Military So ISIS & the Middle East

Please, try to pay better attention. The video production and internet distribution of the beheadings is propaganda. This is like porn to young jihadists and it is intimidating to locals and neighbors who may have to deal with these nut jobs. But it doesn't intimidate Western countries like they imagine. It only hardens our hearts against them and convinces us and less radical middle easterners that ISIS is a bunch of lunatics with no legitimacy.

Who is standing by and ignoring? Did you forget that we are waging war against them and have assembled a coalition of partners to resist local expansion of their very limited footprint? The statement you just cited show that we are not ignoring them. The simple fact is that as more Americans get involved, whether pilots or advisors, there will be Americans captured and ISIS is executing all captives, whether Western, Syrian, or Iraqi Shia. We are damn sure are reviewing our policies on hostages because ISIS isn't seeking ransoms or concessions. They are killing hostages for propaganda purposes and that changes the paradigm.

So what? It is money recognized nowhere by nobody as a legitimate currency. They can't buy weapons with it. They can't pay fighters with it for long even in their own territory if it isn't worth that paper it is printed on. It is a sure sign that their supply of Dollars and Euros is dwindling.

They do not. The Peshmerga has stopped their advance and retaken much of Kobani. ISIS cannot reinforce their fighters there without taking troops away from vital fronts against Assad, the Syrian rebels, the Kurds, and the Iraqi army.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/kurds-in-kobani-seize-islamic-state-arms-cache-iraq-touts-progress-in-baiji-battle/article21635253/
http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-kobani-kurds-20141117-story.html

What support is that and how are they getting it, now that Turkey has closed off its border? All I know of is a statement by a Taliban spokesman supporting ISIS' efforts was reversed the very next day. "The Islamic State" has been declared a Caliphate of all Islam by ISIS with Al Baghdadi as Caliph of all Muslims. Well Mullah Omar quashed that notion immediately, as have all of the Middle Eastern strongmen who have no intention whatsoever of surrendering authority to this Looney-tune or joining his "Islamic State".

Dirty bomb? ISIS is focused on creating an Islamic State in the middle east, dirty bombs aren't going to help them do that. The Taliban doesn't; have an agenda of attacking the United States either, just our forces on their turf. Al Qaeda and Khorasan still plot against us but they haven't managed such an attack yet. People who possess nuclear material are very jealous of it and don't just give it away to lunatics that they can't control. More Americans have married Pamela Anderson than have been beheaded by ISIS. Do not be deceived by ISIS propaganda. The beheadings enrage us but they are no reason to panic. ISIS is no threat to the United States homeland and are actually robbing resources from the smaller terrorists groups that do have us on their agenda.

I am not surprised. Wars have a way of snowballing on you. Mission creep is inherent and must be guarded against. However we do have vital interests and allies in the region that may require more support. The Kurds have certainly earned it and will get it. There was a purge of Shia political generals in the Iraqi army this week, a precondition of getting US ground support that they may need to drive ISIS back into Syria.

What exactly is your position here? You seem to criticize America for not doing something about ISIS as well as criticize America for doing something about ISIS. I am confused.

 

No, you assumed my comment was about the beheading, when it was about the ISIS propaganda video.

Never try to put words into my mouth, please. I very clearly responded to your comment about ISIS issuing currency. I still ask you . . . so what? What in the world do you think this proves?

You said that they control Kobani. I cited evidence that show that they do not and have lost territory to the Peshmerga.

Shaid clearly backed off his earlier statement. They are all for anybody fighting the Americans to relive pressure on themselves, but they, like Al Qaeda, do not support the creation of an Islamic Caliphate with Al Baghdadi as Caliph. From the link I cited earlier . . .

Shahid on Sunday sent a message to Pakistani media, including the Express Tribune, denying it, saying the group remained loyal to Afghan Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Omar is viewed as the supreme authority for al-Qaeda, its affiliates and allies like the TTP – the emir al muminin (“commander of the faithful”) – making him the de facto rival of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who calls himself “Caliph Ibrahim” and wants jihadists everywhere to swear loyalty to him.

According to the Express Tribune, Shahid claimed that the eve-of-Eid statement was merely an expression of pride in ISIS’ “victories” in Syria and Iraq, along with urging for jihadists to “forge unity, especially when the enemy stands united against them.”​

Do not put words into my mouth! You have offered no evidence that ISIS has nuclear material or that anybody is willing to give them any.

These are not the droids you are looking for. The existence of radicals is not evidence that anybody is supplying them with the materials or means to make and deliver a dirty bomb. This notion is not why we are fighting ISIS. We are fighting ISIS to defend important allies in the region that are threatened by ISIS fighters with conventional weapons.

I did. ISIS is not a threat to the homeland to get upset about and start worrying about nuclear war.

You have a knack for missing the point. The comparison is to show just how little of a threat to America that ISIS is. The American civilians who have died (all three) were over there against the warnings of the United States government. When ISIS is out of hostages to kill, what will they do then? Go back to killing each other I hope. We should encourage this.

Tunnel vision, I suspect. ISIS is only a part of the snowballing disaster that is the middle east. Everything affects everything else. The geopolitics are extremely complex.

You have offered both, which is fine if you are clear about it.

 

That FLIR has a lot more resolution than some of these videos I've seen. You could actually tell the horses from the people and the women from the men and even the men holding RPG's. They held fire on the women and the horses. I only saw one horse get hit and that was because the 30mm wasn't zeroed to the crosshairs at that range, it was shooting about 4 meters to the right and the gunner kept having to walk the rounds onto the target. I find it interesting that when they ran out of ammunition they used expensive Griffin missiles to take out individuals. It doesn't seem very cost effective. But it sounded like there were friendlies nearby that were threatened.