Supplying the Syrian rebels with arms won't work

Actually, that isn't true. Only the Senate can ratify a treaty. The House of Representatives has no roll in treaty ratification. Congress doesn't negotiate treaties. Per the US Constitution (The Treaty Clause, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2) , foreign policy lies in the jurisdiction of the POTUS. Congress has the ability to regulate commerce both domestic and foreign. but not foreign policy.

What agreements do we have that bind us militarily to oil producers?

Iran ain't the bad guys except for the nuclear weapon they were building and for the support they render to terrorist groups and the threats they have made towards the US. And as for Saudi's always agreeing with the radical Sunnis, give me one instance where they, as a state, have agreed with radical Sunnis. There are no doubt radical Sunnis within Saudi Arabia, but that doesn't mean they are state supported. We have radical Sunnis here in the states too.

 

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You are absolutely correct in that assertion. And it is high time more Americans woke up to that fact and finally did something about it.

 

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To some degree that is true. Americans are the victims of misinformation and manipulation (e.g. Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, et al. ). But if we can get past the misinformation, the American people can control their destiny. It begins in the ballot box and in reforming our electoral processes. These people screwing the American people, for the most part, were elected. Something is seriously wrong with our electoral processes.

 

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Actually, that isn’t true. Military action includes air strikes. And Obama and allies have clearly said they do intend to make air strikes in Syria. Further, they have indicated they will use special forces to organize, train and coordinate military action with groups like the Free Syrian Army as well as to carry out specialized strikes (i.e. as in a Navy Seal Strike) on selected targets. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/syria-airstrikes/

Well you are mixing a number of issues here. The US is in fact the natural leader here. It is the only state with the capacity to do so. That is why NATO requested US airstrikes and coordination in Libya a few years ago.

Two, there has been much to do about “no ground forces”, but the truth is there are currently US ground forces in Iraq in advisory rolls. After ISIS scared the shit out of Iraq, the Iraqi government had an epiphany and quickly signed a status of forces agreement which was a US requirement to reintroduce US troops in the country. US government troops are currently in harm’s way, they are currently on the front lines as military advisors.

And yes, it will take men on the ground in substantial numbers to take ISIS territory and control it. That is where the Iraqis and Free Syrian Army come into the picture.

Because it is in their interest to do so, Turkey, Jordon, and the Gulf States have an interest in regional stability. This is after all their backyard. And in the case of Iraq and Syria, it is their country.

Actually, it was more than a few drone strikes and it was more than a few handfuls of vehicles and a mortar or two. I must have missed that, I didn’t hear Obama taking credit for rescuing those folks. He took credit for his actions and he also acknowledged the roll of the Peshmerga.

And you expect politiciians to not act like politicians?

Actually, they do, as a former US Navy Hospital Corpsman in the early 70’s; I can tell you first hand, they do. I went through that training back in the early 70’s. US military forces are trained in epidemiological procedures. Every US solider and sailor is trained in chemical and biological warfare. I have personally been through the gas chamber a couple of times. It’s part of their chemical and biological warfare training. Every Navy Hospital Corpsman is trained in epidemiological procedures. Further, the US Navy has two fully equipped modern hospital ships, the USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort. The US Army also has substantial epidemiological capabilities.
Further, the problems in Africa are more than just medical. They need field support and police forces to prevent the many attacks on the ill and medical workers in the region.

Below is a job listing for the US Army.
Jobs in Army Preventive Medicine http://wrair-www.army.mil/ReAndDevelop_InfectDisRe_PreventiveMedicine_Resi_Jobs.aspx

Available Right after Residency Training (Partial Listing)

MEDDAC Chief of a Department of Preventive Medicine: Ft. Stewart, GA, Ft. Jackson, SC, Ft. Drum, NY, Ft. Knox, KY, Ft. Stewart, GA, Ft. Benning, GA, Ft. Sill, OK, Bavaria, Germany, Ft. Leonard Wood, MO, Ft. Campbell, KY, Ft. Hood, TX (usually includes a PROFIS assignment to a field unit).
Epidemiologist/Tropical Disease Research, Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand.
Chief of Infectious Disease Research, U.S. Army Medical Research Unit – Kenya.
Preventive Medicine Officer, Operational Medicine Division, U.S. Army Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Ft. Detrick, MD.
Preventive Medicine Officer/Brigade Surgeon, Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne), Ft. Bragg, NC.
Epidemiologist, U.S. Army Public Health Command Region Europe, Germany.
Epidemiologist, U.S. Army Public Health Command Region Pacific, Japan.
Epidemiologist, U.S. Army Public Health Command, Aberdeen, MD (includes working on outbreak investigations).
Epidemiologist, Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, Washington, DC.
Preventive Medicine Officer, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Ft. Bragg, NC.

Well it isn’t one day either, it will take a few days to deliver all the supplies and personnel to the region and establish base camps.

The US military role as a deliverer of US humanitarian aid isn’t new. The US military has been delivering humanitarian aid since at least WWII. That didn’t stop the White House from using the US Navy to kill Bin Laden or rescue a pirated US vessel or escalating the war in Afghanistan, so it would appear your machinations about the White House and the US military are as equally unfounded as your notions about the US military epidemiological capabilities.

Well we are still cleaning up the mistakes of the Bush Junior administration and we will be for some time to come. Unfortunately, in real life we rarely get the opportunity for a mulligan. It is what it is. Of all the conflicts in the world today ISIS isn’t high on my list, because it is solvable, and I have every confidence it will be solved. President Obama has outlined a good and reasonable strategy. Let’s see how well he executes it.

One more point, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dempsey said today that if he felt more US troops were needed in Iraq, he would recommend them to the POTUS>

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/congress-scrutinizes-obama-military-strategy-25529446

What worries me most is Europe. The world is in a state of transition as it was at the beginning of the last century and transition breeds instability, and that can be catastrophic (e.g. WWII).

 

Good post, thanks.

If you listen to the CT sorts, the IS is an offshoot of al-Qaeda, which is a CIA baby "gone bad". Is it just a happy coincidence that the munitions factories and other military contractors are ramping up for huge profits? :shrug:

That's just a quibble...

 

Hello. I'm GeoffP, your local United Nations representative! You may have seen me in such resolutions as"With Two Treaties You Get Eggroll!" and "Oh, You Genocide!" But what I'm here to talk to you about today is a much more serious matter.

Some of you may have heard of the recent humanitarian crisis in Iraq and Syria, and of the new civil war that appears to be breaking out there, fueled by unrestrained theocracy and general piss-poor planning. The ramifications of this potential war are widespread and far-reaching. They include: death, destruction, civil dislocation, and making Geoff and Kittamaru - two posters on an internet forum - agree with each other.

What we are asking for is not money. Piles of money will probably be donated by you with or without your consent by your respective federal governments. Instead, what we ask is that you dig deep, inside your cerebellums, and try to imagine ways in which that money might be used to actually stop the fucking war, instead of being fired at either side like wadded thousand-dollar beanbags, or just launched into the air as humanitarian chaff to obscure visibility by the respective combatants. Perhaps you have a plan, say, to cram down al-Baghdadi's throat and choke him; or perhaps you might envision a big block of weather-sealed bills sitting under a big box propped up by a stick, with a string leading to a bush to try and lure him in.

Don't worry: money there'll be in abundance, but what is really needed is new ideas, because frankly we're very short of those.

Please: if you can only afford to give one idea in your head this month, we can probably flood this region with a half-dozen by next week. Your idea may be the one to bring everlasting peace to the region, allowing people to return to their homes, bringing the sectarian violence to an end, and allowing GeoffP and Kittamaru to disagree about most fundamental matters, the way your various gods intended.

 

The Washington Post published an interesting editorial on Tuesday in which they expressed considerable skepticism about the effectiveness of the anti-Isis coalition. Their conclusion is that it's distinctly "underpowered".

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...dd83a6-3cf7-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html

"By these standards [the 2003 anti-Saddam coalition], the results so far of the Obama administration's efforts to marshall an alliance to fight the self-described Islamic State look meager. In Paris on Monday, two dozen governments pledged to help fight the extremists "by any means necessary, including military assistance". But only a handful - not yet including Britain - have so far offered to participate in air combat missions in Iraq, and none has yet signed on to support prospective US air strikes in Syria. Nor is any sending combat troops."​

 

Well as we say here, the proof is in the pudding.

 

So now America is going to give weapons to terrorists, oh moderate terrorists, I almost forgot. Those moderate terrorists will not fight the ISIS but turn their heads towards Assad the leader or dictator in Syria. To trust terrorists isn't prudent thing to do especially when they already have an agenda. If the moderates terrorists get weapons and try using them against ISIS they will lost they battle and turn over their weapons to ISIS.

 

Yeah. Initially I was tentatively for it, now I just suspect it's another classic failure in the making, like Iraq (I, II and The Caliphate Strikes Back), Afghanistan, Mali, Central Africa, the Sudan and the rest. The weapons will end up in the hands of ___________ and things will be worse off than ever.

How about, for a start, not permitting terrorists to return to the West? Go, by all means - but you may find your house and property sold (a little creative debt financing) and your family deported on your return. How about employing Copts, Manicheans, Ahmadis and Sufis in counter-terrorism as translators? How about indoctrinating our public on the differences in the philosophies of our enemies? Ah, but The Housewives of Douchebag County is on tonight, so we cannot learn any such things. Ironically, it's democracy as much as anything that's responsible: paralyzing poles in political sentiment killing our efforts to protect our own civilisation. How Marx must be laughing now; and Washington, weeping.

 

Hi bells?!?!?!!?

how r u doing?
very long time no speak

 

Turkey has now entered the war against ISIS and will go after ISIS in Syria.

 

They are among the most reluctant and least irresponsible of terrorist supporters in the region, their threats against the US are rhetorical (and in the wake of serious, implemented threats against them by the US, which is at primary fault in the matter), and their nuke - if they do build it, someday - will be the best justified defensive nuclear weapon since the Chinese had Stalin on their border.

Politically and culturally, even economically, Iran is America's natural ally in the region.

They, as a State, are radical Sunnis themselves. The ruling elite in Saudi Arabia is also the primary source of funding and political support for violent radical Sunni groups planet wide, including ISIS.

 

Now Turkey is joining the fight along with the Kurds and the Iraqi military is finally getting into the fray, took them long enough and only after American fighters bombed the hell out of ISIS. I also see that the American jet "warthog" is going to be brought into action again. Thankfully they kept that A-10 because it is the best plane to give ground troops air support that can really make a difference.

They shouldn't get rid of the A-10 as they are talking of doing but instead modernize it and make it up to date.

 

Air Force brass never liked the A10. It wasn't sexy enough for them. I think there area lot of ground troops who share your opinion of the A10.

 

I think it is a little early to be passing judgement on Turkey

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/02/turkey-mps-deployment-iraq-syria-isis