Posted by Tina
How far does IS have to go before the President of the United States of America finds a strategy?
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) reportedly release video showing beheading of US hostage, Steven Sotloff
Sadly there are more people in the pipeline. Even if our president got serious now would anyone believe him?
I am so disgusted and ashamed I can hardly type.
Breitbart:
Tina ;
The president of the United State is not solely responsible for strategy nor when they are executing a strategy should they go on TV and explain to the enemy what it is.
Truth be told intelligence is in the area, Advisers are not people just sitting there. The first part of strategy is to collect intelligence. Also we need allied forces including the Saudi’s who financed ISIL in part.
but No country wants to waste money on our mistake of the Iraq war? But they will have to join sooner or later.
Some questions worth answers to are
why is there no investigation of John McCain and Lindsey Graham?
Why did they convince the Saudi Prince to fund these guys and what did the Obama admin know?
What was the CIA’s goal and was it opposite the Fed Gov while they were arming them through benghazzzzziiiii?
And since only Senate oversees the CIA what did they know? Prob nothing
Do not forget the Bin laden strategy is in play to bankrupt us by driving us into many wars.
Do not forget European Countries have further complicated the situation by paying ransoms to these people.
Do not forget the head dude was released by the Bush Admin (OK No Prob) to the Iraqi’s and no one knows how he was released. Escape or just released?
Do not forget that our meddling in the middle east is what has caused the disdain for the Imperial west and oil wars.
We are the imperial west controlled by an oligarchy and our military went into Iraq for a corporate purpose. To them this is what we get for Iraq and Gitmo.
So any strategy need not be explained on TV so the right wing can tell the enemy over and over their thoughts.
Remember Bush was told Iraq would destabilize if he toppled Saddam for no good reason.
There is no purely American solution to the next decade of war. But we will pay for it.
In fact Cheney warned of it before he left Halliburton with a 33 million severance package to become VP and then created many no bid contracts for them in the Iraq war.
America can only protect ourselves and aid the middle east to take care of their problems.
And how much has Bush’s war now cost us? Fiscally Conservative? LOL Only when it comes to building the middle class.
Remember the Military Industrial Complex does not change when Presidents change and they are up in there doing whatever they want.
Oil Oil Oil Oil and the right wing wants no solutions just support the Oil Barron’s and arms companies and banks who did the same thing they are doing now in ww2
Bush Family has a long banking history with the Walkers and Harriman’s, also financing the Nazi’s, wall street, CIA, and oil… This is no surprise History warned us.
Also notice the hostages are being parading in orange Jumpsuits like Gitmo and we know some Americans are being water-boarded in retaliation for what their leader went through.
an old 1987 PBS documentary asks a question and here we sit exactly in that same place because of the secret gov.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sstDwKTCpM
worth a trip back to 1987 to see what we were thinking then
It is interesting also while Eisenhower basically created the CIA and Military Industrial Complex why he had to warn us about them when he left office as if he had lost control.
The assignation of JFK was the beginning of the coup to which we live.
Also why did Bush create Homeland security? We are not a homeland and only Hitler had used that word naming Germany as a home to all anglo’s.
Bottom Line telling the strategy would be a mistake and is none of our of immediate business until war is declared as long as laws are followed.
My solution try the Bush admin for their war crimes and show we have to follow International law as we expect them to do…. it’s a start
We have no right to bully the world for Oil barons and banks
America is a hypocrite
and do not take my last words as I am anti American…
I am a true patriot who is willing to admit we lost control and are ran by greedy Oil companies and banks.
It is really worth it to watch that old documentary and see how no Presidential Administration has done anything but continue on that path since.
It is not a Republican or Democrat problem it is the problem of the citizens who have lost control and follow their media like sheeple.
Dewey: “The president of the United State is not solely responsible for strategy nor when they are executing a strategy should they go on TV and explain to the enemy what it is.”
The president announced he had no strategy. Reports from the intelligence community inform that he has been given urgent information about the dangers and strength of this organization for at least a year and yet he has continued to rely solely on a written briefing summery without engaging in all of that time.
The President is charged with consulting with those responsible for planning strategy and he is responsible for making the final decisions.
“No country wants to waste money on our mistake of the Iraq war”
That too is a matter of opinion and from my perspective yours stinks.
We now know why Iraq was so important in the war being waged against us by Islamic Jihadists. Iraq and Syria, thanks to lack of follow through in Iraq and bungling in Syria, have now become a large base from which these animals operate. Had Obama handled it right Iraq would be an ally against the bad guys ME would be much more stable. Obama’s un-brilliant strategy in thinking Iraq was the “dumb war” has not only ensured that this war will be a lot more expensive, he has spit on the sacrifices already made and created the inevitability that there will be a lot more blood shed.
Your solution is ignorant. You don’t live in the real world dude, you live in a fantasy of paranoid resentment with boogie men behind every oil can.
Contrast David Cameron’s response to his intelligence community:
Obama isn’t the leader of our nation. He’s a coordinator for a teenie bopper campaign pep rally.
Daily Mail reports American Special Forces are fighting on the ground in Northern Iraq:
Free Beacon:
This kind of intelligence should spark a few questions. An engaged President would want to meet with intelligence officials to ask questions, wouldn’t he?
Here is the part that I don’t get:
ISIS knows that a video like this will encourage the US to attack them. Why would they want to draw us into their war?
Tina, I vote you our new President. What exactly are you going to do to stop these butchers? What specific actions will you take? How will you justify these actions and how will you get Americans and the rest of the our allies to support your decision?
Tina:
Why do you bother responding to that fool, or even printing his inane comments?
Jim: “ISIS knows that a video like this will encourage the US to attack them. Why would they want to draw us into their war?”
Great question Jim and the answer is multifaceted.
The most obvious reason is they are extreme radicals with a religious mission to create a world-wide caliphate under Allah and their extreme rule. Next they do not fear death nor do they value life. Dying in the cause will win rewards in heaven; people are expendable and they endeavor to make sure a new crop is always maturing. Their women are utilized for this purpose.
They do not fear America for many reasons. One is that our recent history tells them we will always quit before completing the mission to defeat them. They know our current leaders are dovish, easily manipulated, and unwilling to follow through or make firm, long standing commitments. Red lines mean nothing. Air strikes are an annoyance but manageable. Even the killing of bin Laden was not very significant, having taken so long. Besides he was not radical enough! There are others to take his place. Six years of bringing the troops home by a certain date and half-hearted operations make us little more than an gnat on the rump of a camel. They are patient.
Six years of planning post 2008 for them have placed them all over the world. Cells exist in every targeted nation. Leadership is neither poor nor uneducated. Scientists and engineers help them with their plans and they become more spectacular as time goes on. I understand Britain is anticipating a Mumbai style attack…I fear it could be several all at once. They have claimed we are next. I have no reason to doubt them if not now then soon.
They also see that the leadership in America has made our people weaker. We appear to them to be war weary, without jobs, and frankly lazy…privileged…lacking in morals.
America is a ripe plum. We have abundant resources and more oil and gas than once thought. We have a vast fertile plains where crops can be grown and wet valleys where fruits and vegetables are plentiful. Our infrastructure is in place. They are superior to us…it is ridiculous that we should have dominion in this land.
I’m an amateur. I’m sure the exerts could offer a lot more.
It’s hard for us to get our arms around this thinking. It goes against our values and logic.
Why do you think they invite our wrath?
A month of carpet bombing the crap out of ISIS ought to be fair payback. I wouldn’t spend a dime on reconstructing anything or putting boots anywhere. A few squadrons of our famous 60 year old B52’s should do the trick. They need one last attack before we retire them.
Heck, we’ve got a huge surplus of old 1000 lb. bombs laying around that we need to get rid of and I can’t think of a better way than dropping them on ISIS with our venerable B52’s.
Imagine how they will be holding-up after the first week of carpet bombing, then it goes into the second week and third week and they will wonder if it will ever stop? They will pray for it to stop, but the bombs will keep falling. They never know if the next one has their name on it, it’s all up to fate and the aim of our B52’s. And everywhere they look their soldiers and equipment are being blown to bits like a grotesque vision of the apocalypse.
There’s no where to run, there’s no where to hide, and all around them their world is exploding in blinding flashes of fire followed by searing bits of white hot steel shards that tears at their flesh. Even when the bombs stop for a few hours these thugs will have this constant pounding in their ears as if the bombs are still falling. Some will go mad, others will hope to die by the next bomb and ends their misery.
The huge shock waves will suddenly knock them off their feet, it will rattle their teeth and they will claw the ground in their foxhole trying to escape the pain. And when the bombs fall close, usually within a 100 yards, the concussion will cause every appendage and orifice to leak blood and sometimes their brains will hemorrhage and they will die, even if they are securely dug in and untouched by shrapnel.
And this nightmare will keep on going, night after night, week after week. They will not sleep, they will not eat, and around the clock its raining bombs, ka-boom, ka-boomb, ka-boom and this goes on incessantly.
They wanted war, well this is real war. This is how we do it and we’re not interested in their surrender, we’re looking for their complete and utter annihilation. Some in the world will shudder and cringe because they may have forgotten what we can do and that’s fine. The world should know. You see, we’re the big dogs and nobody else can come close – nobody can fight a real war better than us! We’re our enemies worst nightmare and we shall do unto them as they have done unto so many others.
I would make sure that we see miles of blackened bomb craters following ISIS across Iraq and Syria, as they run like the cowardly rats they are, scurrying from one hiding hole to another…until soon most of them are dead, dying or in such bad shape both mentally and physically that they could not even feed themselves let alone pick up a AK47 and shoot anyone. And at that point we’ll let their victims have at them and do what they will, with all those ISIS killers that remain.
Let the world take note of what we do to our enemies! PUT THAT ON UTUBE AND IT WILL MAKE THE BEHEADING OF ANOTHER INNOCENT AMERICAN SEEM LIKE A REAL BAD IDEA FOR THE NEXT 1000 YEARS!
And I wouldn’t be tactful or polite if I were the commander in chief, my speech announcing what is about to happen would be short and sweet.
My speech to the world and to ISIS: “The thugs that call themselves ISIS have threatened America and they killed two innocent American citizens recently. That was a big mistake and soon you will call it a fatal mistake. Maybe, you’re so full of yourselves and you have so underestimated the United States that you foolishly tried your best to provoke us. Well, it worked and now we’re coming for you. You killers of women, children and unarmed men. You won’t know exactly when, but it will be soon enough. And when we start in on you we plan on pounding you until the desert runs red with your blood. But, these are not just scary words like you spout all the time, this is for real. You will suffer greatly, you will agonize in great pain and if you are lucky…you will die quickly.
We will show you no mercy as you have not shown others mercy. You will not be allowed to die a warriors death in combat, you simply die as Satan awaits your soul in Hell for your crimes against humanity. And we’ll make sure your death is as brutal as you have done unto others whose only crime was having a different faith than your own. This makes you parasites on humanity and you must die. You have no idea of what awaits, but your fate has been sealed, this I can promise you.
You wanted this, you asked for it and you asked repeatedly, now you’re going to get exactly what you wanted. Thus fulfilling an old American saying, be careful what you ask for…
You’ll beg us to stop, but your pleas will not be heard. We will only stop when we decide want too; when your organization of killers is but a hollow bloody shell of what it once was, and we’ll leave just enough of you alive so your can tell your story of what it was like when the American’s came. May God bless America. End By POTUS X
That’s how I would handle it… -Jack (Did I miss anything?)
Wow! Another great question and quite a challenge. Pete I’m going to number these to make it easier.
1. I vote you our new President. What exactly are you going to do to stop these butchers?
Like Reagan and others before him my plan would begin with, “We win they lose.” I would make it absolutely clear that if we were going to engage we would not give up until the job is done. I lack specifics to give you specific answers but the first thing any executive has to do is talk to people to get the lay of the land and discover who could be trusted and counted on to commit to the mission. I would consult with staff, intelligence and military planners, and my ambassadors and Secretaries. I would be on the phone with our allies. As it stands now many of them are ahead of us in their planning…I’ll assume, given the question is directed to me, that they would welcome America taking the lead. I would expect intelligence and the generals to come up with several options. I would ask questions until I felt satisfied and then choose with confidence and resolve. I would then be back on the phone, discussing the plans with leaders of whatever nations agreed to come on board. I would dispatch ambassadors and the Secretary of State to do the leg work wherever necessary to get more to come on board. I would direct my point persons to begin to implement preliminary planning. I might consider going to the UN as Bush did to make a case based on human rights abuses and the global threat to peace and freedom this group poses…I’m not a big fan of the UN but Presidents don’t get to avoid difficult situations.
2. What specific actions will you take?
In a way this is a trick question. Nobody that isn’t privy to the intelligence, military guidance and thoughts of allied leaders can really answer this unless they are just blowing gas. I will say that I imagine we learned a lot from the Bush years, and in the last six years, many hard lessons as well. I would welcome the opinions and advice of our most trusted generals and allies. One thing I would do if we haven’t already done it (And if not why not) is step up our spy game. These guys are all over, we need to know what they are up to. And I would immediately change how we do things on the border with a clear message of deportation and a heavy presence by air, with electronics and more patrols. I would back up the local sheriffs. I’d work with Mexico.
3. How will you justify these actions
Making the case to the people would depend on the intelligence and the plan. I would be as specific as possible and as honest as possible. I would acknowledge the difficulty of the task and articulate what I believed would be the consequences if we do nothing. It might be that the military guys would devise a plan that wouldn’t involve many troops but if it did I would acknowledge the difficulty in asking the biggest sacrifice of our young men and women and their families.
It might be that what we are doing will be sufficient…if so I’d sure like to see our leader give some indication that he’s involved and he gives a rip.
4. …how will you get Americans and the rest of the our allies to support your decision?”
I think I would have to make the case personal to them. I’d have to answer the big questions in ways that gave people confidence that what they were being asked to do would not be done in vain and would be worth the effort. This is one area that Bush might have done better during the war but other than that I cannot complain that he was not dedicated or did not give our troops every bit of support he could muster.
It took Bush eighteen months to put together a coalition and make the case for invading Iraq. I appreciated his seriously addressing the problem and his careful planning. I would build on that by trying to address another problem he may not have expected given the mood of the people after 911. The American people have two tough issues to overcome, 1. The need for instant gratification and, 2. The unreasonable expectation that there won’t, or shouldn’t be mistakes and setbacks.
I’m sorry if this isn’t what you were looking for. You were polite in your query and deserve better. I just think it would be silly for me to attempt specifics without more intimate knowledge of what we face and how our military and diplomatic people would approach this. My opinion, knowing as little as I know, is that we can’t wish this away. these are people with a serious mission and unfortunately a lot of ego driving them.
One thing I would do immediately that might send a signal. I would reestablish plans for missile defense in the Czech republic and Poland! I would be in talks with India, Japan, Malasia and Australia about the ambitions of China and do whatever I could to re-establish our weight in the world.
Soaps at #9. I hear you and understand. I guess I can’t stand to let some of it go by without a rebuttal. Also on the small chance that someone I don’t know might need to read another opinion in that moment.
If I can reach just one person? 😉
Jack at #11…I knew you military guys would help me out.
See Pete I’d have to listen to these guys and decide who among them had the best ideas keeping in mind that the problem isn’t just the active butchers but also the Imams and the financial support systems and the new recruits being trained in the mosques coming behind them. Bush said it could take twenty years when he thought there would be dedicated follow through after he left. I don’t know how long this might take now but it doesn’t look good from out here in the dark.
Bush’s Address to Congress and the Nation after 911 might be worthwhile to read for some of us.
In his daily reports he was reminded of the evil we faced. he reminded us from time to time but I don’t think most of us got it. It did help him be resolute even in the face of so much criticism but I think we needed to be reminded, and perhaps in more graphic terms, exactly who these animals we are fighting are.
When I hear the term “carpet bomb” I think Operation Rolling Thunder. Our offensive against North Vietnam. This Johnson/McNamara strategy lasted about three and a half years and failed to achieve its goal.
ISIS is a much different problem. There is a command structure within ISIS, but there is no government that controls ISIS, so there is no “head” to lop off of the beast. To defeat ISIS we will, I’m afraid, have to get medieval on them. We will have to kill them, their families, their family’s families, their friends and their friend’s friends. To insure success, and end ISIS, we will have to put hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the ground and remove every trace that ISIS ever existed. The cost of doing this action would be unfathomable both morally and financially. Are we willing to sacrifice our sons and daughters to accomplish this goal? No… not yet.
How does one defeat an enemy that wants to die for the ideology of an imaginary God?
“How does one defeat an enemy that wants to die for the ideology of an imaginary God?”
Pete, the first thing we do is give them what they want. Everything after that really pales by comparison.
Tina, I never meant any “tricks” in my question(s). I was being totally aboveboard.
“What would you do?” questions forces us to take on a different perspective and really think about a given situation. In this instance one must think about the short and long term ramifications. One must weight the cost in human lives and the justification for our decisions both locally and globally. Oh, and remember, there always has to be an exit strategy…win or lose.
I always hate “what if” questions, but here’s one I’ve been thinking about. What if Russia started supplying ISIS?
This is a great topic, but in the end I think we all lose.
Pete I greatly appreciate your concerns.
I didn’t mean you were attempting to trick me, although since I don’t know you it was a possibility ;-).
I meant that without the in depth intel that the President is privy to specific action is impossible to predict, especially for a non-military person.
My strength in this newly appointed position, such that it is, is executive and intuitive. I pay attention, I can see the big picture, I need and welcome advisers, and I make decisions.
Since last night I’ve thought of more steps I would immediately take. Although unrelated directly, they go to the heart of creating strength behind the mission.
1. Build the pipeline.
2. Negotiate deals with European countries to supply them with oil and gas.
3. Reform our tax structure to make American companies competitive and bring investment cash home.
4. Go before the cameras weekly to speak about American strength and the America commitment to freedom, human rights, and the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to build a dignified, self sufficient, family life and would if and when those conditions can be assured and supported.
The enemy’s weakness is his ego, his barbarism, and his rigid adolescent understanding of strength. Overwhelming him as Jack has described (where appropriate) is one way to do that. Demonstrate to the enemy and the world that the bully’s scary intimidation is puny in the face of our might. At the same time I would I’d sell the American dream and values as Reagan did and if I was ineffective before the cameras I’d find people who could sell it. Actors did a lot for our country in WWII. Today’s media rich atmosphere could be well exploited in similar fashion. The point would be to give young people a reason to embrace Western values (freedom and individual rights) without giving up religious or personal beliefs and rejecting the violent radical elements. This is the point of nation building by the way. How much is an investment in the western values of freedom and human rights worth? I think its worth a lot if we can rid ourselves of radical murderous elements more permanently. Wealth can be generated and regenerated. There are plenty of people that know how to create the wealth we would need.
I think our military under Bush, with a couple of extraordinary exceptions that were exploited by the liberal media, did a fantastic job of selling America and our ideals to locals in the area where they fought. In addition to our strength they showed America’s compassion and inclusiveness and our willingness to reason with locals and respect their traditions. America also demonstrated the power of giving…we made a HUGE personal and national commitment in blood and treasure…and then walked away as if it meant nothing…a huge set back.
By the way. I agree with those who believe America won the Vietnam war. America’s communist led, adolescent, civil disobedient. peace nut youths turned that win into a loss by demoralizing our troops and using a style of bullying similar to that used by the jihadists here at home. Protests, riots, disrupting classes and courts, robberies, bombs…and a constant flow of big ugly headlines about the war as told by the hate America anti-war progressive dolts.
I don’t think America will lose. I do fear we will have to suffer first because we were not wise enough to elect someone who was qualified for the position of President and because Americans have not been taught how to think and, sadly, the American values that make the reason for fighting these ugly elements a moral and a survival imperative.
Tina “Why do you think they invite our wrath?”
I don’t know.
What I do know is that we have been lied to over and over again on the reasons we got involved in wars for the past 40 years.
So call me suspicious, but I don’t think things are what they appear to be.
I don’t have a problem with suspicions as long as they’re applied liberally to those floating the idea that we have been “lied to.” Some of that generates from people with a different point of view rather than actual facts. People loyal to communism, for instance, had/have a vested interest in making America look like its on the wrong side of history. They actively worked against our efforts in Vietnam here at home and in my opinion, convinced a naive generation that America was wrong and forced our retreat at the moment of victory. The events that followed are much more despicable to me than fighting to liberate people.
It would be nice to be able to isolate and avoid world conflict. I just don’t believe its possible. sooner or later this type of movement is bound to come to our door left unchallenged.
I appreciate your honesty, Jim. War is an ugly and terrible hell…the tyrants who wage it evil…and freedom so very valuable.