist group's advance on Mosul in June. The result is that ISIS now has some very sophisticated weapons it is using to take and hold territory in Syria and Iraq.

Yet ISIS is not nearly so invincible as its weaponry and territorial gains have made it seem. The terror group has clear vulnerabilities that the U.S., working with Kurdish Peshmerga militia and Iraqi forces on the ground, can exploit. In particular, U.S. airstrikes can negate or degrade the terrorist group's military capabilities and supply lines.

Back to Iraq?

backslashbaby

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Elias Graves

Unrealistically Optimistic

AncientEagle

Old kid, no need to be gentle.

c.e.lawson

Back to Iraq?

backslashbaby

~~~~*~~~~

Elias Graves

Unrealistically Optimistic

AncientEagle

Old kid, no need to be gentle.

c.e.lawson

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