Posted on 08/20/2014 9:57:36 PM PDT by blam
Michael B Kelley and Mike Nudelman
August 20, 2014
Just about everyone agrees that the world would be a better place without the brutal terrorist group known as ISIS (or Islamic State or ISIL).
On Wednesday, Barack Obama compared the group to a "cancer" whose spread must be contained and that the group "has no place in the 21st century." And Secretary of State John Kerry tweeted that "ISIL must be destroyed/will be crushed."
But there is one thing everyone must realize in the anti-ISIS crusade: Given the momentum that ISIS has built over the past two years in Syria and Iraq, it would be very difficult to dislodge them from the region. To actually do it would require a full-scale war.
"If destroying ISIL becomes the near-term policy goal—which seems the likely outcome of saying you are going to 'roll back' the group—then 10,000-15,000 troops vastly understates the true commitment, which will actually require years, direct military action on both sides of the Iraq/Syria border, tens (if not hundreds) of billions of dollars, and many more than 15,000 troops," counterterrorism expert Brian Fishman writes in War on the Rocks. "ISIL is an inherently resilient organization—look how far they have come since getting 'rolled back' during the Surge in 2007 when 150,000 American troops were occupying the country."
ISIS has gone through many iterations since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and is now at its most powerful point as they control a vast swath of territory across Syria and Iraq. What has become a de facto criminal petrostate brings in nearly $12 million a month in revenues from extortion and other shady practices in the Iraqi city of Mosul alone in addition to $1 million to $3 million a day selling oil illegally.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I too have little hope we'll do anything until our backs are against the proverbial wall.
To quote Churchill:
Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.
My greatest fear is that we never get over our political correctness until we reach Churchill's worse case...
A good hint might be the fact that Obamas head of the CIA a MUSLIM,and a liar and perjurer,said that a Muslim caliphate is baloney,we don’t make policy on something that is not going to happen
Someone please tell Obama that you can’t “contain” cancer. It has to be destroyed otherwise it will spread and eventually kill. The longer you take to destroy it the less chance you have to succeed. Maybe he knows this and just doesn’t care...
“The Syrian “rebels” Obama was supporting have morphed into the worst terrorists the world has ever known?”
And some people say Obama hasn’t accomplished anything!
They’ve been at war with us since the 70’s and we’ve been fighting delaying actions for the past 40 years.. The time to engage on our terms is in the past. The battle will be here.
Your analysis applies as well to appropriately self-named political progressives ... as in “cancer is a progressive disease”.
Full scale war??????? We haven’t fought a full scale war since WWII!
The “wars” fought today consist of political correctness, one sided rules of war, sensitivity for the enemy, specific “non civilian” targets, and a whole host of other “touchy-feely” things that have no place in a REAL WAR.
To see how a real war is fought, go back to all wars prior to Korea. Korea was the first of politically correct wars and the war was never won.
In war YOU EXTERMINATE THE ENEMY whether collateral damage is caused or not. You kill everyone who is around the enemy. You can’t fight a war while worrying what mosque, school building, church, or other “special” building might be destroyed in the firefight. Furthermore, if a group of people are sheltering the enemy within one, blow the entire thing up!
We have lost many, many of our soldiers in fighting politically correct wars. Soldiers who did not have to be wounded or killed due to simply stupid silly and useless rules set forth by those in the “touchy-feely” seats of power.
Going to fight a war, do it like old general Schwarzkopf and kick their ass!
One thing is for certain. Nation Building should never be part of the next plan. Islam needs to be crushed. We need to go Roman and salt the earth their bodies lay on. But, I am dreaming. We are going to end up fighting for our own existence here where we stand.
Not a good idea; they would just change sides. Half of them are thugs and Muzzies already.
“Nuclear weapons. Particularly the neutron bombs that we have built. Reassemble them and use them.”
Only China has a working, tested neutron bomb. Ours was never built, never tested, remaining purely theoretical. Doubtful if a bomb could be made now in the US, given the prevailing political climate - let alone used.
It is well know that the international media storm from using anything nuclear on a battlefield - or even being tested - would place so great demand O’s time, he would never get out on the golf course for the rest of his current term.
Not to worry, if the rumored ISIS cells in the US get a working bomb from the Iranians and use it here - thanks to our now non-existent southern boarder, O will be very upset to see one of his beloved golf courses made radioactive. In that case, you can expect very angry and harshly worded statements from Our Glorious Leader.
“There is no alternative.”
Nonsense.
Some very good strategic ideas in your post #40. Would that the Golfer-in-Chief were paying attention.You are very correct in pointing out that the terrorists hide amid the populace. They don’t care how many “innocents” will die because they embed among them. Given this enemy strategy, collateral damage is unavoidable and should not dictate ROE.
I'll go that one further: Most of our rulers and pundits would, even then, continue to pander to and appease it, hoping it would eat them last.
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