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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCall me shocked. Counterterrorism Experts claim ISIS threat "distorted" and "a farce"
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/world/middleeast/struggling-to-gauge-isis-threat-even-as-us-prepares-to-act.html?_r=2"WASHINGTON The violent ambitions of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have been condemned across the world: in Europe and the Middle East, by Sunni nations and Shiite ones, and by sworn enemies like Israel and Iran. Pope Francis joined the call for ISIS to be stopped.
But as President Obama prepares to send the United States on what could be a yearslong military campaign against the militant group, American intelligence agencies have concluded that it poses no immediate threat to the United States. Some officials and terrorism experts believe that the actual danger posed by ISIS has been distorted in hours of television punditry and alarmist statements by politicians, and that there has been little substantive public debate about the unintended consequences of expanding American military action in the Middle East"
Daniel Benjamin, who served as the State Departments top counterterrorism adviser during Mr. Obamas first term, said the public discussion about the ISIS threat has been a farce, with members of the cabinet and top military officers all over the place describing the threat in lurid terms that are not justified.
Personally, I'm sure they are wrong and the only thing keeping us safe is Ted Nugent and his band of armed idiots.
whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)gratuitous
(82,849 posts)ISIS is, like, worser than a thousand Hitlers, you dirty fucking hippies! Worser than a thousand Hitlers squared, even. Worser than, um, Hitler times Stalin times Justin Bieber to the infinity!
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Warning: NSFW
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=efe_1403037495
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)But thanks for playing. Go back under your bed.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)I suppose if you close your eyes so you cannot see a predator, then he is not really there?
I am surprised you are not telling me to go join the military. Too late...been there, done that many years ago, back in Cold War I. But yes, if I was not a physical wreck, and therefore a detriment to combat operations, I would volunteer.
There are LOTS of evil assholes in this world, but this particular group of evil assholes holds a special place in endangering the entire fucking planet by potentially igniting a nuclear war.
Going lalalala I can't see you I can't hear you therefore you don't exist is naive beyond comprehension.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)If you can't tell from the link, it's a video of some star-spangled, freckle-faced fightin' men pissing on the corpses of their vanquished foes. But I interrupted you. What were you saying about evil assholes and how to deal with them?
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)But I really do not believe that the U.S. military as a whole goes around shooting, decapitating, or crucifying fleeing, unarmed people. Do some sick individuals? Perhaps.
C'mon, though - try some more!
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Two US marines are facing criminal charges for urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, after their actions were caught on a video that circulated widely on the internet, the US military said on Monday.
Staff sergeants Joseph W Chamblin and Edward W Deptola will face courts martial, the first criminal charges faced by anyone over the incident. The video prompted widespread anger in Afghanistan earlier this year; the Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the marines' actions "inhuman".
Chamblin and Deptola, were also charged with "posing for unofficial photographs with human casualties", and will face charges over failing to report or stop misconduct by junior marines, the military said. Three marines have already been disciplined over the urination incident.
~ snip ~
------------------------------------------
It appears that you are desperate to see America First In Worst, but this is a bad example for you. The unauthorized actions, and subsequent punishment are not the equivalent to "Clanging Of The Swords IV". Now if the Marine Corps itself were to make a recruiting video out of urinating on fallen enemies, you may have a case.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)And you seem to have figured out who they recruited. So more of the same against these new recruits will surely wipe out all of them and we'll be safe-safe-safe forever and ever!
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Until the final extinction of humanity, there is going to be war. We are ultimately biological creatures, mammals at that. This makes us naturally self preservationists.
By staying out of the current conflict, we MAY get lucky and everyone gets bored and goes home. Or the other nations and groups geographically closer will step up and take the hit with terrorism and internal upheavals. At least, let's hope so.
In any case, we ARE going, we ARE bombing, and unless Rand Paul gets elected, it is pretty likely the next President will keep going until ???
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Are they attacking countries that have nuclear weapons?
Do any countries that have nuclear weapons support them?
My opinion: ISIS is a threat. Not necessarily a military threat. They are not a large army and they thus far have no air force.
But if they succeed in taking over territory and controlling it, they are a) unlikely to install a civil, peaceful government but rather are likely to continue dictatorial, cruel, destructive rule possibly including a lot of internal intrigue and slaughter, and b) embolden groups like themselves to try to take territory in other parts of the world (this has already been going in in Africa for generations).
I do not think that ISIS presents an enormous military challenge, but they certainly are a threat to the world and therefore to us. The threat is not the traditional kind of threat. They symbolize anarchy, not admitted anarchy but rather irresponsible, disorganized and extremely undemocratic, probably successive dictatorships. They do not represent a potential future that the US should allow to happen. It probably will not take enormous military commitment to stop them and thereby stop the trend toward anarchy in the Middle East and possibly elsewhere.
On the Road
(20,783 posts)If ISIS establishes a stable territory for any period of time, the most direct way to go nuclear would be via Pakistan. Pakistan's military has maintained tight control of their nuclear arsenal in the face of widespread extremism, but ISIS has many, many sympathizers in Pakistan, including within the military. If there is sufficient support and resolve in the right places, there are may ways that a nuclear device could be stolen or commandeered. In comparison with most rogue states, ISIS seems more inclined to actually use nukes if they can get them.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Why, after all our time in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India still have nuclear capacity, I do not know. They should not feel that they need it. It makes them more vulnerable to nuclear attack. Same for all countries including our own.
On the Road
(20,783 posts)On the other hand, if the US had destroyed its entire nuclear stock and Russia was still sitting on theirs, the balance of power would be significantly different today, and the US would probably not felt free to taunt the Russian dynamite monkey. Ukraine, Syria, and ISIS would probably have proceeded differently, much more according to Russian wishes.
Al Qaida never had much of a safe harbor except in a few backwards areas like Kandahar, Waziristan, and similar regions. The danger of ISIS is not so much in their possession of a piece of desert. It is having the apparatus of a state supporting what is basically a larger and more aggressive Al Qaida with some Baathist money, hardware, and knowhow. ISIS also provides a state-like entity which can pursue attacks and other plans with infinitely greater freedom than some terrorists hiding in caves. This would very possibly include a coordinated effort to acquire a Pakistani nuclear weapon.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)a state after a lot of internal struggle over the pecking order.
We need to be very careful about what groups we decide to ally ourselves with.
phil89
(1,043 posts)Unbelievable but good job taking the bait.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)I am never going to leave the United States, I am staying away from retail locations and large crowds, and I suspect that if Islamic extremists ever tried anything like what is in the video in my neighborhood, they would be outmatched in firepower by the residents.
But for people who are anything other than a Sunni, a totally observant one at that, in the controlled areas of Iraq or Syria, ya, sux to be them. Their problem, their fight.
Lenomsky
(340 posts)Warning: don't click the link it's un-necessary just use your imagination - yes it's that awful!
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)It can be handled at the current time entirely by our international intelligence gathering agencies and domestic law enforcement, which is no different than any other international terrorist threat out there.
The threat to our allies in Europe is somewhat more than to us, mostly due to the fluid border between Iraq and Turkey, given the number of European citizens caught up in the middle of ISIL.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)leftstreet
(36,106 posts)DURec
BuelahWitch
(9,083 posts)Halliburton needed new military contracts, so...
They_Live
(3,231 posts)and I thought the same thing about Benghazi. It's either Cheney or perhaps Sheldon Adelson. Any number of .01% sociopaths. It's actually cheaper than buying elections here. What's to stop them?
freebrew
(1,917 posts)Too bad there wasn't any real investigation of 911. What led to it, what * knew and when he knew it.
Did cheney order 93 shot down? Why was bin Laden killed instead of captured and interrogated?
Many, many questions. It's only a conspiracy theory until it's proved right, then it's a crime.
Follow the money.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)See Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq, and Afghanistan (not to mention the dozens of others) for precedents.
SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)You can always count on the good ole USofA to do something stupid and self defeating!
Glad to see this thread got a little attention.. thought it was gonna drop without a reply..
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)ISIL seems more interested in taking over the ME, so far I have not seen much information that they are planning terror attacks here.
canuckledragger
(1,636 posts)Or the trolls in the comments section on any liberal page and they'll tell you that there are millions of ISIL/ISIS members waiting to storm across the mexican border any moment now!
treestar
(82,383 posts)no doubt about that!
libodem
(19,288 posts)Al Qaeda in Syria and Iraq. I think the CIA still works for Cheney and they want to drum up business for the MIC and Halliburton. The Arms Cartels need to push some products.
Oilwellian
(12,647 posts)mazzarro
(3,450 posts)Much as they try to hide their aim, I believe that they want a way to get at Assad especially now that Russia is essentially preoccupied with Ukraine.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)can it?
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Thank you, SomethingFishy.
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)And that means US interests. We're the only country that can stop ethnic cleansing etc - this is not the same war and a vote should decide if and how it happens.
FlatStanley
(327 posts)And what evidence exists that we have ever successfully stablized that region in the past to suggest we can succeed in stabilizing it now?
SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)It has become the norm to shoot first and try to find a better solution later. It hasn't worked and it will not work. The US is being goaded into attacking ISIS. We are doing exactly what they want us to. And recruitment will go up.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)The people don't have to be "on board" any longer in order for us to go to war.
That said, I think our allies and energy matter a great deal. The President seems to agree.
-Laelth
grahamhgreen
(15,741 posts)NickB79
(19,233 posts)Despite the recent (and likely short-lived) oil and gas boom in the US, we still import lots of oil here.
We're fucked either way.
grahamhgreen
(15,741 posts)subsidize their dying industry any more.
TheKentuckian
(25,023 posts)for the situation as do others right there in the region.
I also notice that our allies have not only the military capacity but the economic ability to secure their resources and their citizens are not liable for a fucking penny but WE are responsible for the cost at the expense of our own economic security and justice.
Fuck that! A bunch of flimsy rationalizations that are weak, short sighted, and self defeating even accepting the premise.
The most impacted nations have more than enough ability to deal with the situation and being the ones closest to the problem are less likely to entirely screw the pooch.
We are talking some of the most powerful countries in the world in this mix. We are talking nuclear powers. I call bullshit on the whole line of argument.
A Simple Game
(9,214 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)[font size=10 color=red]KILL THEM!!![/font]
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)OilemFirchen
(7,143 posts)Oh. Right-wing lunatics.
What does this have to do with the Administration's rationale?
Autumn
(45,055 posts)Who would ever have thought.
malaise
(268,930 posts)I'm shocked I tell you - NOT!!!!
Scuba
(53,475 posts)deutsey
(20,166 posts)"If By 'Funny' You Mean "Tragic and Appalling'"
That got a bitter, jaded laugh out of me.
I seem to have developed the same laugh. More like a nervous tic, actually.
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)I would add "weary, futile, and forlorn" and that would be just about right.
Cha
(297,138 posts)Bernie stands with the President on this "Enormously complicated issue".. as he calls it. He disagrees with staying out of ISIS like some around are clamoring on about.
As he stated it's an "International effort" and guess what.. "they have to put money in it too."
Hartman and he talked about one republiCon saying.. they'll "blast him if it doesn't work and ask why he didn't do it sooner if it does." Sounds like a familiar whine.
Senators Warren and Sanders are on board with the President..
FrodosPet http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5527989
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Cha
(297,138 posts)President.
ballyhoo
(2,060 posts)being conned and for us to accept this con after being conned so many times is ignominious.
Cha
(297,138 posts)ballyhoo
(2,060 posts)have no idea what everyone thinks.
Cha
(297,138 posts)ballyhoo
(2,060 posts)[IMG][/IMG]
ctsnowman
(1,903 posts)littlemissmartypants
(22,631 posts)ballyhoo
(2,060 posts)Cha
(297,138 posts)Bernie stands with the President on this "Enormously complicated issue".. as he calls it. He disagrees with staying out of ISIS like some around are clamoring on about.
As he stated it's an "International effort" and guess what.. "they have to put money in it too."
Hartman and he talked about one republiCon saying.. they'll "blast him if it doesn't work and ask why he didn't do it sooner if it does." Sounds like a familiar whine.
Senators Warren and Sanders are on board with the President..
FrodosPet http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5527989
I think it's a little more complicated than "capitalism", Lmsp.
littlemissmartypants
(22,631 posts)deutsey
(20,166 posts)They don't downplay the danger of this group, but they also encourage keeping the real threat in perspective.
randome
(34,845 posts)Start with Mondays testimony before the U.N. Human Rights Council. The documented incidents include 1,700 captives executed in Tikrit, Iraq, and 650 in Mosul, Iraq. Some 1,000 Turkmen massacred, including 100 children. More than 2,000 women and children kidnapped. Systematic hunting of members of ethnic and religious groups. Women raped and sold. Young boys executed. Girls enslaved for sexual abuse. Children recruited as suicide bombers. More than 1 million refugees, half of them kids.
You want to hide your head in the sand, fine. But I'm on board with stopping this shit.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.[/center][/font][hr]
toby jo
(1,269 posts)We need to stop massaging the pentagon with every crisis that arises. It's global military bloat that's killing us.
randome
(34,845 posts)I agree we spend an ungodly amount of money on the military but this expenditure is likely a drop in that huge bucket.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.[/center][/font][hr]
VA_Jill
(9,965 posts)It's the new "Commies under the bed". How many of us are old enough to remember THAT? Or at least Dylan's "Talking John Birch Blues":
I looked up in my chimney hole
Looked down in my toilet bowl
Just missed 'em
DallasNE
(7,402 posts)That people need to stop the testosterone injections because all we ever hear is from the penis gallery.
J_J_
(1,213 posts)Tell the nation and the world that he has decided to bomb Iraq.
If that doesn't expose this whole load of BS, I don't know what will.
bvf
(6,604 posts)Excellent post--thanks, SomethingFishy.
Atman
(31,464 posts)A trumped up war promoted by the Military Industrial Complex? Say it ain't so!
G_j
(40,366 posts)deaniac21
(6,747 posts)seems to be pretty nice people to me and they deserve to have a country. They will help stabilize the region. They have to have something going or people wouldn't come from all over the world to join them.
ballyhoo
(2,060 posts)G_j
(40,366 posts)L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Cha
(297,138 posts)Bernie stands with the President on this "Enormously complicated issue".. as he calls it. He disagrees with staying out of ISIS like some around are clamoring on about.
As he stated it's an "International effort" and guess what.. "they have to put money in it too."
Hartman and he talked about one republiCon saying.. they'll "blast him if it doesn't work and ask why he didn't do it sooner if it does." Sounds like a familiar whine.
Senators Warren and Sanders are on board with the President..
FrodosPet http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5527989
Vattel
(9,289 posts)They are not infallible.
ballyhoo
(2,060 posts)roamer65
(36,745 posts)Either through talks or war. We need to butt out.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Since we stayed out of it, they will start to like us.
pampango
(24,692 posts)who were not born in the USA.
We can certainly ignore them. They are not threat to us personally or nationally.
ISIS is not coming for us,
they are coming for Iraqi and Syrian women,
they are coming for Iraqi and Syrian gays,
they are coming for Iraqi and Syrian Shiites,
they are coming for Iraqi and Syrian minority religions,
they are not coming for us.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)When in Rome (I mean Mosul), do as the Romans do. Start praising Allah as hard as you can, hide as much as you can, run as fast as you can, and hope you get lucky.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)99Forever
(14,524 posts)The War Machine demands blood and treasure and will NEVER stop finding the next "worst boogeyman EVER" and pounding the war drum.
Raven
(13,889 posts)Thanks.
GummyBearz
(2,931 posts)I'm sure James Foley would agree with you
SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)it's amazing we are losing the War On Terrorism!
And it wasn't me that made the claims. It was Obama's counterterrorism experts. But what do they know, they are only in possession of all the classified data. Where as you have your chair and your PC and the internet.
GummyBearz
(2,931 posts)Sure hit a nerve with that simple statement I see. Btw, if Obama's experts dont consider IS a threat, why is Obama building a coalition to go bomb them? hurrrrr...
SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)when they have no idea what they are talking about but continue to flap their gums.
If you need me to explain how politics works and how there is an election coming up and how Democrats can't afford to look weak then you best do some research before you ask me another question you should already know the answer to.
Have a nice day.
GummyBearz
(2,931 posts)Great reasoning... We have an election coming up, so we better fucking bomb someone to rally support!! Bush would be proud
maddiemom
(5,106 posts)Seems you haven't see Foley's interview with Haskell Wexler from a few years back. Check it out: more food for thought.
marmar
(77,073 posts)Why that just can't be true.
U4ikLefty
(4,012 posts)Oh wait
Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)Both Benjamin and Townsend praised the drone program, noting that drone strikes had been highly precise and vital in taking out terrorist leadership.
http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2014/09/11/counterterrorism-experts-debate-isis-threat-foreign-policy
I thought it pretty clear ISIL is seen as a regional threat for now.
Last Edit- wouldn't be nice if Saudis etc stepped up and took care of this on their own?
Cha
(297,138 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)that they caused when they can just get us to do it for them?
If we wanted to destabilize the area we ought to just send in the Ferguson police department. Keep the military at home, send in the police. If that doesn't scare the shit out of terrorists, nothing will.
suffragette
(12,232 posts)Deploying when, where and how they decide.
Cha
(297,138 posts)Bernie stands with the President on this "Enormously complicated issue".. as he calls it. He disagrees with staying out of ISIS like some around are clamoring on about.
As he stated it's an "International effort" and guess what.. "they have to put money in it too."
Hartman and he talked about one republiCon saying.. they'll "blast him if it doesn't work and ask why he didn't do it sooner if it does." Sounds like a familiar whine.
Senators Warren and Sanders are on board with the President..
FrodosPet http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5527989
Vattel
(9,289 posts)greytdemocrat
(3,299 posts)Something is "a farce".
bobGandolf
(871 posts)The ingredients are all the same:
Isis, threat to civilized, and uncivilized world
Invasion of U.S. imminent
Promises of strong international support
U.S. will pay all participating countries
DCBob
(24,689 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)If Barney Fife behind the wheel of an MRAP doesn't scare the ever living crap out of them, nothing will.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)what happens in Mosul. I did my time there, I have no wish to see any American waste another drop of blood for it.
DCBob
(24,689 posts)Its clearly not a farce.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)I had hoped that it would have changed with the Democratic victory in 2008 or even 2012, but the War Machine demands to be fed.
It doesn't have to be like this.
nikto
(3,284 posts)That's a lot.
lob1
(3,820 posts)john kale
(21 posts)On steroids.
Amonester
(11,541 posts)So these comic yahoo's won't know what hit them went their apocalypse will be served to some of them
J_J_
(1,213 posts)kick