Military What was done is being undone...Iraq

Discussion in 'Free Speech Alley' started by mancha, Jun 12, 2014.

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  1. MLUTiger

    MLUTiger Secular Humanist

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    Do these experts have names?
     
    MLUTiger, Jun 18, 2014
    #71
  2. uscvball

    uscvball Founding Member

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    Shias have no friends in the White House.
     
    uscvball, Jun 18, 2014
    #72
  3. uscvball

    uscvball Founding Member

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    Try Ayham Kamel, "Director, Middle East and North Africa
    Area of Expertise: Middle East Macro, Persian Gulf, Syria, Lebanon, Iran...
    Ayham appears regularly on CNBC, BBC, Al Jazeera, and Bloomberg to discuss geopolitics in the Middle East, investment environment, and leadership transitions.

    Ayham holds an MA in Foreign Service from Georgetown University which he earned as a Fulbright scholar. He also holds BS degrees in Business Administration and International Relations from the Lebanese American University. He is fluent in Arabic."
     
    uscvball, Jun 18, 2014
    #73
  4. uscvball

    uscvball Founding Member

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    a) of course there is, b) no, they really don't, c) that won't happen. We can certainly use drones.
     
    uscvball, Jun 18, 2014
    #74
  5. uscvball

    uscvball Founding Member

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    There is a big piece of the puzzle missing. What is our goal in that region? Certainly, it isn't to simply back away and pretend they don't matter. Is it oil? Is it to control, to a point, the radical islamists? Is it to establish permanent military presence and provide the requisite security? Is it to support a specific religious faction over another?

    Until the White House spells out a purpose, a long-term purpose, I can't say what the correct action is. I don't believe we will get this from the White House because either they don't have a goal or they don't want to be honest about it.
     
    uscvball, Jun 18, 2014
    #75
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  6. HalloweenRun

    HalloweenRun Founding Member

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    Here is the answer. Generally between 50 and 60% of the voting population vote.s

    At the same time, everybody has an a-hole

    Thus everybody (100%) has an opinion.
     
    HalloweenRun, Jun 19, 2014
    #76
  7. HalloweenRun

    HalloweenRun Founding Member

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    Sorry, but we do not have actionable targeting intelligence ... we often lacked that when we were fully in. Additionally, a gang of Shia tribal warriors and a gang of Sunni tribal warriors really do look about the same (there are not endless columns of troops, tanks and logistic vehicles on the move), and without real time, not near real time, intel, accurate targeting is going to be extremely problematic. Drones are good for taking out specific people or very specific targets, but not for taking down an army!
     
    HalloweenRun, Jun 19, 2014
    #77
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  8. LSUMASTERMIND

    LSUMASTERMIND Founding Member

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    long term purpose?
    how about this..... its not our issue.
     
    LSUMASTERMIND, Jun 19, 2014
    #78
  9. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    American goals in the region have not changed much in 50 years and they are no secret at all. Number one is protecting the sea lanes that oil flows through to The West and to Japan and Australia. For many years goal number 2 was to thwart Soviet dreams of a warm-water port on the Persian Gulf and we still keep an eye on the Russians. These tasks required bases and local allies and maintaining those bases and protecting those allies have become a major national interest.

    A lower priority goal since the 1970's is to support Israel, but this support has fomented much Anti-Americanism in the region at high cost to us. We have no agenda in the area concerning Islam or any of its sects. But radical anti-american Islamist terrorists have made combating them a national priority and this requires a footprint in the Middle East. But it does not require invasions and occupations which have proven counterproductive. Special Operations and drone strikes are more effective at hitting guerrilla forces without widespread civilian impact.

    It is not a goal or a national interest for us to get caught up in sectarian and civil wars. It is naive and foolish to try to go nation-building or to impose democracy on people who neither understand it nor desire it.
     
    red55, Jun 19, 2014
    #79
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  10. uscvball

    uscvball Founding Member

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    Long term purpose in the region....not just Iraq, but the entire region. What's happening over there right now isn't really just about Iraq. Each muslim country is trying to establish a caliphate and lines are being re-drawn. Obama has said now that al-Maliki must go so we are absolutely tied to controlling the situation. If Obama believed that none of this was or will be our issue, then why is he contemplating any kind of relationship or communication with Iran? It has to be bad (or significant) to even consider it.

    And if what red says it true, the number one goal is to protect oil routes, then instability in the region or allowing islamic radicals to set up and organize to disrupt those routes is our issue.
     
    uscvball, Jun 19, 2014
    #80
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