With a declared war against a fairly well defined enemy? Maybe it's time we reminded the world what real war looks like, and what happens when we get pissed enough.
Bush Jr. was incompetent and clearly couldn't finish the job that his daddy Bush Sr. started. What makes you think the current boob occupying the White House will do any better?
Actually, when he left office the situation was stable. All I'm hoping for from the current guy is that he'll keep ISIS from taking over the country until someone more decisive can get into office.
Do you think the American people are even remotely prepared to do that anymore? We can't even began a relatively small scale war like the invasion of Iraq in 2003 without the American people basically saying "Are we there yet" before the first bomb is even dropped. In truth, what has simply killed the U.S. in accomplishing goals overseas is that we can win wars.......but we will not stay long enough to secure the victory. What good does it do to invade a country, kills hundreds of thousands, devastate infrastructure......if EVERYBODY in the world knows that a couple of years later we'll be "war weary" and headed for home. That is why we can't get allies to trust us and work with us. That is why our enemies simply duck and cover for a couple of years. Because they know they can simply out wait us.
The problem with IS (and AQ and other such groups) is that they are more an idea than a 'thing'. It's not possible to just bomb them until nothing moves any more because they, like circles, have no end. This is not an clearly defined army in the traditional sense, this shit is born out of the people and the circumstances they live in. Of course a caliphate/1000 year Reich/any Empire seems like a great idea to people who have nothing. Riches, power, subjugation of the 'weaker'... yes, that's quite endearing when your perspective is too little to live, too much to die for an indefinite amount of time. Where else would they turn but religion. That's how it's always been. The shocking part is how many fat and fortunate wannabe fighters from other parts of the world are willing to join them. Shows me how integration into society is failing big time. Rooting those animals out is the primary goal right now. But - big BUT - at the same time, measures must be taken to prevent new ones from strolling all over the region in five to ten years.
Yeah, the apparent easy recruitment from Western societies is the most disturbing thing. As if the thin veil of civilization is just a little thinner for some cultures. Oops, did I say something wrong....
I can understand the desire to give ISIS form and make it a more perceptible, tangible enemy that can then be directly confronted. But that is their desire, to become a internationally relevant political organization, and giving legitimacy to these guys would just increase the flow of resources and recruits to them. It also would be opposed by all our allies in the region, be they mercenary, self-interested, or allies of convenience. Everyone doesn't want ISIS to expand past what they are now. Legitimizing these bastards is a truly awful idea.
So the Pope condones doing nothing. Okay, the U.N. are good for boning the local underage prostitutes, and The Pope can relate to that, except they don't "pay to play" with their fresh meat.
Let's say not "going the distance" by remaining on site once the "war" is over degrades our credibility. If we do remain our own people/taxpayers start going ape-shit about money going down the drain and "bringing our boys home" and BTW our boys volunteered to join and they are 30 year old married boys with more than enough education to know what they are getting into. That said we are damned if we do, damned if we don't if we stay in the ME versus leave.
One of the problems is that the over romanticized World War Two badly ruined American perceptions of how most wars end up. World War Two was a clearly defined war, against a clearly defined enemy, with clearly defined definitions of victory. Most wars are not like that. They begin with fits and starts and monumental errors. They continue with some nations changing sides (sometimes more than once). And most importantly they are very seldom decisive and generally peter out through mutual exhaustion and apathy.
"And most importantly they are very seldom decisive and generally peter out through mutual exhaustion and apathy." Did my wife leak another "private" sex tape again? She's a character!
