COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Thursday, October 09, 2014

Hezbollah in Lebanon against the “Wahabi-Zionist enemies”

Lebanon faces Isis and Nusra incursions – and an influx of refugees



Hezbollah Boots on the Ground getting er done!
















The shooting went on for hours, heard even in the centre of ancient Baalbek as Hezbollah and the Jabhat al-Nusra/Isis insurgents from Syria fought it out on the ridgeline above the Roman city.

That is all the people of Baalbek could say on Monday after Hezbollah announced – after rather a long time – that the jihadis had been sent packing back up towards Syrian Qalamoun. But it was another shock to the body politic of Lebanon.
We’ve been here before, of course, in similar battles in July, and then in the brief capture of Ersa, north of Baalbek, in August when Isis managed for a few forbidding hours to take over the Sunni town and seize almost 24 Lebanese soldiers, two of whom have since suffered the now all-too-familiar and awesome punishment of decapitation.
But does this mean that Isis has leached over the border and put its black-and-white flags into the soil of Lebanon?
The details of the latest raid are frustratingly difficult to ascertain. First reports spoke of “hundreds” of Nusra fighters with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades storming at least 10 almost inaccessible Hezbollah outposts close to the Syrian border, strong points placed there for the very purpose of preventing the jihadis from crossing into Lebanon and threatening the Hezbollah supply route through Baalbek to the south of he country where, of course, another enemy – Israel – might await the Iranian-armed and financed movement. Casualty figures moved uncertainly between 14 jihadis and three Hezbollah dead, and 16 jihadis with eight Hezbollah dead. But the figures, as usual, are less important than the implications.
As the sub-head of one recent article in the Lebanese Christian press put it rather well, it seems that from now on the destiny of Lebanon will be “in the hands of Nusra and the ‘Islamic State’ [as Isis calls itself], which each day wickedly spreads its venom deeper into Lebanese territory”. This may be taking things a little too far.
When Hezbollah sent thousands of its fighters across the Syrian border to help President Bashar al-Assad’s army fight its jihadi enemies, it could hardly be surprised if those same enemies decided to strike back across the frontier in the other direction. Each little jihadi “victory”, however, gives heart to their coterie of supporters in the Lebanese Sunni community, especially in Tripoli where a few Isis posters have been seen.
There have been Isis tweets, too, directed at the Lebanese state, castigating its army’s behaviour. Lebanon’s military is a working institution and its multi-ethnic ranks are anathema to the Sunni fighters loyal to Mosul’s odd new “caliph”, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Arsal’s much-troubled Sunni population is host to a mass of Syrian refugees and fears it may permanently fall under Isis’s yoke – as if, in the words of the town’s municipality President, Ali Hujeiri, Isis wants to invite Baghdadi to Lebanon.
No one in the country forgets that the original title of this morbid new “state” entity was the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – and that the Levant area includes Lebanon as well as Syria. Inevitably, Syrian refugees – now a third of Lebanon’s population – have found themselves victims of almost racist threats from their Arab compatriots in the country. There are nightly incidents of intimidation against them in Beirut where wall posters have appeared at dusk, ordering Syrian men and their families to leave within 12 hours the cheap lodgings in which they are crowded.
The Lebanese army has done little about this – just as it failed to intervene in the Hezbollah-jihadi fighting at the weekend. Hezbollah’s Syrian government allies have meanwhile been drawing eerie comparisons between its army’s present struggle against “Wahabi-Zionist enemies” with foreign weapons – “wahabi” being a code word for Saudi Arabia – and its 6 October 1973 battles with Israel, which was also armed with foreign weapons.
Syrian state television showed a collage of its soldiers fighting Israel on the Golan Heights 41 years ago and its present-day troops fighting opponents of President Assad inside Syria. What those old soldiers who briefly captured Observatory Ridge – but who are now in their sixties or seventies – think of the current tragedy in their country is anyone’s guess, if those soldiers are still alive.
Syrian television has even taken to quoting Iraqi television, applauding the death of three Isis officers supposedly killed by Iraqi government troops in a battle north-east of Baquba. Under President Assad’s father, Hafez, a state of near-open hostility existed between Syria and Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
The Baath party existed in both countries in mutual suspicion and would never dream of praising their opponents. Those were the days.

111 comments:

  1. If we are serious about getting rid of ISIS, then let’s use “natural allies”. We have seen the true colors of the Turks, The Saudis and financiers and benefactors of ISIS. Hezbollah, the Iranians, the Kurds and any other group opposed to ISIS is our natural ally.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deuce ☂Thu Oct 09, 11:18:00 AM EDT
      If we are serious about getting rid of ISIS, then let’s use “natural allies”. We have seen the true colors of the Turks, The Saudis and financiers and benefactors of ISIS. Hezbollah, the Iranians, the Kurds and any other group opposed to ISIS is our natural ally.

      You are playing checkers Deuce.

      1. America is not serious about ISIS. ISIS is the creation of the sunnis because of the rise of the Persians/Shiites. NOTHING ISIS is doing is any worse than what Hezbollah, Assad and Iran have been doing for decades. Just because they were not on film makes it no better. Assad has slaughtered hundreds of thousands. Iran imported Hezbollah into Iran to rape and murder the green revolutionaries. They all suck.

      2. The true colors of the Turks? They are genocidal maniacs JUST like the Syrians & Iranians and HEZBOLLAH

      3. Hezbollah given the chance would slit the throat of every Jew in the world. Not that aint your concern, but as a full fledged division of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards they are no friend of the west or america. They had been called the "A team" of terrorists just until a year ago. They love blowing up American Marines and kidnapping westerners, same as ISIS just slicker.

      Arm the Kurds. Create a no fly zone for them. Anything that moves across the gap in the desert? Destroy. Just like Bill Clinton did. in Iraq (north and south)

      Delete
  2. I don't think anyone in the administration is "serious about getting rid of ISIS."

    The game is to keep them out of the major oil fields.

    Everything else is misdirection.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Turkey, and, for some reason, ISIS want the NATO allies to invoke article 5, and get a major ground war going in the ME.

    One can only wonder who is pulling ISIS's strings to get them to try and promote this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We haven't even pulled a carrier into the Mediterranean, yet.

    We have one carrier, all the way down in the Gulf (or is it the Indian Ocean.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. This fight could on for "Thirty Years", according to Leon

    Perpetual War ...

    “Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.” ― George Orwell

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are sorry, how do you say it in English?

      "1st grader"?

      The shits and suns have been going at since Old Mo's grandson and cousin had a falling out in the year 630.

      So it's been going on for about 1384 years…

      Maybe instead of reading those "Horse Shit Shoveling for Dummies" books, you might take a class in Islamic history.

      Delete
  6. ISIS, Ebola scares;

    anything to keep the people from thinking about why they are working part-time, for minimum wage, with no healthcare, while the Walton Family makes Tens of $Billions / Year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL

      If you work for Walmart for minimum wage part time? Your health care is free, provided by the US taxpayers.

      as for the Walton Family? What business is it of yours how much they make? Don't like them (i don't for other reason) DONT SHOP THERE.

      Or let me guess? You want to nationalize it? Set profit maximums? Let's appoint a Czar! The Big Box Czar for prices and profits..

      Right out of Atlas Shrugged….

      LOL

      Delete
    2. Just change the tax codes, take away the biases that create, as one of our contributors said

      What is "Occupation"Fri Oct 03, 10:16:00 AM EDT
      ...
      The system is screwed


      But he does not want to take steps that would rectify the social injustice that is endemic to the "System", the one he thinks is "screwed".

      Maybe he does not know what the words mean.
      Or why the "System is Screwed" or how to fix it.


      Delete
    3. Nicely out of context as usual.

      I see your lies, misdirections and distortions are always at the ready…

      Typing away and contributing nothing.

      Worm Tongue

      Delete
    4. Reading you weep, that is well worth the time it takes to ype, "O"rdure.

      Finding you aground on the shoals of your own words...
      Entertaining, to be sure.

      That you can never find the words to reciprocate, that is the truth, by your own omissions.

      Delete

    5. Reading you weep, that is well worth the time it takes to type, "O"rdure.

      Delete
    6. brain overloading can't express yourself as fast as your fat, numb fingers?

      Some sniper you'd be…

      LOL

      Loser

      Delete
    7. Senor Rat Mierda speaks.

      (rough translation: Mr Rat Shit)

      Delete
  7. Look, the Israeli do not want the "War" to end.
    It suits their strategic objectives for it to roll on, and on, and on...

    They have written Plans that describe just what is happening now, as being in the "National Interests" of Israel.
    The Israeli Ambassador to the US told the JPost that Israel prefers al-Qeada to anyone supported by Iran.

    His statements are crystal clear.
    Bibi has been photographed visiting al-Qeada terrorist receiving "Aid and Comfort" in Israel's hospitals.

    The funding of Daesh, IS, ISIS, ISIL, al-Qeada come from the Persian Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE...

    The Saudi and Israeli are now allies.
    Even Ms Glick acknowledges that reality.

    Understanding the Israeli-Egyptian-Saudi alliance

    Mr Obama, Mr Biden, they are both Zionists.
    Mr Obama's entire career, funded by Zionists.

    Biden said, "I am a Zionist. You don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist."
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3586542,00.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The "war" we want has NOTHING to do with the slaughter of the KURDS and other innocents.

      The SHITS verses the SUNS is an old war going back for centuries.

      As long as they beat the shit out of each other? They have less time to cut off Jew heads and BBQ them and put them on pikes.

      A wise Persian King who set the Jews free from captivity and even gave us funds to rebuild our Temple in Jerusalem understood the viciousness of some of the tribes of middle east.

      Nothing new here. You are waking up and understanding the very thing I spoke and you ridiculed me about 2 years ago…


      Both sides (shits and suns) SUCK. Both are modern day NAZIS.

      Glad to see you are learning and coming around to MY Zionist POV.

      Now take a trip to Paradise, visit Israel.

      Delete
    2. To bad there are no virgins there, then all the Muslims would be "On Their Way", to "Paradise"...

      The 'Children of Abraham', all are the same, they just have different monikers for their fanaticisms.

      Delete
    3. ... there... being "Israel", the paradise that "O"rdure is pining for.

      Delete
    4. Senor Rat Mierda speaks.

      (rough translation: Mr Rat Shit)

      Delete
  8. Well, if I was a Wyoming, Michigander, I would be buying my E85 for $1.88 / Gallon.

    Wyoming, Michigan $1.88 / gal

    ReplyDelete

  9. Wonder how our legionnaire, Quirk, is coming, fighting with that bear?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Well, you just hold your horses, my little buckaroo. You haven't even read your vegetables yet and now you are looking for desert.

      Your task is to go back and read that entire post you said you didn't read. When you have, we will give you a little test and if you do well we may descuss some further reading assignments for you.

      Now skiddadle.

      .

      Delete
    2. Wrong again, legionnaire Quirk.
      The tasking is not mine to perform.
      It is your performance that the audience is waiting for.

      Read the reviews.. no one, it has been written, is interested in my musings ...
      But Robert "Bob" Peterson is right down front, center stage - chanting your name...

      Are you going to let your fans down?

      Delete
    3. It is your work, selecting the contradictions in mine, that all the fans are waiting for, Legionnaire.
      Their breathe is bated, anticipating your performance.

      So get on it, Legionnaire, you have your assignment, you were foolhardy to volunteer for such a task.
      It will be more difficult, for you, than wrestling a bear.

      But it was your choice ...

      Delete
    4. .

      Wrong again, rat.

      Bob would be equally pleased if I merely send him along a copy on one of my e-mails from Maria or, better yet, one of her silk stockings. In fact, he would probably prefer it.

      No, it it is the ratster that has been wetting his pants and begging over the last two days for another missive from Quirk.

      .

      Delete
    5. Quirk Quirk Quirk

      Quirk
      Quirk
      Quirk

      I shout it out, shout it out at the top of my lungs

      Hero Quirk, Noble Quirk.....get that rat free blog up and running!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Delete
  10. Hmmm, What's this?

    Kurdish sources inside Kobane say that the YPG (Syrian Kurdish Popular Protection Units) have advanced in the east and that a group of Free Syrian Army fighters moved behind IS lines causing heavy losses.

    Attacked from behind by an army that does not exist?

    ReplyDelete
  11. .

    Rat (oops, I mean rat): "A battalion of the Iraqi Army, about 800 men, with close air support would turn Korbane around."

    Why would the Iraqi intervene in Syria when they are up to their ass in IS at home? Reports are that ISIS has been consolidating their gains in Anbar Province and moving closer to Baghdad. They took two towns there last week. If Iraq had 800 men to spare, why wouldn't they send them (along with close air support) to Abu Ghraib to reinforce their troops there. There are reports the movements of those troops are restricted as IS moves freely through streets of certain sections of the town. Controlling all of Abu Ghraib would put IS close enough to Baghdad that they could start bombarding the International Airport.

    Iraq is in no position to send 800 armed troops into another country right now. And later, it won't make a difference.

    At the moment, we are certainly seeing military history being made but so far not the history we can easily brag about.

    Well, we have time, years it seems according to those who are paid to know.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Because, Legionnaire Quirk, they are part of the Coalition that is fighting the Daesh, the Islamic State.

      If the IS is a single cohesive organization, the Iraqi are a war with it, where ever it exists, not just within the confides of Iraq.

      Why would the Iraqi allow the IS a safe haven inside Syria?
      That is the "REAL" question, for you to answer, Legionnaire.

      Delete
    2. Why did the English Army fight the Germans, in France?

      Why did the US fight Japan in the Philippines?

      Come on, Legionnaire, put on your strategic thinking cap ...

      Delete
    3. Why would it be a poor strategy for the legitimate government of Iraqi to come to the aid of the legitimate government of Syria, against their common foe?

      Riddle us that, Legionnaire Quirk

      Delete

    4. Why did the US choose to fight Islamic fundamentalism in Afghanistan. and not in NY City?

      Better for the Iraqi to defea the IS in Syria, doing damage to that country's infrastructure, than to do battle in Iraq.
      Better for the Iraqi to have the collateral damage from the fight "Over There" than in their own front yard.

      Delete
    5. Both of the legitimate governments, Syria and Iraq, are supported militarily and politically, by Iran and Russia.

      Why shouldn't they consider assisting in the battle of Korbane, especially if invited to by the government of Syria?

      Why wouldn't Assad extend the invitation?

      Delete
    6. Why shouldn't they (Iraq's leadership) consider assisting in the battle of Korbane, especially if invited to by the government of Syria?

      Delete
    7. Then, wouldn't the rest of the Coalition support their members "Boots on the Ground" in the fight against the IS?

      Couldn't hardly not support the Iraqi, if they deployed to Korbane, could US?

      Delete
    8. .

      .

      Good lord, rat, you are bonkers.

      You say something utterly stupid and then come up with absurd examples to try to justify it. Right, now the Iraqi are fighting for their lives in Iraq. Why would they take their limited resources and go to help the Kurds in a city in Syria. You say it is to attack IS. Hell, all they have to do is take a stroll a few miles out of Baghdad and they can find all the IS militants they want. Why wouldn't they go try to take back a city in Iraq like say Fallujah?

      For that matter, since IS is one big organization, why doesn't the US which has many more resources than Iraq do more to help Kobane. We have more incentive. You have pointed out that close combat air support with an 'active partner' is all it would take to defeat IS. As I pointed out yesterday, you aren't going to see a more active partner than the Kurds in Kobane and if you are dissatisfied with them providing communications and coordination (why I don't know) we could easily insert special forces to do the job. Hell, they could walk to Kobane from Turkey in less than half an hour without breaking a sweat.

      Yet, you would prefer Iraq, a country under attack and with less capability and less incentive, to lead the charge.

      Why don't you mention that suggestion to John McCain the next time you see him. It might make sense to him.

      .

      Delete
    9. Taking the fight to the IS, in Syria, would be a big morale booster, inside those areas of Iraq still controlled by the legitimate government. It would shake the confidence of the IS combatants within their Caliphate, more so than a battle in Falujah.

      Delete
    10. Yes, Quirk, I would put the locals in the lead.
      No doubt about that.

      That s the essence of the ...
      "Rat Doctrine"

      It is 'Old School' Special Forces.
      Prior to the SWAT Team era we are now in.

      There are 800 men in Iraqi Army uniforms that are capable.
      Proven at the dam in Mosul.

      Load 'em up and get 'er done.
      Or admit its all a fraud, that there is no 'war' against the Saudi funded 'Islamic State'

      Delete
    11. .

      Then, wouldn't the rest of the Coalition support their members "Boots on the Ground" in the fight against the IS?

      No, of course not. If the US is having a hard time getting allies to put 'boots on the ground' in this war, then some quixotic move by Iraq isn't going to do it.


      Couldn't hardly not support the Iraqi, if they deployed to Korbane, could US?

      Good lord, rat, you are on a roll.

      The more you babble, the more incoherent you become.

      I'm starting to worry about you. Why don't you put a cool clothe on your head, take a few deep breathes, and take a little nap.

      .

      Delete
    12. .

      Yes, Quirk, I would put the locals in the lead.
      No doubt about that.

      That s the essence of the ...
      "Rat Doctrine"

      It is 'Old School' Special Forces.
      Prior to the SWAT Team era we are now in.

      There are 800 men in Iraqi Army uniforms that are capable.
      Proven at the dam in Mosul.

      Load 'em up and get 'er done.
      Or admit its all a fraud, that there is no 'war' against the Saudi funded 'Islamic State'


      Yesterday, I put up a post indicating the 'Rat Doctrine' was rather ephemeral. As Allen pointed out its substance changes with the direction of the wind. Today, you prove it by giving us the 'essence' of the doctrine above, send in a bunch of locals to defend a country that is not their own with no promise of close air support while their own country is engulfed in war. That is today's 'essence of the Rat Doctrine'.

      Load 'em up and get 'er done.
      Or admit its all a fraud, that there is no 'war' against the Saudi funded 'Islamic State


      Brought to you from the illogical mind of the rat.

      Typical rat MO, once again he indulges in the logical fallacy of the false dilemma. He offers us only an either or option, two out of many, and the two he offers are not even vaguely related. Da boy be batshit crazy.

      .

      Delete
    13. The admission of your inability to achieve coherence, Legionnaire, ...


      "Really, no matter what the score, never let 'em see you sweat." - the Gillette Company






      Delete
    14. .

      Lord, rat, can't you see that doesn't even make sense?

      .

      Delete
    15. Your inability Legionnaire, to provide any other option ...

      Save abandonment of US efforts ....

      Delete
    16. .

      Lord, rat, can't you see that doesn't even make sense?

      .

      Delete
    17. No, he can't.

      Somebody said rat is bat shit crazy.

      That person had it exactly right.

      Delete
  12. .

    Readings from the Tao of Quirk

    Today's selection, Quiet Reflections on the Iraq/Syrian War with IS from the Viewpoint of a Non-Military Educated Observer Based on His Non-Practicing Catholic Background and Predilections that Assume all Politicians are Dicks

    The current situation in the war IMO illustrates the main reason I personally didn't want to go in, US incompetency in waging such a war. So far it looks to me that we have come up short in all facets. It is an ongoing pattern that has to be broken. I look at the following,

    Goals:We state our goals are to “degrade and destroy” IS; yet we are only given vague suggestions as to what that means. While we are told we want to “degrade and destroy” IS, we won’t be able to actually “defeat” them. We are told it will likely take years to accomplish our goals, some say a decade. We are told we need to be patient. The goals themselves are not awe inspiring nor conclusive and the timeframe is too long for the American public to remain patient.

    Planning:We are told that when IS cut off the heads of the 2 Americans, Obama had no choice but to expand the war. That may be true from a political point of view but from a realistic point of view I would question it. However, even if true, it did not mean we had to react immediately.

    We spent 6 weeks planning for GWB’s Iraq war before attacking and we saw the results, two months to defeat the enemy and then years of disaster. This time in Iraq, if the decision hadn’t already been made long ago, it looked like it only took a week or so. However, even if we stretch it back to the initial ‘humanitarian crises’ on Mount Sinjar, the planning was insufficient. We should have had our ‘coalition’ in place before we expanded operations into Syria.

    (continued below)

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      ...continued...

      Intelligence:Intelligence lapses going into a war seem to be a hallmark of all US adventures into the ME. From the biggest of all, our lack of knowledge about the fighting capability of ISIS and our faith in the fighting capability of the Iraqi armed forces to our assumption that out ‘allies’ goals would be the same as our own, we have come up short. It just emphasizes the point that we don’t know diddly about the ME.

      Relying solely on air power when entering Syria is like entering a black hole as we have no real assets on the ground there. Again it goes back to planning and preparedness.

      While we have formed a coalition, each member’s contribution, IMO, is pretty small. They seem to be doing as little as they can get away with. However, again IMO, we have miscalculated. Once, we went into Syria (something required if we are to achieve our limited goals) we had to anticipate the reaction of Syria’s neighbors and all the other players there.
      We can always count on Jordan to do what we ask. Lebanon is a toss-up regardless of what happens. But Turkey is the most important and their goals and ours don’t mesh. It was probably a mistake to count on them helping based on past experience. Right now, they are trying to blackmail the US into helping them achieve the goals they want most out of this conflict, regime change in Damascus and the emasculation of the Kurds. They also present a danger as ISIS gets closer to their border. Any attack on Turkey will bring a Turkish demand that NATO get involved. And since the US is NATO, that means an escalation of US participation. What that would mean is hard to predict. It obviously could mean more assistance in the fight against IS but it could also mean an excuse to push for regime change and lest we forget Assad still has some serious friends.

      (continued below)

      .

      Delete
    2. .

      ...continued...

      Strategy: The Obama administration has stated that their aim is to “degrade and destroy” IS. They say the goal of their air campaign is primarily to take out IS facilities and equipment to remove their offensive capabilities and logistics and to hamper their funding. They indicate that their goal is not to save towns, cities, and populations.

      What their exact strategy is remains open to question. There are so many crosscurrents and various interest floating around this conflict it is hard to be certain.

      However, let's look at the 'official' strategy. Perhaps this is a sound strategy. I don’t know. However, as a casual observer I see some obvious problems this strategy might cause.

      The first is the optics. You bomb around Sinjar to save 40,000 Yazidis for humanitarian reasons but when it comes to saving 400,000 Kurds in Kobane you come to the party late and offer half-hearted air support. Unless it is by design, you have no excuse in Kobane. You would have an ‘active partner’ in the Kurds who could ‘communicate and coordinate’ air strikes. If you wanted, you could easily insert special -forces into the city to do the job. There is also the other advantage that if you want to take out some IS formations, you know where they are.

      The obvious take is that there are other concerns, perhaps because the fighting in Kobane is being done mainly by the PKK and you would be going against your own dictate against aiding terrorists groups (at least publically). But if this were the case, why would you bother to bomb at all? Perhaps, you are holding back so as not to go against Turkish wishes as you negotiate with them. Or perhaps, the air campaign you are waging there is the only one that you are capable of at this time. If it is a Regardless the cause, it currently is not pretty. If the Kurds can hold on, though we try to sell it otherwise, they did it with little if any US help. If IS takes Kobane, it will be a significant strategic and political achievement for them. Anyone who questions the strategic value of Kobane to IS just hasn’t been paying attention. Whichever way it turns out, it will affect the separate propaganda war both we and IS are waging. If we are waging a publicity campaign there, it isn't working.

      (continued below)

      .

      Delete
    3. .

      ...continued...

      Tactics: Obama is committed to providing only air power support for our allies in the region. We have seen some of the limitations this tactic involves given the restricted capabilities of those allies in the region. The limitations in Syria are especially acute given the lack of eyes on the ground.

      Again we are hampered by our own conflicting aims. We want to help arm the Iraqi Kurds but not at the expense of destabilizing the central government and the country further after the war. We want to help the Kurds in Kobane but we don’t want to be seen as helping groups we have declared terrorists or pissing off a NATO ally in Turkey. We want to attack IS in Anbar but not at the expense of further alienating the Sunni.

      While ‘no US boots on the ground’ is a reality welcomed by the American people, there are already those in the military that are suggesting it won’t work or a demurring and stating that circumstances in the future might change things. Don’t even start on the ex-military pundits, the neocons in Congress, or the right-wing media that are all calling for an expansion of our efforts in Iraq/Syria.

      Ultimately, it will come down to whether the American people put up with an extended war in the ME that stretches for years?

      Leadership: Hamlet redux.

      If you are going to be a war president and micromanage all aspects of the war, as it has been reported Obama does, then you have to be able to make important decisions quickly. Obama has never been able to do this. It is obvious he didn’t want this war and it has been a hallmark of his presidency that he will stall and procrastinate as long as possible before making a decision.

      It is reported he is getting ready to shake up his national security team. For good or ill, it won’t make a difference unless he is willing to delegate some of the decision making to the ‘experts’.

      The Unknown Unknown: Just as we predict that there will eventually be a major terrorist event in the US we know that the longer this war goes on the likelihood of unintended consequences (of the negative kind) occurring increase. If the war lasts as long as the administration is projecting it will, the chances increase making it almost inevitable.

      The ME is a shithole with half a dozen countries seeking hegemony at the others expense and we are up to our ass in it.

      Even with purest intentions, history and circumstance dictate it will be difficult to extricate ourselves from this miasma without causing more harm than we solve.

      (Disclaimer: These opinions are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of EB blog management or the other bloggers who post here.)

      .

      Delete
    4. The "Boots" are there, on the ground.

      All that has to be done, communicate and coordinate, with them.

      Or admit that the US is not at 'War" with the Islamic State.
      Admit that it is engaged in a "Balance of Power" juggle ...

      Delete
    5. A marketing campaign of the Military Industrial Complex and the adherents of Zionism, those that believe in the essence of the "Yinon Plan".

      Delete
  13. Well, I don't know about all that "tao" stuff, but from a hillbilly point of view, it comes down to something like this:

    We kill a few of'em every day, and all it costs us is "gas money" -

    which we would have spent on "bombing practice," somewhere, anyway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And, we will have a fatality, or two, somewhere along the line, for the simple reason that we lose a couple of pilots every year just on routine training missions. That military stuff is inherently dangerous.

      Delete
    2. The Legionnaire thinks that only Anglo-European troops can or should deploy outside the borders of their own country.

      The line between Syria and Iraq, which the IS, Daesh, have erased, still stands sacrosanct in the Legionnaire's 'Handbook of Enlightened Map Reading and Orienteering'.

      Delete
    3. .

      The Tao of Rufus.

      Job security for the military and the MIC.

      :o)

      .

      Delete
    4. Oil security for hillbillies.

      Delete
    5. .

      More bullshit from the rat.

      The fact that the Iraqis 'can' go to Korbane is entirely different from whether they 'should' or as important 'want' to go to Kobane. You want to send Iraqis hundreds of miles away to fight IS troops that they can find a few clicks down the road outside of Baghdad.

      You ignore the questions of Iraqi priorities. You ignore the question of do they want to go. You ignore the question of whether the US, sorry coalition' would want them or ask them to go.

      While I find your suggestion sill on a number of levels, rat, I do admit that you are thinking out of the box.

      .


      Delete
    6. .

      Oil security for hillbillies.

      And here I thought you said were there to save 40,000 Yazidis on a mountain top. Well, before you said the reason we were there was because of the beheading of two Americans. We can always find a reason to fight in the middle east. Your last suggestion is obviously closer to the mark.

      .

      Delete
  14. Why are some, here, having trouble with the "no boots on the ground" concept meaning "no Special Forces in Kobane?"

    (cough) Quirk (cough)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Please, Rufus, let's not be obtuse. We have close to 2,000 troops (that we know about) in theater. If you think those guys will not be put in conflict areas, I have some oceanfront property in Iowa I'd like to sell you.

      And if you think, those same troops that are put in combat areas are not in harms way, are not carrying weapons, are not (gulp) 'boots on the ground', well I have two very nice lots.

      .

      Delete
    2. Read this carefully.

      But despite the air strikes overnight and into the morning, the Islamic State fighters managed to capture a police station in the east of the town, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The station was later struck by coalition jets.

      A bit of communication going on, I'd say.

      Communicatin'

      Delete
    3. .

      I am unable to pull up your link.

      But going by what you have written, I have to ask 'what is your point'?

      I have been politicking for a more active role for the US there for weeks under the simple thought that if the objective is to kill IS, at Kobane you certainly know where they are. I haven't been buying the excuse that we weren't attacking them because we didn't have 'active allies' on the ground in order to provide 'communication and coordination'. Hell, before they got inside the city, all the US has to do was go to the outskirts of town, look for the tanks firing at the town, and bomb them. Wash, rinse, repeat.

      Now the question becomes, assuming we do have the coordination you suggest, will our tactics work. Are they sufficient and did we start in time?

      .

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    4. .

      I read your link and it hasn't changed my comments.

      Something that is missing from every report I have seen about Kobane, is a report on how we are supplying the defending forces with the food, water, weapons and ammunition, they have been begging for. I have to assume it is not happening.

      You have said the US effort in Kobane is all a publicity stunt. One wonders.

      .

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    5. I wouldn't call it a "publicity stunt," but

      It's Not a battle in which we were "itching" to get deeply involved.

      Delete
    6. You are like a religious man defending the existence of God rufus - any evidence to the contrary is countered with some other justification.

      In short killing off IS isn't "easy peasy" and they aren't "10 thousand dead men walking" as you have maintained, feverishly - feverishly like a crazed preacher.

      Delete
    7. "Feverish?" Nah, I don't think so.

      BUT, the 10,000 headcutters in Iraq ARE "dead men walking."

      Delete
    8. My question would be, "what makes you so sure that I'm wrong?"

      15 or 20 (or more) die every day in Iraq with no end in sight.

      Delete
    9. Yeah, that's the problem "no end in sight". If 20 are taken out each day and there are only 10,000 of them and no replenishments, they'll be taken out in 500 days and at what cost "why, it's only gas money" says armchair general rufus.

      Delete
    10. And, my "point," Quirk, was that the "communicating" seemed to be "News."

      Delete
    11. I think you are underestimating their numbers, strength, and local support. I would also like to know what we have gone to war for.

      Delete
    12. Same reason as always, "Oil."

      Delete
    13. I'm surprised, you of all people, think that is a good idea. It certainly isn't ethical.

      Delete
    14. I didn't say it was "ethical."

      I said it was the "reason."

      But, it's hard to make a case for the "ethics" of letting ISIS continue on its present course, also, right?

      Delete
    15. Ash wants to discuss the metaphysical aspects of the politics ...

      Well, I tend to think the US should be as lightly involved, as is possible.

      Robert "Bob" Peterson thinks the US should insert ground troops, to secure a "Free" Kurdistan.

      Korbane is a Kurdish majority city, so we can assume he would send US soldiers and Marines to secure freedom for the Kurds. Freedom from political and religious oppression by the Saudi financed, US armed and Israeli supported al-Qeada forces known as the Daesh or Islamic State.

      Our Legionnaire and Ash seem to think that the US is the cause of the 'War". and if the US removed itself from the region, then peace and tranquility would reign supreme. Innocents would be saved and life would be sweet for those that had survived previous US and UK involvement in the Middle East.

      Delete
    16. It isn't metaphysics to asserts that going to war to secure cheap sources of oil is unethical. War is serious business and should only be launched when a nation is threatened and there is no other choice. To go to war to make it cheaper for Americans to go buy a cheaper bag of donuts is wrong!

      Delete
    17. The country is threatened, Ash. Our oil, that God stored under their sand, it is a "Global Asset", didn't you know?

      The natives claim to it, as valid as that of the Palestinians in and for the lands of Palestine.
      The "Standard" has been been set. The US integral to its establishment.

      It is not "Fair", it is not "Ethical". It is the 'National Interests' of the US.
      The President has been authorized, by Congress to use military force against those he determines is a viable target.

      A poor law, but law none the less.

      Delete
    18. "Right and Wrong", Ash, not a matter considered when ascertaining the "National Interest of the United States"

      Ask President Diem of Vietnam, the Shah of Iran or the Prime Minister we had the Shah depose.
      Ask the people of Mexico, those that reside in California, that were dispossessed of their property.
      Ask the people of Hawaii, whose Queen the US Marines deposed.

      The US needed a refueling point and harbor in the Pacific, Hawaii had it. Now it is part of 'America'.
      Why just look at the map, it is obviously part of the American land mass.

      Delete
  15. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Funny, now we have our Legionnaire admitting that the Iraqi 'could' deploy to Korbane, and make a difference...

      But wants to know why they 'should'.

      Well that's easy, the IS of Korbane is the same IS or Falujah.
      To defeat the IS in Korbane is to defeat them everywhere.

      The aggressiveness that such a deployment would signify a major shift in the psyche of the Iraqi Army, with just a small, battalion sized strength force deployment. It would be a major morale boost for the people of Iraq that are loyal to the legitimate government.

      If there is a war, the enemy should be defeated, in detail, where ever the is.

      Delete
    2. Jack HawkinsThu Oct 09, 06:01:00 PM EDT

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      .............

      Make that a habit, Jack Shit.

      Delete
    3. Jack HawkinsThu Oct 09, 10:45:00 AM EDT
      A battalion of the Iraqi Army, about 800 men, with close air support would turn Korbane around.

      No doubt of that.
      Again, the very fact it is not being done, an indicator that the "Goal" is not to defeat the Daesh ...

      But it is to fulfill the predictions of the leaders of the Coalition militaries,

      "A Decades Long Fight"
      ---
      And, as with their initial incursions into Iraq, they were sitting ducks on the way, but mysteriously were not taken out while they were easy pickings.

      Winning is no longer a goal in "wars" "prosecuted" by the United States.

      Delete
    4. Come on, Legionnaire Q, get with the program, Robert "Bob" Peterson is chanting!

      He was not happy at "O"rdure's blog sites.
      Cannot fathom starting his own, he needs you to hold his wienie.

      Delete
  16. Stay off the Tao, Quirk. You will have time for that later.

    Right now your focus must be to get your rat free blog up and running.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You will be known east to west, north to south, as Quirk "Savior of the Blogosphere" !!

      Delete
    2. Even as Noble Mighty Quirk, "Savior of the Blogosphere" !!

      Think of it !!

      Delete
    3. You are going to have to settle for what you have, Robert "Bob" Peterson.
      Or step upa nd take some responsibility, yourself, for yourself.

      I know the concept is new to you, but try to get with it.
      Start your own blog, Google makes it easy.

      Delete
    4. .

      Bob will have to settle for a rose from Maria's hair for now.

      Now, you know you have an open reading assignment, young rat. You get over there and take care of it.

      And don't come back until you do.

      Skiddadle.

      .

      Delete
  17. Huckabee: If GOP Abandons Opposition To Gay Marriage, ‘I’m Gone’

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Out of politics, because his political position, it has been marginalized by the Republicans.

      He'd rather quit than fight.

      Typical Draft Dodger mentality.

      Delete
  18. .

    My, oh my. When da cat's away da rat do play.

    Looks like the rat got into the toad sack again. Da boy been lickinatin and dissemilatin and hallucinatin ta beat da band.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  19. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  20. .

    Where to begin?

    Our Legionnaire and Ash seem to think that the US is the cause of the 'War"...

    What part of rat-world does our boy pull this stuff from? I can’t speak for Ash but I know that I have never said that the US started this war. The fact that it ‘seems’ that way to rat could be a symptom of his many pathologies or it could just be he licked a bad toad.


    .…" and if the US removed itself from the region, then peace and tranquility would reign supreme. ".

    I can only assume the ratster got this absurd opinion from licking the wrong end of that same toad. The ME is a cesspool. You’ve got about six countries there all trying to establish hegemony in the region at the expense of the other countries there, using client states to help them attain their aims and nationalism, secularism, and religion as excuses. Whether the US is there or not will not change that.


    Innocents would be saved and life would be sweet for those that had survived previous US and UK involvement in the Middle East.

    Now, here ratster you have touched on an important but unpleasant truth. And while you seem to be trying to mock the idea, there is little doubt that the actions of the US led coalition will ultimately result in the deaths of innocent humans beings, people trying to lead their lives peacefully but caught in war and at the wrong place at the wrong time. Only a fool would deny it. It’s the way of war.

    As for the rest of the statement, it falls into the same category as those above, rat droppings. I have no idea whether the lives of those that survived the previous wars there would be sweet; however, given their neighborhood and the times I suspect in more cases than not that would be problematic.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  21. http://live.jpost.com/Israel-News/Silwan-man-stabbed-to-death-possibly-over-issue-of-selling-homes-to-Jews-in-Jerusalem-378529
    Jerusalem man stabbed to death possibly over issue of selling homes to Jews

    "...Neighbors who witnessed the fight told police that the argument was over the hot-button issue of selling homes to Jews in the predominantly Arab neighborhood...

    Fadi Maragha, a local Fatah representative, said he felt that the broker who sold homes to Jews should die.

    In the past, Palestinians found to have sold their homes to Jewish organizations have been killed."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      There is no excuse for murder. However, if in the PA the official government designates it as a crime punishable by death, although seemingly barbaric, is it actually 'murder' or is it 'execution'.

      There has been a lot written about the land ownership practices starting from day one in Israel and now in the occupied territories. It is a subject we could probably discuss for days.

      .

      Delete
    2. I would have to consult with Comrade Stalin.

      Delete
    3. Max Weber posited that a state had a monopoly on violence. Most states appear to agree, not surprisingly. Since the young man was not "executed" as the matter of law, assuming his familial killers were not deputized, his death seems would be a case of murder.

      What the Russians and their puppets in the Ukraine are doing is murder, the Ukraine having given no authority to either. As I recall, the death toll in the Ukraine now exceeds 2,200.

      Despite blatant Russian unprovoked aggression, there is little likelihood that Putin or any of his henchmen and quislings will come under the scrutiny of the UN for war crimes.

      Delete
  22. Re: "there is little doubt that the actions of the US led coalition will ultimately result in the deaths of innocent humans beings, people trying to lead their lives peacefully but caught in war and at the wrong place at the wrong time. Only a fool would deny it. It’s the way of war."

    Indeed. This true whether the Ukraine, Kobane, or Gaza. Are the killers all war criminals?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Are the killers all war criminals?

      Of course not. When you are talking about 'war criminal' I assume you mean in the legal sense. There 'actual' guilt or innocence would depend on circumstances and intent and prevailing law. Unfortunately, whether you are 'found' guilty or innocent is likely to also depend on politics and on whether you are on the winning or losing side.

      Now, if we were talking being guilty or innocent in a moral sense, we would likely be having a different conversation.

      Various studies have shown that the carpet bombing of cities during WWII met neither of its objectives (slowing production or cowing the population) yet thousands of civilians were killed. Should that have been considered a war crime? Was it necessary to drop the second a-bomb on Japan? For that matter, did the first one have to be dropped on a population area?

      .

      Delete
    2. There is one exception to every rule in the world today. It could be Saudi Arabia, which has from day one violated its terms of admission as a "most favored nation", but it is not.

      Delete
  23. .

    Lord, more rat droppings.

    Funny, now we have our Legionnaire admitting that the Iraqi 'could' deploy to Korbane, and make a difference...

    yada, yada, yada...the enemy should be defeated, in detail, where ever the is. (?)



    Rat, you are still pushing your idiotic idea to send 800 Iraqi to Kobane to lift the siege. What part of batshit crazy don't you get?

    .

    ReplyDelete
  24. Replies
    1. Drone never had a chance.

      Grounded !

      :)

      I dropped off a picture of an Osprey feeding its young today to my Lady Doctor. She has about 5 of my photos on her office walls. This one was taken by my son. I call it "Regurgitation".

      She just got married. Wedding present.

      It is an excellent photo. Perfect really, close up with telephoto.....

      Delete
  25. This is only possible because Turkey wants it.

    slamic State (Isis) fighters have moved deeper into the Syrian town of Kobani on the Turkish border and may well capture it, said the deputy US national security advisor.

    Tony Blinken said the militants controlled 40% of the town, echoing figures from the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that said Isis had taken almost complete control of an area where the local Kurdish administration was based.

    “I don’t know what’s going to happen because again in the absence of any ground force there, it is going to be difficult just through air power to prevent [Isis] from potentially taking over the town,” Blinken said.

    By mid-morning on Friday, occasional gunfire and explosions that appeared to be rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells could be heard from across the border in Turkey, and plumes of smoke were seen rising in the distance.

    The US military said it made seven air strikes around Kobani on Thursday and Friday - two Isis training facilities were hit south-east of Kobani, four strikes hit south of Kobani and one air strike to the north destroyed Isis vehicles, a statement said.

    Blinken said there would be other similar situations to Kobani where US actions may or may not be effective as it leads a coalition against Isis.

    “There are other Kobanis in Iraq, there are other Kobanis in Syria on a daily basis,” he said.

    The new UN envoy to Syria warned that at least 500 civilians trapped in Kobani could be massacred if the town falls.

    Staffan de Mistura said in Geneva that a UN analysis showed only a small portion of Kobani remained open for people to enter or flee the town.

    De Mistura said there are about 500 – 700 elderly people and other civilians still trapped in Kobani, while 10,000 – 13,000 are stuck in an area nearby, close to the Syria-Turkey border.

    A Kurdish official in Kobani, Idriss Nassan, said on Friday that Isis had shelled a border crossing in an attempt to take it and cut off the embattled town.

    Isis this week pushed into Kobani for the first time since launching its offensive in the area in mid-September. The onslaught has forced more than 200,000 people to flee across the border into Turkey and activists say the fighting has killed more than 500 people.

    “Daesh (Isis) is doing all it can to take the border crossing point through the farmlands east of the city,” Nassan said. “They think there might be help (for the Kurdish militia) coming through the crossing so they want to control the border.”

    ReplyDelete