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Destroy the ‘Islamic State’ [John Bolton]
National Review ^ | 8/25/2014 | John Bolton

Posted on 08/25/2014 6:01:20 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross

The recent military successes of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, and the ongoing disintegration of Iraq’s “central” government have created a strategic crisis for the United States. Barack Obama’s belated, narrow authorization to use military force against the Islamic State does not constitute a coherent response, let alone a comprehensive one. The president seems curiously inactive, even as American influence in the region collapses and, not coincidentally, his political-approval ratings suffer. From the outset of the Islamic State’s campaign, his policies have been haphazard and confused, especially the halting, timid decision to intervene militarily. And, based on his record as president, there is no reason to believe a strategic vision of the Middle East’s future will ultimately emerge from his administration.

Approving U.S. military force against the Islamic State on August 7, Obama stressed two limited goals: protecting U.S. civilian and military personnel in Irbil, the Kurdish capital, which the Islamic State was rapidly nearing; and aiding refugees who had fled as the group advanced into Iraq from Syria.(snip)

America’s basic objective is clear: We must seek to destroy the Islamic State. It is simply not enough to block the group’s threat to the Kurds or other vulnerable minorities in the region. The risks of even a relatively small “state” (or “caliphate,” as they proclaim it) are chilling. Leaving the Islamic State in place and in control only of its current turf in Iraq and Syria (including northern-Iraqi hydrocarbon deposits and associated infrastructure) would make it viable economically and a fearsome refuge for terrorists of all sorts. Just as Afghanistan’s Taliban gave al-Qaeda a base of operations to launch terrorist attacks culminating in 9/11, a similar result could follow if the Islamic State successfully erased and then redrew existing boundaries.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bolton; destroy; election2012; iraq; isis; islamicstate; jayvee; obama; terrorists
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1 posted on 08/25/2014 6:01:21 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross
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To: Servant of the Cross

...and what’s Clown Prince nobama’s tee time today? Are the golf carts well-charged? The menu for this evening’s meal...is the food fresh?


2 posted on 08/25/2014 6:11:53 AM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: Servant of the Cross

‘The risks of even a relatively small “state” (or “caliphate,” as they proclaim it) are chilling. Leaving the Islamic State in place and in control...’

All well and good but what is he really proposing? To me it sounds a lot like he wants a fight w/ Iran. After all its Iran thats 1) The Islamic state (courtesy of the US BTW), 2) keeps the entire region in constant turmoil and 3) is the major sponsor of all the little Islamic uprisings around the world.


3 posted on 08/25/2014 6:24:37 AM PDT by 556x45
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To: Servant of the Cross
I would vote for him for president.

Imagine a president who actually likes America!

4 posted on 08/25/2014 6:56:07 AM PDT by null and void (If Bill Clinton was the first black president, why isn't Barack Obama the first woman president?)
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To: Servant of the Cross

Unfortunately, our restrained military responses to radical Islam are akin to discovering termites in your home and trying to kill them one by one as you see them instead of tenting and fumigating the entire house.


5 posted on 08/25/2014 6:57:20 AM PDT by Right Brother
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6 posted on 08/25/2014 7:14:24 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: Servant of the Cross

“there is no reason to believe a strategic vision of the Middle East’s future will ultimately emerge from his administration.”

A US President’s “strategic vision” of the Middle East’s future (even a vision of complete disengagement) normally implies pursuit of US interests, somehow defined. But Obama interprets such influence and pursuits as colonialism, and sees US strategic visions as inherently malign. As a result he does not lead, but reacts to events when forced to by politics, in an uncoordinated, limited, decidedly un-strategic way. This train wreck is no accident. His vision is a void.


7 posted on 08/25/2014 7:23:55 AM PDT by Chewbarkah
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To: Servant of the Cross

How can you destroy something when, for whatever reason, you can’t even name it.


8 posted on 08/25/2014 7:25:47 AM PDT by deadrock (I am someone else.)
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To: Servant of the Cross

I wish that people who call for battle had time served on active duty for 3 or more years if they were physically able to do so.


9 posted on 08/25/2014 7:31:57 AM PDT by reefdiver (The fool says there is no God. And the bigger fools sees direct evidence and rages against it.)
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To: Servant of the Cross

The problem will be trying to convince a president to destroy his own creation.


10 posted on 08/25/2014 7:33:09 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: null and void

Amb. Bolton gets it. For more than a decade, he gets it about the Middle East & the world.

He would make a superb Secretary of State under President Cruz or President Perry.


11 posted on 08/25/2014 7:33:24 AM PDT by elcid1970 ("In the modern world, Muslims are living fossils.")
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To: Servant of the Cross

Bolton is right that the new Islamic fascist state MUST be destroyed before it destroys western civilization. However he misses the point that it is Islam itself that is the root cause of this threat. In WW-II we not only fought to destroy the German fascist state, but also Nazism, the ideology that created it. I see this situation as being no different.


12 posted on 08/25/2014 8:08:35 AM PDT by The Great RJ
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To: Servant of the Cross

Shut up, Bolton. You and your friends did everything you could to launch this blood-soaked disaster. You have no credibility, and evidently no shame. Just shut up.


13 posted on 08/25/2014 8:12:14 AM PDT by Romulus
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To: Servant of the Cross

Americans don’t want more “war”. Rand Paul is counting on this sentiment to win the White House. He is even calling Hillary a warmonger today.


14 posted on 08/25/2014 9:37:00 AM PDT by montag813
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To: null and void

John Bolton, the best foreign policy expert we have. He should have been Secretary of State.


15 posted on 08/25/2014 6:38:49 PM PDT by Kackikat
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To: Romulus
You and your friends did everything you could to launch this blood-soaked disaster.

How so?

16 posted on 08/25/2014 6:44:03 PM PDT by papertyger (Those who don't fight evil hate those who do)
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To: reefdiver
I wish that people who call for battle had time served on active duty for 3 or more years if they were physically able to do so.

I wish that some former service members understood they have no more claim on policy decisions than any other patriotic American.

In fact, anyone concerned with supporting policies that run a very real chance of conflicting with ones personal convictions should AVOID standard military service. Which STILL does not void their freedom to promote or condemn any particular policy.

The "Chickenhawk" smear is an old and thoroughly discredited canard to anyone who has been paying attention.

17 posted on 08/25/2014 7:03:46 PM PDT by papertyger (Those who don't fight evil hate those who do)
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To: Servant of the Cross
I agree with Bolton's sentiment but I'm afraid we're in a far weaker position to intervene than we were in 2008. And the problem is that warfare as 0bama has conducted it - strictly risk-free air efforts - isn't going to suffice.

Shall we review the case? We now have no bases in Iraq capable of supporting offensive combat operations, no political will in the new Iraqi administration to establish them, we have few field troops in theater anywhere, our potential ally Assad (and yes, I'm aware of what he is) has experienced systematic efforts to destabilize and evict from office courtesy of the same administration that now will need his help, and so just might be a bit less than enthusiastic about the whole thing, Turkey is in the hands of an Islamist administration that has taken the power from its army, Iran is stuck trying to decide whether it hates the U.S. more than ISIS and would be perfectly happy to help both sides lose, the Saudis are duplicitous as ever, and the fellow who is the principal leader of ISIS is a former prisoner that 0bama freed in 2009.

That's an awful long litany of foreign policy fecklessness and incompetence, and I haven't even brought up Libya and Egypt. And so with this track record we're supposed to gallop over the burning sands like some Hollywood production, evicting the usurpers to the universal cheers of the locals all around? That just isn't going to happen. ISIS wouldn't be where it is if it didn't enjoy at least some tribal support. There just aren't that many of them.

We play their game if we try to chase ghosts in the desert from bases we've only tentatively borrowed. The Caliphate is not yet a state. When and if it becomes one its proprietors will have assets to attack, ground to hold, if they are to be considered a state at all. That game we happen to be very good at, as Saddam Hussein might testify.

And so while I agree with Bolton's sentiments and his dark view of the likely nature of the Caliphate I'm not sure the time or our allies or potential allies are right. And I know our leadership isn't right.

18 posted on 08/25/2014 7:04:21 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: papertyger

What planet are u from, what a load of crap


19 posted on 08/25/2014 7:57:17 PM PDT by reefdiver (The fool says there is no God. And the bigger fools sees direct evidence and rages against it.)
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To: reefdiver
What planet are u from, what a load of crap

Apparently the same planet as the good people at Hotair, The Federalist, and Breitbart. What planet are you from, Mr. Dan Rather?

20 posted on 08/25/2014 8:33:58 PM PDT by papertyger (Those who don't fight evil hate those who do)
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