dagblog - Comments for "Obama's Mission"

The problem is Arabs have

Beetlejuice — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 01:06:04 +0000

In reply to The best analysis I have read

The problem is Arabs have very complicated relational patterns ... your family line crosses many other family lines so blood relations all across the Middle East are very complex. That means while nation may have a formidable military force, they have issues when it comes to fighting and killing their own kin.

So who better to fight their battles ?... the US of course ! We don't let family/blood/kin ties interfere. And if someone wants to settle a blood feud, it would against some unknown and unsuspecting American caught off guard instead of clan against clan which would escalate into multiple clans clashing and dragging more into the melee crossing borders and so on.

Charlie Wilson ... republican

Beetlejuice — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 00:53:17 +0000

In reply to Obama's Mission

Charlie Wilson ... republican Representative from Texas in the late 70's and early 80's... championed using the mujahadeen in Afghanistan as proxies to fight the Russians. We supplied the tools and they supplied the bodies. We never got our hands dirty and the Russians got their butte's kicked hard.

url : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wilson_(Texas_politician)

So if the US " needs " to engage the newest boogie-man in the Middle East, then use the people in the region as proxies, supply them with arms, ammo, food, medicine and so forth and let them die instead of US soldiers who have no dog in the game.

I may sound callous, but it's their region, and their religion, and their people, and their ethics, and their values, that are clashing, not ours.

The US should only " consider " boots-on-the-ground if the proxy war fails and those left standing are about to loose everything and the region is close to going up in smoke.

But once it reaches that late stage, I suspect "other " nations with dogs in the game will be more willing to "work " with the US to find a " permanent " solution and share the costs.

The best analysis I have read

NCD — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 17:57:33 +0000

In reply to Obama's Mission

The best analysis I have read of why 'boots on the ground' and "our need to act quickly" won't work. Senator Rogers mentioned both of those, see link below.

Obama said the mess is like Somalia or Yemen. Somalia is slowly being cleared of terror groups by local African forces. It has been a mess for over 20 years. As the Doc says, the locals must get fed up and take control, and we are not the locals.

If the sultans, sheiks, princely playboys and head choppers of Saudi Arabia want to speed the collapse of ISIS they could start by stopping the funding of them, and provide some of their own troops.

Republican Rogers in his Time op/ed gives this deceptive remark in his response to Obama's plan:

Leaders in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey have a keen interest in destroying this threat to their region, and they have capabilities to bring to the fight. These partners, however, have requested the coordinating influence and guidance of the world’s largest military and greatest superpower. Only the United States can help plan, coordinate and assist in accomplishing the missions needed to defeat ISIS.

Total BS.

Turkey 'has capabilities'? How about 'Turkey could clean out ISIS in a month? They border both Iraq and Syria. They have over half a million active troops, 2000 aircraft, 3600+ tanks and a manpower pool of eligible men ready for service of over 30 million. If they had a 'keen interest' they would already have done the job.

Well, I don't meant to deny

Doctor Cleveland — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 14:09:00 +0000

In reply to I agree with your main thrust

Well, I don't meant to deny that health care reform was, and is, important.

I do think there was a moment in 2009 when it felt temporarily less important than other things that had become very pressing. Obama had three big things that the voters expected, and he wasn't wrong that they were all important. I do think he misjudged how the top three were ranked at certain moments.

I agree with your main thrust

Flavius — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 10:24:24 +0000

In reply to Obama's Mission

I agree with your main thrust of course. How not?.But permit me to disagree with your passing comment that attempting to fix our cruel and discriminatory health "system" was not as important as Obama thought.

In his years as a community organizer- instead of as the high paid attorney which he could have been- he must have been confronted with the reality that in this land of the free only the poor are free to die of untreated treatable diseases for which they would have had immediate care any place in Europe. That is important.

I agree. There is a lot more

trkingmomoe — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 07:43:06 +0000

In reply to Obama's Mission

I agree. There is a lot more going on right now in the world that is very important then just ISIS. Our media and the village is in a bubble. There is some serious stuff that is a crisis level. Our President is working on all of it and not just focused on ISIS because the GOP demands it. We should be pushing back with "Why did you cut the funding for Ebola or green energy reasearch?" Is it because your corporate masters can't make money one it? But war is a real money maker.