How Long??? "Obama: U.S. airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq a 'long-term project'"

[grahamhgreen]

Last edited Sun Aug 10, 2014, 06:24 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/10/world/meast/iraq-crisis/

12 years not enough to prove the neo-con doctrine of perpetual war to be wrong?


Seriously, how long this time, folks, 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 10?

In my view, all our military projection into the region has had one result: it's made the islamicists stronger.

[Joe Magarac]

1. Neo-con doctrine? Well that too I suppose.

I call it "bi-partisan foreign policy".

[YvonneCa]

29. That is NOT what he said. I suggest...

...viewing the entire press conference at CSpan.org. Including the Q and A.

[joshcryer]

2. Probably got permission to launch drones.

So as long as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bahrain, some African states, basically forever.

This is the drone President, after all.

[littlemissmartypants]

8. Does this mean that they won't deliver my pizza?

J/K

[eShirl]

12. It'll be like the Land Shark sketch from SNL

Scene: Interior. A New York City apartment. There is a knock at the door.

Woman: speaking through closed door Yes?

Voice: (mumbling) Mrs. Arlsburgerhhh?

Woman: Who?

Voice: (mumbling) Mrs. Johannesburrrr?

Woman: Who is it?

Voice: pause Flowers.

Woman: Flowers for whom?

Voice: long pause Plumber, ma'am.

Woman: I don't need a plumber. You're that clever shark, aren't you?

Voice: pause Candygram.

Woman: Candygram, my foot! You get out of here before I call the police! You're the shark, and you know it!

Voice: Wait. I-I'm only a dolphin, ma'am.

Woman: A dolphin? Well... Okay. opens door

Huge latex and foam-rubber shark head lunges through open door, chomps down on woman's head, and drags her out of the apartment, as Jaws attack music plays.

[former9thward]

16. They will take you out if you don't tip.

[ReRe]

3. Islamists stronger,

... the MIC owners richer, and has assured perpetual war into the distant future. Meanwhile, back on Main Street, things aren't going so good for regular people. It's called disaster capitalism.

[joshdawg]

4. Yes,

you are correct, sir.

[woo me with science]

5. ^^^This is the correct answer^^^

[leftstreet]

22. +1

[suffragette]

30. Spot on ReRe

Shock doctrine in action, redux.

[Zorra]

31. Yep, this ain't rocket science.

Except for the part where the MIC will continually use science to develop rockets that will kill more efficiently.

Better killing machines to sell to both sides for double the profit.

[thesquanderer]

6. definition of "long term project"

I'd say it will last at least 3 months... i.e. it won't be over before the Nov 2014 elections... and it could last until Jan 2017... at which point it becomes another president's problem.

[grahamhgreen]

23. Well, I think he just guaranteed an R majority in Nov..

[thesquanderer]

25. That is a fear. On the other hand...

...many of the Republicans were the ones saying we should have gone in sooner, or never left in the first place. So I'm not sure the "what the heck are we doing in Iraq" voters are going to be any happier with the Republicans.

[grahamhgreen]

32. They're not, but they will stay home and not vote at all.

[cantbeserious]

7. The Neocon War Projections Have Made The Oligarchs, Corporations And Banks Richer

eom

[GeorgeGist]

9. It's a clusterfuck ...

and naturally the clusterfuckers are walking free.

[grahamhgreen]

24. Nice shot of Condi's Ferragamo's

[Chathamization]

10. "Something needs to be done to stop [bad guy] before [something terrible] happens, what's your

alternative? We can't just ignore [bad guy]." The fact that this was the exact same argument made in the run up to Iraq War '03 makes me doubt the results of the poll here where almost everyone said they didn't get caught up in the post-9/11 fear mongering.

Though my guess is Obama's going to do the old favorite of ineffective bombing and then running away declaring victory while everything falls apart. So more like Iraq '98 than Iraq '03.

[n2doc]

11. Until we can borrow no more n/t

[DiverDave]

13. We cannot allow the radicals to get nuclear weapons.

If these madmen take over Iraq, they will get the Sunni's in Pakistan to rise up.
Pakistan has nuclear weapons, if they get the launch codes, Tel Aviv is gone.
If that happens Israel will fire the weapons WE gave them.
We cannot allow nuclear weapons to fall into these lunatics hands.

[grahamhgreen]

15. IE: smoking gun, mushroom cloud.

[EX500rider]

19. "If that happens Israel will fire the weapons WE gave them"

The Israelis developed nuclear weapons on their own with some help from the French with their 1st nuclear reactor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_Israel

[DiverDave]

26. I got a bridge to sell you.

who cares?, if the isis goons get to Pakistan, they will target Israel. Then Israel will fire theirs.
The lunatics with nuclear weapons is what we must stop. We.must.

[malaise]

14. How would the West react if outsiders described them as terrorists,

invaded and occupied their lands illegally and have never been charged for war crimes?
Look Israel's ongoing theft of Palestinian land is a microcosm of the West's theft of the Middle East.
None of this madness has anything to do with religion - it is economics - greed - loot, plunder and enrich - divide and conquer - raw naked hegemony - and I want no part in it or of it.

It's already over two centuries old - so I can't tell you how long this round will last.

[grahamhgreen]

17. Long enough for us Dems to get killed in the 2014 midterms... GOTV, good luck!

[FrodosPet]

27. ISIS Terrorists Post Hollywood Style Killing Spree Videos (WARNING: GRAPHIC)

[bigtree]

18. he appears to be basing his timetable on Iraqi govt. political reconciliation progress

August 9, 2014
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON IRAQ

excerpt:

Q Mr. President, for how long a period of time do you see these airstrikes continuing for? And is your goal there to contain ISIS or to destroy it?

THE PRESIDENT: I’m not going to give a particular timetable, because as I’ve said from the start, wherever and whenever U.S. personnel and facilities are threatened, it’s my obligation, my responsibility as Commander-in-Chief, to make sure that they are protected. And we’re not moving our embassy anytime soon. We’re not moving our consulate anytime soon. And that means that, given the challenging security environment, we’re going to maintain vigilance and ensure that our people are safe.

Our initial goal is to not only make sure Americans are protected, but also to deal with this humanitarian situation in Sinjar. We feel confident that we can prevent ISIL from going up a mountain and slaughtering the people who are there. But the next step, which is going to be complicated logistically, is how do we give safe passage for people down from the mountain, and where can we ultimately relocate them so that they are safe. That’s the kind of coordination that we need to do internationally.

I was very pleased to get the cooperation of both Prime Minister Cameron and President Hollande in addressing some of the immediate needs in terms of airdrops and some of the assets and logistical support that they’re providing. But there’s a broader set of questions that our experts now are engaged in with the United Nations and our allies and partners, and that is how do we potentially create a safe corridor or some other mechanism so that these people can move. That may take some time -- because there are varying estimates of how many people are up there, but they’re in the thousands, and moving them is not simple in this kind of security environment.

Just to give people a sense, though, of a timetable -- that the most important timetable that I’m focused on right now is the Iraqi government getting formed and finalized.

Is he really saying that he's waiting for Iraq to get it's political act together before he withdraws and stands down from this new military mission?

This belies his admonitions earlier on, before a decision was made to send in troops, that there was to be NO military action in Iraq in the absence of political plan . . .

NYT:

Mr. Obama, in a televised statement before he departed for a trip to North Dakota and California, emphasized that the problem was not just a short-term threat to the Iraqi government but also a long-term failure by Baghdad leaders to achieve political reconciliation across sectarian lines. He warned Iraqi leaders that if they want American help, they have to come up with a plan to accommodate minority factions in a meaningful way.

“The United States is not simply going to involve itself in a military action in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis that gives us some assurance that they’re going to work together,” he said. “We’re not going to allow ourselves to be dragged back into a situation where when we’re there we’re keeping a lid on things”

[grahamhgreen]

20. In answer to you question, yes, he seems to have flip flopped on that issue... I guess another

Question is, how do you have a democratic process in a fractured country? Does ISIS vote?

[bigtree]

21. yes, that does make his mission open-ended; the end game operationally unrealistic

. . . if he truly bases that end on political reconciliation in Iraq.

As you point out, grahamhgreen, Iraq is severely divided into several distinct, and often warring, factions right now.

[Dems to Win]

28. Trying for a 30 Year War; 23 Years is just not enough!

The US has been at war with Iraq for 23 years. More war won't solve any problems, it is crystal clear.

In this current round, US is dropping bombs on Iraq to protect a CIA drone base in Irbil. Any talk of humanitarian bombing is nonsense.

Everyone in Kurdistan knows there is a CIA drone base in Irbil, but it's kept 'secret' from the American public. Well, not really, since this was in McClatchy, but Obama won't just come out and tell Americans about it.

Someone provided a link yesterday (sorry I do not remember who) to this story:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/07/11/233126/expansion-of-secret-facility-in.html

Expansion of ‘secret’ facility in Iraq suggests closer U.S.-Kurd ties
BY MITCHELL PROTHERO
McClatchy Foreign StaffJuly 11, 2014

IRBIL, IRAQ — A supposedly secret but locally well-known CIA station on the outskirts of Irbil’s airport is undergoing rapid expansion as the United States considers whether to engage in a war against Islamist militants who’ve seized control of half of Iraq in the past month.

Western contractors hired to expand the facility and a local intelligence official confirmed the construction project, which is visible from the main highway linking Irbil to Mosul, the city whose fall June 9 triggered the Islamic State’s sweep through northern and central Iraq. Residents around the airport say they can hear daily what they suspect are American drones taking off and landing at the facility.

snip

Peshmerga forces already are manning checkpoints and bunkers to protect the facility, which sits just a few hundred yards from the highway.

“Within a week of the fall of Mosul we were being told to double or even triple our capacities,” said one Western logistics contractor who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he’d signed nondisclosure agreements with the U.S. government on the matter.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/07/11/233126/expansion-of-secret-facility-in.html#storylink=cpy

[JEB]

33. Quagmire

[grahamhgreen]

34. ISIS does have an interesting parallel to to Vietnam and the Kmher Rouge...

I guess when you brutalize a people long enough they turn into savages.... Kinda like 'Apocalypse Now".... The horror.

I imagine one day Iran will do what Vietnam did with the Khmer.