dagblog - Comments for "We Never Should Have Had Military Forces in Syria in the First Place"

Not exactly. A simple if then

NCD — Sun, 06 Jan 2019 17:49:51 +0000

In reply to WaPo is headlining the Bolton

Not exactly. A simple if then confirmation of whatever Trump does:

If Trump withdraws, it is because ISIS is eradicated.

If Trump stays, it's because ISIS is not eradicated.

Of course, any future terror attacks on anyone, anywhere, Trump will always blame on someone else.

WaPo is headlining the Bolton

artappraiser — Sun, 06 Jan 2019 17:37:26 +0000

In reply to Wow. Huge huge huge caveat to

WaPo is headlining the Bolton story on their home page right now:

Bolton promises no troop withdrawal from Syria until ISIS eradicated

National security adviser John Bolton’s comments are the clearest explanation yet of how officials plan to execute the president’s abrupt announcement that he would pull troops from Syria, surprising allies and prompting the resignation of former defense secretary Jim Mattis.

By Karoun Demirjian

So if it was meant as a sotto voce "don't believe Trump's spin", it's no longer sotto voce. PLUS it's no longer just about making sure the Kurds are protected: it's back to the status quoa, the Trump talk was all b.s., ISIS not "eradicated" yet.

Wow. Huge huge huge caveat to

artappraiser — Sun, 06 Jan 2019 17:21:47 +0000

In reply to We Never Should Have Had Military Forces in Syria in the First Place

Wow. Huge huge huge caveat to Trump’s complete and immediate withdrawal from #Syria. Suddenly Bolton speaks. https://t.co/ZtLkumIrxK
— Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) January 6, 2019

graph says it all, would you

artappraiser — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 10:02:44 +0000

In reply to Because there’s no guaranty

graph says it all, would you want them all let into Spain if you were a Spanish citizen? Edit to add: That's a rhetorical that you don't have to answer. Just look at it, and the reason it's happening.

Migrant surge to Spain prompts Moroccan crackdown. African nation uses control of flow of people to gain leverage in Europe https://t.co/Oh6cpv1QQI via @financialtimes pic.twitter.com/9groB3dqaO
— alain servais (@aservais1) January 4, 2019

Ferry range is one thing but

A Guy Called LULU — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 00:56:22 +0000

In reply to F-15s can be fitted with

Ferry range is one thing but the goal would be to arrive at the target with a payload. Everything about aircraft range of a fighter jet involves a tradeoff as I feel sure you know or can at least understand when it is explained. Even with extra tanks the aircraft is much cleaner aerodynamically than when fitted with external ordinance so more than a pound of fuel must be sacrificed for every pound of ordinance that is carried. An F-15 carries more than 40 thousands pounds at takeoff which can be split at various ratios between fuel and ordnance. I don’t know where the graphs cross for range when carrying thousands of pounds of bombs and missiles and needing a fair amount of fuel for safety at the end of the trip. Do you? Maybe the Saudis were just determined to carry every pound of ordnance they could fit aboard and so had to sacrifice too much range unless refueled. Maybe they refueled for no reason at all, but I doubt it.

If you think that my mistake

A Guy Called LULU — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 00:50:10 +0000

In reply to I thought that when I used

If you think that my mistake in the initials ‘MDS’ was actually deliberate, what do you think that means?

Regarding my calling you an apologist, I was actually just calling attention to the fact that being an apologist for some action of a leader does not mean that you like the person, which I said specifically, or that you support all their actions. I was thinking of the numerous times I have been, correctly, by definition, called an apologist for some leader or other just as you do me here regarding Iran, and with an obvious bad connotation attached.

You would have to be nuts not to know that Iran has been threatened over and over lives under constant threat. I believe Iran has, as I would expect them to, concentrated a great deal of firepower on the Straits of Hormuz because it gives them a strategic threat. They quite naturally want to demonstrate that they can exact a severe price in retribution if they are attacked. Do you believe that Iran would initiate a confrontation by blocking the Straits of Hormuz? I think they are not crazy.

Whether we could have stopped SA’s air war in Yemen is one question. Whether we should stop that air war is a different question which you answer from the perspective of MBS. Your argument that MBS had his reasons is not one which answers the question of whether we could have stymied his actions. I believe we could have stopped his air war and I will leave that question at that. You say our help means nothing and withdrawing it would change nothing. I believe that is a ridiculous line of reasoning maybe meant to mute the question of whether we should try to stop the air war. Maybe adopting that attitude works to stifle or ease any conscious feeling of the morality involved in participating in the holocaust of bombing a bronze age nation into the stone age and making excuses as its citizens die like in the middle ages from the resulting famine and pestilence.

Maybe we can get Goober from

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 23:41:00 +0000

In reply to Yeah but without American gas

Maybe we can get Goober from Mayberry to lend a hand if they can spare him at the gas pump? tho I doubt his Arabic's very good, "Saudi" sounds a lot like "howdy"...

I thought that when I used

ocean-kat — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 22:41:27 +0000

In reply to That's an example of your

I thought that when I used the correct initials for Mohammed Bin Salman you'd realize your typo. But clearly it wasn't a typo.

What do you think happened to all the western weapons in Iran after the Shah was overthrown? Did they cut the jets down for scrap? American mechanics are more knowledgeable about American technology but Iranian mechanics did and Saudi mechanics could take over. Iran got so good at it they reversed engineered much western technology to create their own weapons industry.

Software doesn't need to be updated. Old software can be used for years.

Planes are flown out of King Khalah military airbase near Riyadh in central SA so need refueling. But they don't have to be flown out of that airbase. There were other options if the US had refused to aid with refueling.

Apologist has a negative connotation and that's why you're using the term. By that same rational you're an apologist for Iran, the ayatolla that rules it and Muslim theocracy.. Both countries are pretty evil but I think Iran is slightly worse. The only question that matters is are my arguments valid or not. Iran is not reacting to threats, it's pushing for foreign power with similar behavior you criticize America for. There have been numerous stories about Iran behavior in the Straits of Hormuz for many years. It's not a reaction to a threat but a push for dominance in the straits and a threat to SA. Have you been following any of those stories? Do you have any reasonable explanation for it as anything other than an aggressive move toward dominance in the strait.?

Why do you think Iran entered the civil war in Yemen if it wasn't for such a strategically important goal as control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait? It was already over stretched with it's war in Syria and unrest at home. It wasn't defensive. It was a direct threat to SA. It was a push for power mainly over SA. Be honest, before I mentioned the Bab al-Mandab Straits you had no idea they even existed even though most analysis of the situation cites the straits as the cause of Iran and SA entering the civil war.

I blame Iran for making the first move in Yemen's civil war to gain control over they Bab al-Mandab Straits more than I blame SA for responding to that threat. Why don't you?

Yeah but without American gas

ocean-kat — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 22:01:04 +0000

In reply to F-15s can be fitted with

Yeah but without American gas station attendants the Saudi gas station attendants wouldn't know how to fill those extra tanks.

F-15s can be fitted with

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 20:57:37 +0000

In reply to San Antonio is in the south

F-15s can be fitted with extra tanks to make the trip to OK City trivial. Speed will be slower, but Yemen ain't got fighters.