Discussion: Obama: No Strategy Yet To Combat ISIS In Syria

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Discussion for article #226998

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Right now, the strategy is to try and get the regional powers surrounding Iraq and Syria to do their goddamn part! If we even send advisors back in, that’s a slippery slope, and Obama knows it. (What’s more, would those advisors have the legal protections that made the original advisement plan go down the tubes?) I’m with Markos Moulitsas, who said, “Let the neighbors take care of the problem!”

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In Islamist-Ruled Mosul, Resentment of Militants Grows

Initially, many in the Sunni-majority city of Mosul were pleased to see Islamic State fighters send the mostly Shiite Iraqi army fleeing after sectarian tensions in the country worsened under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But that enthusiasm faded fast.

“People aren’t sympathizing with them anymore,” said the doctor. “People wanted to get rid of the Iraqi army. But after the Islamic State turned against Mosul, the people of Mosul started turning against them.”

Residents say the rising resentment has come alongside rumors that homegrown militias are mustering troops in secret to overthrow the militants. Two such groups in particular, the Prophet of Jonah Brigades and the Free Mosul Brigades, have formed in the past few weeks, residents said.

But few people in Mosul expect the city’s residents to succeed where the Iraqi army has failed, unless they have outside help. Unlike most Iraqis, the people of Mosul were left largely unarmed after the Iraqi army went house to house a few years ago and confiscated weapons in a bid to reduce violence in the city.

With pressure mounting, the insurgents appear to be bracing for the worst. They have been spotted placing improvised explosive devices around the center of the city so they can detonate them in case of a ground attack, said Atheel Al Nujaifi, the former governor of Nineveh province in northern Iraq, where Mosul is located.

-snip-

But the most pressing problems are economic. A city that used to get 12 or 13 hours of electricity a day now only gets two to three. Some 30% of businesses have closed for lack of customers, and those that remain open are struggling, one resident said.

Without reliable imports, commodities such as milk, rice and oil are dwindling.

Isolate them, squeeze them economically, exploit their internal divisions and they’ll fall apart like a cheap watch.

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lindsey mccain respond harshly in 3 2 1 go

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Sorry, but I simply do not expect the President of the United States to telegraph his actual strategy! Newshounds are a bit thick in this way.

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NO WAR. You get that GOP/MSM, so McCain, Graham & Co. you can tell Koch and friends they won’t be making money off the soldiers…

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Indeed. You can bet the house that Wolf Blitzer ÂŽ will be beating the war drum loudly.

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Get ready for the patented PBO counter-punch.

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GRAMPY & MIZZ L.: “BOMB! BOMB! BOMB, BOMB, BOMB!”

(They then perform an interpretive dance to “I Wanna Go Back” by Eddie Money.)

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They want another Dubya un-soundbite: “Bring it on! Mission accomplished! I’m the Decider! Is our press corps learning?”

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“No Strategy Yet”.

OK, TPM. It’s really too bad that you didn’t mention the color of the suit he wore today.

Because that’s pretty much what you’re aiming for here.

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But some are so disappointed “unsettling” that the President said this…as if they still, after not learning any lessons from the coverage of the previous administration, want Obama to, before an unexpected press conference, announce that the US will invade both Syria and Ukraine, to boot.

Also? How dare he wear that suit?

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We finally have a President that knows the Middle East isn’t on our northern or southern border and doesn’t treat our military like they’re ‘soldiers for hire’ to other countries.

This is why I love this President:

In the end [Iraqis are] going to be responsible for their own security."

Preach it Brother.

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This happened the last time with Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. These freaks can’t govern because it requires compromise they only speak the language of the sword.

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Well we’d all like to see them handle it. But the risk is that the whole region will erupt the way Syria, Iraq and Libya have already erupted. And then there’s the even worse possibility that the end game will be national cross border hostilities. If Iran should take a leading role, what will Turkey do? You can turn the question around into reverse too. And then there are the Sunni states. So this could get far more interesting than anybody wants it to be. This metamorphosis of ISIS is a royal cock up. A total royal cock up. Over and out.

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[quote=“26degreesrising, post:15, topic:9305, full:true”]
Well we’d all like to see them handle it. But the risk is that the whole region will erupt the way Syria, Iraq and Libya have already erupted. [/quote]

Okay, and your alternative is… what? We go back over there (without enacting a draft, of course, because that might mean rich kids would have to go), enforce 'the will of democracy", and act as moving targets while the oil companies get back to business as usual? Who’s paying for that little jaunt? Will it pay for itself, like Operation Flightsuit Codpiece was supposed to? Mizz Lindsey is on record as saying he wants us to go over there and use Iraq as a home base while we play “Whack-a-Mole” on “bad actors” who won’t dance to our tune. You like that scenario any better?

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“The President also noted that it is “unrealistic” to think that the U.S. will “perpetually defeat ISIS.””
Is Obama autistic or something? Did the US “perpetually defeat” the Nazis or the Japanese Imperialists or the Mussolini Fascists? Maybe not by Barack’s definition of “perpetually,” but ISIS is just as worthy of destruction as any of those barbarians. Why is it “unrealistic” for the US to destroy a small group of murderous fanatics? They sure need killin’, as the saying goes.

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Like France and Holland “took care” of Nazi Germany? For the president to say, in effect, that ISIS is undefeatable, is absurd on its face and disheartening to say the least. These people are barbarous fanatics who should be destroyed, period. Doing so should be the number one foreign policy objective of the United States. For the president to say it can’t be done is truly incredible. He’s essentially abandoning the possibility of civilized life in Iraq and Syria, not to mention allowing another Taliban-like state to flourish and act as an incubator, safe haven, and training ground for al Qaeda-like terrorists. Obama has lost his mind.

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I don’t support any of the alternatives, least of all the U.S. bombing the region into oblivion (again), which won’t work anyway. You need ground troops for ISIS, and that’s never going to happen in the year of the Mid-Terms, much less in the run up to the General. Such is the nature of our government, which seems to exist simply to perpetuate itself and the semi-annual festivals we loosely call elections. So what I say, and solely meant to say, is that the thing is a big cockup (mea maxima culpa, incidentally) and that, possibly, the balance of power in the Middle East is going to shift pretty massively as a result. Possibly in ways the U.S. and its favorite Middle East architect cum poodle (not to mention Israel) won’t like at all. But let’s none of us forget who has the million man standing army over there.

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Agree this is a great thing. But it would be even greater if he hadn’t turned a blind eye to our very own Middle East client states arming these fanatics. Not to mention our NATO ally Turkey.