The Obama Presidency

[bbobb]

Incorrect, the only correct answer is the British and French following WWI

[Yoshi]

So what would you do, Yoshi? Recommit ground troops for another 10-year war in Iraq? If so, what's the endgame?

I wouldn't have pulled out in the first place until Al Qaeda and related groups were incapacitated to the point it would take a generation for them to rebuild. I'm not sure that requires a full ground force but rather a continuous series of assassinations that would be better handled clandestinely. I sure as hell wouldn't have gone against the recommendations of guys who actually have a clue in military matters.

Are you gonna sign up?

Not at my age and with a dependent as my top priority, but I'd be perfectly content if most of my taxes went to properly fund it.

Let me ask you this: does it even matter where the American civilians were beheaded? What if they were filmed in someone's backyard in Baltimore made to look like a desert in Iraq? Same result?

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking here. If a foreign national recorded the beheading of an American for propaganda purposes on American soil, what would I do? I'd eradicate whatever organizational construct was responsible with extreme prejudice. If you mean some idiot American in Baltimore, I'd hope he gave the police an excuse to put him down, since I don't think Maryland has the balls to do it.

[sleeve]

I wouldn't have pulled out in the first place until Al Qaeda and related groups were incapacitated to the point it would take a generation for them to rebuild. I'm not sure that requires a full ground force but rather a continuous series of assassinations that would be better handled clandestinely. I sure as hell wouldn't have gone against the recommendations of guys who actually have a clue in military matters.

So permanent ground occupation of Iraq, then. What "guys who actually have a clue in military matters" were recommending that, exactly? Would this permanent ground occupation have prevented the abduction and beheading of these American journalists?

Not at my age and with a dependent as my top priority, but I'd be perfectly content if most of my taxes went to properly fund it.

You might be surprised to learn that permanent ground occupation of Iraq is not exactly a popular course of action in the military and among veterans.

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking here. If a foreign national recorded the beheading of an American for propaganda purposes on American soil, what would I do? I'd eradicate whatever organizational construct was responsible with extreme prejudice. If you mean some idiot American in Baltimore, I'd hope he gave the police an excuse to put him down, since I don't think Maryland has the balls to do it.

I'm saying that no one gave a shit about ISIS until those videos aired. If it came out that they were filmed somewhere else outside of Iraq or Syria, would it matter? Would you still advocate for indefinite ground occupation of foreign countries if they were filmed outside of Iraq?

[Anthony]

@Yoshi

You can't honestly believe, now, with hindsight, that the iraq war was a GOOD idea. I mean, Afgan sure, but Iraq?

[Josh]

Why you gotta hate on Baltimore, man.

[Yoshi]

So permanent ground occupation of Iraq, then. What "guys who actually have a clue in military matters" were recommending that, exactly? Would this permanent ground occupation have prevented the abduction and beheading of these American journalists?

Holy shit is this a hard thing to Google, but I vividly recall Obama getting advice to not pull out at the time and certainly not to publicly set a time table for it.

You might be surprised to learn that permanent ground occupation of Iraq is not exactly a popular course of action in the military and among veterans.

Thus my previous post, which said that smaller, covert operations may be preferable.

I'm saying that no one gave a shit about ISIS until those videos aired. If it came out that they were filmed somewhere else outside of Iraq or Syria, would it matter? Would you still advocate for indefinite ground occupation of foreign countries if they were filmed outside of Iraq?

I can disprove that easily. I've been following ISIS for months. Waiting until they feel strong enough to "go public" is a huge missed opportunity, though they wouldn't exist at all had the original strategy been at all well thought out.

[Yoshi]

@Yoshi

You can't honestly believe, now, with hindsight, that the iraq war was a GOOD idea. I mean, Afgan sure, but Iraq?

It depends on how you define "good idea." It was something that needed to be done, but it absolutely had a high price, regardless of how you measure it. The chemical weapons just wound up in Syria, where Obama let Putin negotiate a completely failed disarmament. Being faster to get there and destroy those is the one big mistake.

[bbobb]

Holy shit is this a hard thing to Google, but I vividly recall Obama getting advice to not pull out at the time and certainly not to publicly set a time table for it.

Your vivid memory is wrong considering that Obama didn't set the time frame for pulling out, Bush did:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.%E2...rces_Agreement

[Yoshi]

That was stupid on Bush's part then, but he didn't execute it. If my predecessor drew a map to a cliff, I wouldn't follow it.

[bbobb]

Obama didn't have a choice, if he left our troops there they were going to be prosecuted by Iraqi courts because the Iraqi's didn't want to push it out further.