Jeremy Scahill: ISIS Disaster Has Failed 'War on Terrorism' Blowback Written All Over it

[marmar]

Investigation journalist Jeremy Scahill sat down with MSNBC's Ari Melber on Thursday to discuss President Obama's announced plan to escalate the U.S. military campaign against the group known as the Islamic State and offered a damning assessment of the administration's "strategy." He said that not only is the militant group (also known by the acronym ISIS) the product of failed military adventurism but that continued attempts to bomb al Qaeda-like groups out of existence simply creates a cycle of "blowback" that is self-defeating and counter-productive.

Scahill's analysis of the current situation—including his criticism of the Obama administration's so-called "counter-terrorism strategy" which he argues has exacerbated, not decreased, the problem of extremism in places like Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen—paints of a picture in which wars and conflict across the Middle East, south Asia, and large swaths of Africa will continue to claim lives and enrich the military-industrial complex while pushing political stability ever further from being attainable.

"Now I think there's the potential for huge blowback here," Scahill said of Obama's plan to launch airstrikes—including possible carpet bombing—against targets in Syria. "I also think that ISIS is, in part, the product of blowback from the Bush era and the Obama era."

Scahill continued: "What I think we're going to end up seeing [in Syria] is the end result of the disaster that Obama inherited, not just from Bush, but from his own first term." Scahill reminded the audience that though former President Bush had bombed Yemen only once ("that we know of&quot , but but President Obama has dramatically increased the number of airstrikes in Yemen and Pakistan, ratcheted up the covert war in Somalia, and otherwise expanded the sphere of the U.S. so-called "counter-terrorism" operations. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/09/12/scahill-isis-disaster-has-failed-war-terrorism-blowback-written-all-over-it

[sabrina 1]

1. Move over Michael Moore! I was hoping we would hear from Jeremy Scahill on this as he is one of the

most informed journalists when it comes to this entire, disastrous mess that was created when no one stopped the war criminals from dragging this country into never ending war.

What we learned over the past several years that this was not just Bush/Cheney policy, it is our national policy and that raises the question, since now we know there was never a chance of stopping any of it, how do the people end these horrific, bloody policies?

[Cleita]

4. For starters we need a Congress willing to go in and cut the military budget in half.

Hopefully, this would stop the outsourcing of our military to private contractors.

[salib]

36. So let's start running or supporting those that will

I thought this was Democratic Underground and we were activists. Right?

[Cleita]

38. I live in a blue state and my rep and senators are Democrats although

DiFi tends to vote for wars. I hope those people who live in states that need to change out their politicians will do so. This is why. We need to return to a Congress that works for the people not the MIC and energy industry.

[salib]

41. I am not just talking Democrat

I am talking liberal Democrat

I now live in the bluest of states and I get to decide between the Progressive and the Democrat. Still, the point is to work hard to either run for or personally support the most liberal Democrat in the primaries. Then work for the nominee.

That is my point.

This is Democratic Underground. Simply having Dems in office is NOT ENOUGH.

[adirondacker]

17. +1000. nt

[billhicks76]

52. He Nailed It

But c'mon. It's just common sense. Why do republicans not see this? The brainwashing from FOX is more powerful than we can imagine. People refuse to think for themselves. Even we do that.

[99th_Monkey]

2. K&R ~nt~

[Cleita]

3. I believe he's spot on.

Might as well throw gasoline over the whole situation and light a match to it. I'm sure the MICs are running around with big smiles on their faces counting the profits to be made.

[Chathamization]

26. Do you have a better suggestion then throwing gasoline on the fire? I have no water, and I can't do

nothing, therefore my best choice of action is to throw gasoline on the fire. I need to do something, and that's something, therefore I need to do it.

[Cleita]

29. Yes, let's try diplomacy and using the money that would go

to destructive military acts to help the people of those nations to rebuild, particularly schools and hospitals. If you do that the people of those nations will throw out IS, AlQueda and any other number of those militias and would be dictatorial regimes out themselves.

[Chathamization]

30. I agree. But even without an alternative plan there's plenty of reason not to pursue a plan that

makes things worse. We used to say that if you were stuck in a hole, stop digging. Now people are saying that you should keep digging until you can think of a better alternative to get out...what?

But you're right, we can offer political support and humanitarian support for the crisis we created. We could even start a dialogue with the groups we're opposed to. Negotiation with the Taliban was once unthinkable. It took a decade of pointless war to realize that it was a good idea. We've been through this same dance with the Sunni militant groups before; again, after years of pointless war we finally realized we needed to talk to them instead of simply bombing them. After more years of pointless war and death, we'll learn this lesson again.

[JEB]

5. K&R

[grahamhgreen]

6. We blew the hell of of Iraq and are pissed because they're fighting back? It's all blowback by

design, imho.

If we keep killing em, they will do a terror strike, I'm sure they know that.

[FrodosPet]

44. Their #1 priority is destroying the Shia

We are priority #3 or 4 for them

With us or without us... they would be doing the same thing.

[Scuba]

56. Bingo!

[malaise]

7. +1,000

Duh! I'm shocked I tell you. To be kind SSDD!!

[Comrade Grumpy]

8. What a freaking mess. Looks like perpetual war.

[cer7711]

9. Remember When President Obama Won the Nobel Peace Prize?

Seems like centuries ago, doesn't it?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. Does L.L. Bean give discounts on XXL codpieces for politicians?

[PeoViejo]

11. Big men with little Dicks

Always ready to send a child, not their own, to die for their Reactionary Fantasies.

Buying a bigger Codpiece isn't going to make it grow.

[kentuck]

12. Yep/

Unfortunately true.

[liberal_at_heart]

13. K&R

[arcane1]

14. Do we have to hate Jeremy Scahill now, for this astute analysis?

I'm running out of people I can still like!

[AuntPatsy]

15. Not I K&R

[noiretextatique]

19. yep...must hate everyone who dares criticize

the chosen one. i heard he beats his dog, just like moore.

[bemildred]

16. Hey, it's bound to work one of these times. nt

[FrodosPet]

46. Worked against Germany and Japan

Are there two countries on the planet that hate us more than Germany and Japan?

[bemildred]

61. The Marshall Plan is what worked on Germany and Japan.

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

[U4ikLefty]

18. Under the bus with ya Jeremy!!!

[valerief]

20. The War on Terrorism was a failure? But it's made very rich people richer, and it's still

ongoing. How is that a failure?

[navarth]

21. Scahill is one of the ones I trust.

Thanks for posting, marmar.

I imagine somebody will be along soon to call him a racist.

[OnyxCollie]

43. Scahill is only one degree of separation away from Glenn Greenwald.

Dun dun DUHHH!

[navarth]

48. Ha!

Oh my.

[JDPriestly]

22. I'm reading a book entitled "Endless Enemies."

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/736680.Endless_Enemies

The blowback dates way, way, way, way back. It goes back at least to Eisenhower and long before.

[arcane1]

27. Oooh, that looks like a fascinating read!

On the List it goes!!!

[Progressive dog]

23. I love the word "blowbacK'

So Jeremy Scahill thinks that Obama will get "blowback" because he tries to stop ISIS. A group of fanatics, willing to kill for any reason, particularly hating the US will be worse if they are opposed.
I guess he thinks the "blowback" will be like what we're getting from our "atrocities" in Yemen and Pakistan.

[morningfog]

24. ISIS IS the blowback from our prior misadventure there.

Secondary blowback is on the way. With respect to Yemen and Pakistan, blowback takes time. See, for example, IS rise in Iraq, coming 10 years after our invasion. What happens is we radicalize a generation. The longer we stay and fight/bomb, the more radical towards the US they grow.

[Progressive dog]

32. Blowback takes time,

so whenever something bad happens, and something always will, we can blame it on blowback. Then we can use the fear of "blowback" to protect the psychopaths that are already harming us. That almost sounds like some sort of scam. Not a very good one either.
Did you know that people used to say consequences, but I guess it doesn't sound as scary. Sometimes consequences can be good.
I think that the consequence of destroying ISIS will be better for the US than not destroying ISIS.

[GeorgeGist]

45. Given US track record ...

I think military failure is more likely than success.

[Progressive dog]

58. That really depends on how failure

is defined. I've noticed that people who think Obama is going to fail, try to continuously move the goalposts to pretend that he did.
Osama Bin Laden is still dead.

[Progressive dog]

66. You mean getting Bin Laden,

stopping N Korea, stopping Hitler and Japan, winning the Cold War and we're still here. I'd bet on us over a group of bloodthirsty psychopaths any day.

[sabrina 1]

63. You mean like the consequences of destroying Al Queda?? Blowback IS scary, it gets people killed

when nations go around the world killing hundreds of thousands of innocents which then naturally results in extremely angry people who want revenge. Sort of like WE DID after 9/11. Of course those who seek revenge rather than justice become just as bad as those they seek revenge on.

Which is why when we attacked the wrong country due to the lies of our government and killed and maimed and tortured so many innnocents, BLOWBACK was bound to happen.

And it seems not only was it bound to happen, for the warmongering criminals who started it all, it was a DESIRED outcome so that they could continue to use THEIR scare tactics in order to make sure we continue to bomb and kill and incite and destabilize these areas of the world.

I guess you never read much of what the neocon geniuses had to say about all this. It's working out just as they planned to make a long story short.

[Progressive dog]

65. So you think it was a bad thing

to destroy Al Qaeda?
BTW Our government did not lie, specific people who are no longer there lied. Anyway,our government is not a person. How could anyone believe that it is and ever care who is elected?

[sabrina 1]

68. We did NOT 'destroy' Al Queda. We CREATED Al Queda which has now morphed into ISIS which will

morph into the next scary Terrorist Group after people are not longer scared of ISIS and they can't use it anymore to get billions of dollars for MORE Terror Creating Wars and Invasions.

According to our House and Senate Intel Committee chairs 'we are in more danger today than we ever were'. So I guess THEY have answered your question, no, it was not a 'good thing' to invade the wrong country based on lies and YES OUR GOVERNMENT IS RESPONSIBLE since most of them supported those lies and continue to this day to vote to fund those disastrous invasionsl.

Worse, our Government implicated itself when it refused to prosecute the criminals.

[Hissyspit]

28. You have no sense of self-irony, do you?

[Progressive dog]

31. No, I don't,

but I do sometimes use sarcasm.

[Cha]

34. Yeah.. but Senator Sanders Disagrees.. thinks it the rigtht thing to do.. and stand with Obama..

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.. thank goodness for those who know and understand the whole picture.

FrodosPet http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5527989

[obxhead]

51. No, Obama will get zero blowback.

He'll still get whatever wealth he chooses to seek.

The blowback will spew all over the American people. More war, more debt, a further decline of the economy.

Obama is set. He and his entire family will never need to worry about anything as long as they live. The rest of the world will absorb the repercussions.

[Progressive dog]

57. You certainly have a strange view

of economics for someone who is claiming to be a Democrat. I'll bet you didn't know that FDR used stimulus spending to bring the US economy out of the depression. It worked, a lot of the money was borrowed. The economy boomed after the US, using enormous amounts of borrowed money, geared up production for war. The US ended WW2 with a GDP that had doubled in a few years, all on borrowed money.

[pablo_marmol]

25. Chalmers Johnson leaves us -- Jeremy steps up.

LOVE it!

[Cha]

33. Senator Sanders Disagrees.. "It's the right thing to do.. 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.. thank goodness for those who know and understand the whole picture.

FrodosPet http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5527989

[marmar]

39. no disrespect to sens sanders and warren, but....

Scahill understands it a hell of a lot better than they do, because he's spent lots of time in the thick of the Iraq conflict.

[Cha]

49. And, no disrespect to Schahill but I don't care what he thinks no matter how long he's

been there. I'm going with Bernie, Elizabeth, and the President among many others who think it is the right thing to do.

[WillyT]

35. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[840high]

37. k/r x100

[Bonhomme Richard]

40. ISIS understands this and that is why they are goading the west to attack them.

We are being set up. I don't know if it will work out the way ISIS wants it to but they want us to attack.

[Blue_Tires]

42. Did Scahill propose any alternative course of action?

If anyone has any ideas other that "leave them alone/bomb them to the stone age", I'd love to discuss them...

Has there been the first bit of investigation on exactly who is funding/controlling ISIS?

[GeorgeGist]

47. Keep US out ...

of the driver's seat.

[sabrina 1]

62. If you are familiar with Schahill's work over the years, that is not the question you would

be asking. He is a JOURNALIST. He is fulfilling the role of the Free Press that is now in the hands of Corporate America. A role that is vitally important to the health and well being of any Democracy.

Perhaps your not aware of why a free and open press is so important to this and any other democracy and what the ROLE OF THE PRESS actually is?

Journalists are not elected officials, their job is to provide information to the PEOPLE. Then it is THEIR duty to act on that information.

So, what do you suggest we the people do to end these disastrous policies that produce over and over again, extremist groups which the western imperial nations first arm then bomb in repeated cycles now so familiar you would have to have been asleep to not have noticed.

Here's one suggestion, a bill was introduced in Congress this month outlawing profiting from WAR. Were you aware of that? Did you call your representatives to urge them to vote for it? It failed of course since all of our wars ARE for profit. But if we the people were to elect from now on, people who WOULD vote for such a bill, then maybe we could start reversing these neocon policies.

Scahill certainly is doing his part. How about those making snide remards about every messenger providing information to the people? What are THEY doing?

[nikto]

50. RAISE TAXES NOW!!

Times like these are the best times to talk about taxes,
and the US Deficit.



It makes me sick that these 2 topics are only raised when social programs are discussed,
but never war.

[deutsey]

53. K&R

[xchrom]

54. du rec.

[Marr]

55. Nobody could have imagined.

Except, you know, that vast portion of the country that said it would happen and was systematically maligned by pretty much everyone with access to a microphone.

[msanthrope]

59. I think Scahill should interview ISIS. nt

[davekriss]

60. That's not funny...

...given the horrible circumstances of the deaths of those two journalists.

[msanthrope]

67. It wasn't meant to be. But I assume Scahill can work a phone. nt

[L0oniX]

64. ...and DU goes through another round of deciding who will be thrown under the bus.

It's getting too predictable and boring. If only they could all decide for everyone what sources of information are acceptable all the time they would be happy. I guess that goes along with the mass belief that all republicans have IQ's less than 80 and thus are incapable of any truth or decency. It is nice and comfortable to believe that the side one is on is always right. I happen to notice that when some one brings some real truth out it gets attacked by many here ...so we're really no better than the other side. Does anyone remember the run up to the Iraq war on DU? I'm guessing DU was not all for it nor was it all against it.