Posted on 08/29/2015 4:12:06 PM PDT by Starman417
Americans are war-weary. The isolationist/non-interventionist wing of the American left and right perceive American interference abroad as part of the problem in exacerbating instability and breeding extremism and anti-American fervor. They argue for more books and less bombs; in "nation-building" here rather than abroad; in spending American tax-payer treasure on education and infrastructure here at home. They believe that Iraqis and Syrians and Yazidis and Kurds, Sunni and Shia, Arabs and Persians, Pashtuns and Tajiks, and Muslims in general should all solve their own problems without the expense of one more American soldier's life.
They're right. They have a point in there...somewhere. But they're also misguided. What happens abroad does affect us here. It affects our allies. It affects the global market. It affects lives all across the world.
And when it comes to Islamic extremism, that kind of insane violence will not stop at the water's edge. If it is allowed the breeding ground to survive, thrive, and multiply, well....far better to deal with the metastasizing dangers now than 25 years from now.
In regards to helping Iraq; well, as the pottery barn rule says: "You break it, you own it."
I do believe that Iraq does need to eventually stand on its own two feet. But 2012 turned out to be premature for the U.S. to exit the stage for a budding democracy in a region of the earth that hasn't known it. Iraq, as it turned out, wasn't ready. We surrendered American influence over Maliki during the Obama Administration. Knowing this administration wanted nothing better than to wash their hands of Iraq, there is little surprise that Iran would happily step in and take our place as guide and interventionist-nation over Maliki. The Bush Administration helped moderate Maliki's sectarian instincts. The Obama Administration all but ignored Iraq. Only two months before SoFA was set to expire, did President Obama send a team of negotiators to make a weak-hearted effort at renegotiation.
At the beginning of 2012, Iraq once again began a downward spiral, almost immediately after American troops uprooted themselves from Iraq. It's made life worse for Iraq. And a worsened Iraq is not in America's strategic national interests.
How we handled the Arab Spring? Mubarak in Egypt? Libya? The Green Movement in Iran? Dithering on who to support and not support in Syria? Redline?
Iraq requested aid and military support from the White House back in August and October of 2013. President Obama refused. This was when ISIS was still batting little league, I suppose. By January of 2014 when questioned about ISIS, President Obama dismissed them as a JV team. What does he call them today, I wonder?
I agree with those who believe we should not commit American soldier lives when national security interest is not involved. This is why as heart-breaking as it is, I do not advocate military interventionism in places like Rwanda.
ISIS is different. It does pose an existential threat to the U.S. And if allowed to continue breeding and gaining in strength, we may come to a point where the number of lives it will take to defeat the global jihad movement will be far costlier in lives and in treasure than if we make those kinds of sacrifices now. Before they become a direct, imminent threat.
The near threat that they pose to us is in propaganda and influence over traitors and potential traitors in our midst. Homegrown jihadi-wannabes. And also hidden sleeper-cells already here.
The far threat is what could happen should we stand by and allow for ISIS to continue taking over territory: Takeover of Iraqi oilfields. Collapse of Baghdad and takeover of more land. If Assad's regime does fall, what will take its place? What if ISIS gets a hold of wmd? There may come a point, if the Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich branches of the two political parties had their way, where absolute non-interventionist policies would see fit that our enemies- whether Sunni extremists via ISIS and al Qaeda or Shia end-time believers through Iranian Khomeinites- will be powerful enough to actually invade our shores by military might.
Does anyone honestly believe that should the global jihad movement takeover Iraq....or Syria....or Yemen....
...That their violence, their takeover will simply cease its expansion? That their religious hatred of the west, Muslims who aren't sufficiently Islamic enough, and all who occupy the non-Islamic world won't see them fit to cease with their expansion? With their spread of Islam through violent means?
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
"You kids keep it down in there, or we'll remove the source of the argument."
I.E. - you can't worship a radioactive glass bugsplat five times a day...
Sissies were born war weary.
War is the nature of man...to be weary of war is to be weary of life.
There is an eternal war between Good and Evil.
Isis is the latest iteration of Evil.
War weary.
Aw....
These are the new talking points since Trump said he’d go after ISIS.
These a$$es are so transparent.
Because, if we don’t pay attention, they will eventually be at our doorstep.
quote: Americans are war-weary.
Sissies were born war weary.
War is the nature of man...to be weary of war is to be weary of life.
There is an eternal war between Good and Evil.
Well said....yes, war is like the battle of our immune systems....the evil that would enslave us all has to be defeated and put down...but, if your energy is lost, and a tribe that has no will to defend it’s home then it is defeated...
War is like running a long footrace. It is grueling and painful.
But that's where our strength of character is alive.
Life is a fight...life is war.
After we had won the War Against Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama unilaterally decided to surrender and give everything back to the terrorists.
Dear world nations: If American lives have to be put at risk to bail your sorry a**es out, then you have no say in how we conduct ourselves, and you will regain sovereignty when we decide, if ever. So, if you want to guarantee your own sovereignty take care of destroying those who would threaten peace and well-being of your own country. When we have to enter the fray we will call all the shots and we make the rules.
“ISIS is different. It does pose an existential threat to the U.S.”
Indeed it does pose a threat. FDR, for all his faults, didn’t allow our mortal enemy the Nazis to set up camp in America.
President Buckwheat, a mortal enemy to America, is allowing Islamic terrorists to set up camp among our homes and families.
It’s way past time to call Buckwheat out and demand where his loyalties lie.
ISIS about Christian slaughter, Christian genocide. It’s not about sovereignty, it’s about humanity.
The bottom line is Islam’s goal is to destroy America and western civilization. Allowing IS to get stronger puts America and Americans at greater risk.
In no particular order:
1. Oil. And not just for us but for our allies. The free flow of oil at market prices is necessary for modern economies.
2. We broke it, we own it. By removing dictators like Saddam, Mubarak, and Daffy we created instability in the ME. The peoples of the ME are not, and likely never will be, capable of democratic self government. By deposing the “monsters” and attempting to replace them with “democracy” we created power vacuums that are being filled by things like the Moslem Botherhood and ISIS. This means we need to kill a bunch of people, stabilize the area, install some “bastards,” and make sure they stay loyal to us. Or else.
3. We broke it, we own, Redux. In addition to removing the stabilizing influence of ME dictators, for various stupid reasons (like wanting to run a LNG pipeline through Syria) we decided to support various independence or democratic movements, apparently forgetting that Arab “democracy” means one man, one vote, ONCE (and subject to veto by an Imam or an Ayatollah). We supported them diplomatically AND materially (what the heck do you think was going in Benghazi?). Again, we need to clean up after our messes.
4. Israel. Israel is the only country in the world where the survival of the Jewish race is not dependent on the good will of a non-Jewish majority. Face it, Jews need a place where they are in charge.
5. It ain’t just a ME problem. Forgotten about 9/11 already? We have imported waaaaaaay to many Moslems into the US and because of stupid ideas like “diversity” they have not been compelled to go through the melting pot process and become fully American. That, coupled with the worship of victimization and grievances means we have plenty of young idiots ready for radicalizing. Europe has the same issue, too.
{After we had won the War Against Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama unilaterally decided to surrender and give everything back to the terrorists.]
I beg to differ. These were deliberate acts on Obama’s part. The premise of the article is based upon Obama being an incompetent hack, he may be but the cabal he fronts is most decidedly not. These are acts of treason.
Because we prefer to fight wars on the other guy’s turf.
This is a religious and tribal civil war that has been ongoing for over 1,000 years. Who seriously thinks we are going to stop that?
This is not just a few thousand or even a million people. This is an entire culture of 1.6 BILLION people who CAN NOT GET ALONG with each other and never have.
We’re not going to ‘nation build’, we’re not going to bring democracy, we’re not going to bring peace to these cultures ... that is just a delusional fantasy.
Isis is an offshoot of the unraveling of the Sykes-Picot Treaty at the end of WWI. The Middle East was carved up by England and France without regard of religious, tribal, or regional differences. The entirety of that area will see serious unrest for years to come until historical norms prevail
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