Posted on 07/19/2015 12:55:04 PM PDT by Kaslin
WESTMINSTER, United Kingdom – The former head of the British Military has called for the UK and her allies to invade the Islamic State. Lord Richards told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme the current allied strategy of air strikes and support for Kurdish fighters was “woefully insufficient.”
He said the strategy was “firing up” the Islamic State because it was “dribbling” rather than “clouting” the terrorist nation. Richards went on to say: “Sooner or later tanks are going to have to roll, there is going to have to be troops on the ground…. The current strategy won't work in the time I think we've got available. If you really want to get rid of them we need to effectively get on a war footing.”
Richards comments will significantly up the pressure on the Cameron government to take more decisive action. He retired as Chief of the Defence Staff in July 2013, which is the UK equivalent of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after which he was given a seat in the House of Lords.
Britain has pulled back from international conflicts in recent years, prompting claims the country is in decline as a world power. The UK is the second largest contributor to air strikes over Iraq, but as a result of a resolution by the House of Commons it has not bombed Syria.
This is in sharp contrast to the days of Tony Blair, when the British were instrumental in persuading President Clinton to invade Kosovo. Blair also offered British troops to assist in both the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns.
Release of the British Terrorist
The UK was reminded today of the nature of the modern threat of terrorism as the US released the British terrorist Babar Ahmad. Mr. Ahmad of Tooting, South London, fought an eight-year campaign against extradition to the US to face charges of "conspiracy and providing material to support to terrorism”.
During the period he was kept in a maximum-security British prison, until he was eventually sent to America. In December 2013 he pleaded guilty to the charges, which related to the establishment of jihadi fundraising websites. He was sentenced to twelve and a half years in solitary confinement.
His release was announced by his family earlier today and appears to indicate the US authorities took into account his time in British prisons as part of his sentence.
Throughout his incarceration he received the support of his childhood friend and Labour shadow minister Sadiq Khan MP. He was visited several times in prison by Khan, who has never fully explained the nature of their relationship.
His family issued a statement in which they said: "We, the family of Babar Ahmad, are delighted to announce that by the grace of God Babar has returned home to us after 11 years in prison… Our lives will be enriched by his return."
Better scour the Shire first.
Why bother to invade. The United Kingdom is a nuclear power. The collateral damage will be acceptable to everyone who is not a follower of the pedophile Mohammad.
“Sooner or later tanks are going to have to roll,
Maybe we can lend-lease a bunch of those Abrams tanks that we build that the Army didn’t want at one time.
Which Islamic state? Everywhere there are Muslims, including the UK and the US, you have some form of an Islamic state. Ban Islam in civilized countries, close all mosques, put US troops on our borders, institute a “pet the pig” requirement for boarding a plane or entering the US. Problem largely solved.
If we could get the Christians out of the Middle East, I don’t see a problem with the various Muslim factions fighting each other.
Won’t work. There is not enough a British military.
And we (the US) are no longer a reliable ally.
Also, the UK has been heavily infiltrated by Moslems.
Finally, the West would have to abandon its stupid rules of war. In a theater where children are performing executions, collateral damage should be considered a good thing.
Obviously ISIS wants western powers to invade. Besides making their apocalyptic scenarios come true it would also act as a great recruiting tool for them from the unlimited number of Muslim fanatics. The ultimate solution will have to involve more creativity.
In 1990, there were four tank regiments in the British Army, which had at their disposal nearly 800 tanks. Now the British army can call on just 156 tanks, with 56 of them belonging to the newly formed Royal Tank regiment.
Well, that creative solution will probably be the reason ISIS was allowed to come about - so Iran can destroy them and become the “good guys”, justifying Obama’s deal with them and opening up the country for investment by all of those multi-nationals who have been chomping at the bit to get back in since the Shah was deposed.
Start with B52 sorties carpet bombing any ISIS areas. Arm the Kurds with modern weapons and lastly unleash shock and awe weapons on ISIS. The U.S.military has been developing kenetic energy weapons for years ...the so-called “rods from God”. These are tungsten rods dropped from orbit or very high altitude that strike with near nuclear force. I would target mosques during Friday prayers. Perhaps an announced strike from heaven might shake ISIS leaders
We still have a military as good man for man as any on the planet. We still punch above our weight.
You are still a good ally.
The UK has its Islam problemns, but Muslims, contrary to hype, have no actual political, economic or social power. For all the loud noise of the extreme.
Hey Brittan, it’s your turn!
The quality of the UK military is very high. It is just that it has gotten quite small. As someone joked, there are now more horses in the UK military than there are Challenger tanks.
The UK military could dominate the battlefield where ever it went in the ME, but that area controlled would be relatively small. And once they moved to the next area, ISIS would move in again behind them. Because they don’t play by the same rules the West does, ISIS would enjoy cooperation from the locals, that Western troops would be hard pressed to equal (If you don’t cooperate with Western troops, we say “Oh, well.” and move on. If you don’t cooperate with ISIS, they kill you...).
And, if the echelons beyond reality decided to inflict stupid rules of engagement on your troops, they are going to suffer casualties far out of proportion to what they should. Personally, I think the behavior of ISIS has demonstrated that collateral damage is a good thing.
The USA is NOT a reliable ally, esp. under Obama. We are cutting our military strength, turning it into a social experiment, using military projects to distribute pork, and undermining and betraying allies and neutrals. I am not sure what happened (aside from election of Obama, but it has been going on longer than that. At least since Clinton bombed heck out Serbia - whom we owed a debt from WWII), but we cannot be trusted. (I’m big on long term loyalty and we ain’t showin’ it.)
I will take your word for it about Moslems not having political, economic or social power, but if that is true, why did the coppers in Rotherham spend more time covering up the activities of Paki grooming gangs than going after them? The Labour party has admitted that they were (are?) pulling in immigrants in an effort to change the demographics of the UK in their favor. That sort of sounds like political power to me.
‘I will take your word for it about Moslems not having political, economic or social power, but if that is true, why did the coppers in Rotherham spend more time covering up the activities of Paki grooming gangs than going after them? The Labour party has admitted that they were (are?) pulling in immigrants in an effort to change the demographics of the UK in their favor. That sort of sounds like political power to me.’
PC by white establishment. In fact the local Muslim community flagged the problem/issue up first themselves. Muslims have no power themselves, its the white liberal classes giving them power by virtue of PC-ism. Muslims aren’t even (by far) the largest UK ethnic minority.
Stupid PC types. They could screw up sex.
Oh, wait, they already have.
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