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OP, you ARE misinformed. You keep referring back to the 1991 Gulf War as your example of how we should be fighting ISIS. What you don't grasp is that even the architects of that war knew they could not take and hold Iraq. Desert Storm "worked" only because we didn't stick around.
As was demonstrated after we invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and (temporarily) toppled the Taliban, and Iraq in 2003 when we toppled the Saddam regime, terrorist groups flourish wherever there is a power vacuum. The U.S. military may be able to put BOTG wherever ISIS is; but it does not have the tools or skills necessary to install and prop up a government capable of keeping terrorist groups out. At least not without a massive, permanent US military presence; which is logically what you must be proposing.
If you disagree, it's on you to explain why the massive, initially successful BOTG invasions of Afghanistan & Iraq failed to prevent insurgencies and the rise of terrorist groups in those countries.
Against an actual army, fighting (briefly) in a military fashion, and one that was allowed to retreat. Don't think the locals didn't take notes of how silly it was to try and fight a symmetrical battle. And more importantly: ISIS cannot be allowed to retreat.
They'd face the rassum frassum Syrian Army. You think Assad is going to shrug and let parts of Syrian territory remain outside his control? None of the Arab nations are going to want to shove their wedding tackle in that garbage grinder, and I don't blame them.
We have no beef with Assad, he has not attacked our planes. After all we are doing him a favor. I don't think he would attack an Arab peacekeeping force either. After all we would be taking a combatant out of his hair and if he wins the Syrian civil war then he will be given back that territory. What I am proposing is no threat to him, nor is it a threat to the credible rebel forces in Syria. It will be up to those groups to fight it out and determine a winner. We should not intervene in that mess, as it has nothing to do with us. ISIS is the only threat to the region and the world, not Assad not the Syrian rebels. That is Syrian business.
OP, you ARE misinformed. You keep referring back to the 1991 Gulf War as your example of how we should be fighting ISIS. What you don't grasp is that even the architects of that war knew they could not take and hold Iraq. Desert Storm "worked" only because we didn't stick around.
As was demonstrated after we invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and (temporarily) toppled the Taliban, and Iraq in 2003 when we toppled the Saddam regime, terrorist groups flourish wherever there is a power vacuum. The U.S. military may be able to put BOTG wherever ISIS is; but it does not have the tools or skills necessary to install and prop up a government capable of keeping terrorist groups out. At least not without a massive, permanent US military presence; which is logically what you must be proposing.
If you disagree, it's on you to explain why the massive, initially successful BOTG invasions of Afghanistan & Iraq failed to prevent insurgencies and the rise of terrorist groups in those countries.
I am not suggesting we should permanently occupy anyone, but we do need to keep a token force there for a while to keep insurgents in check. Also I never said we would get rid of the terrorist all together, but by taking away their territory we can prevent the creation of a terrorist nation that will be far more of a problem then a few insurgents in a cave. A terrorist nation can export it problems to the world as ISIS is doing now, it can destabilize its neighbors as its doing now, and if they get what they want they can build a terrorist empire (caliphate) and if that happens then we are in deep poo. No such thing as a perfect solution but doing nothing is a fools solution.
We can't defeat ISIS no matter what kind of war you engage them in. This is a wasted argument.
The United States has NEVER been successful against insurgent rebel forces in any conflict that I can think of. And it won't start with ISIS. You're advocating suicide.
There is a limit to what superpowers can do in civil wars. You can put your fingers on the scale to help either side, but you can't do their fighting for them. History proves this over and over again. You guys don't ever learn.
If defeating ISIS were so simple, they'd be eradicated already.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dane_in_LA
I think I've seen this movie before. The ending sucked.
Conservatives sleep through it those movies.
They only stay awake for movies with fairytale endings.
The War on terror did make us safer, between 9-11 and the end of the Bush presidency we were not attacked in any major way on US soil. The enemy knew we would pursue them, and they concentrated their effort on fighting us in Iraq. It is only since the rise of a weaker liberal leader we have been attacked and it is the weakness that has led to this increase in attacks. I would also point out that we were attacked on 9-11 before the invasions and the war on terror. They already hated us, they were already plotting and attacking. The invasions were a response to an attack and obvious threat. We left before the job was done (Obama). It is liberalism that has made us unsafe. It is hippies and peaceniks that made us unsafe. Time for these losers to get out of the way and let those who want to defend our nation retake the reigns of power.
We never had any major Islamic terrorist attacks before 9/11 either! Now we are under constant threat even with all the extra billions we spend on counter terrorism. On top of the, we have wasted trillions on wars and counter terrorism to fight the extra extremists we created. Now the whole world is more unsafe! Thousands of lives lost and trillions wasted! Us and the world would be much safer and richer if we had done nothing after 9/11.
It's called blowback-and the only way to end it is to stop bombing sovereign nations and killing their women and children.
We need to leave the Middle East and never return; Bring our troops home to protect our borders for once. Cut all economic ties with Saudi Arabia (who funds Isis and is the #1 instigator/perpetrator of Islamic terrorism worldwide), Afghanistan, Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey (who funds Isis) and even Israel.
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