So we're going to convince Fred to beat up ISIS for us
- Thread starter TarHeelEer
- Start date
I watched former Army Chief of Staff under Obama, General Ray Odierno being interviewed on MSNBC. He very strongly believes that our withdrawal from world leadership has been the catalyst behind the growth of ISIS. He stated that the ME countries simply do not trust us any longer. His opinion is that we must put boots on the ground since air strikes will never defeat ISIS. He talked about a small force that supports our role and must include both European and ME allies in the fight. He said without us leading, it will never happen.
You do realize that we'll be fighting with radical Islamists (ISIS or other) for generations to come, right? You can't defeat a religious ideology without killing or imprisoning every person that holds that belief.
It's deeper than that. It's the Shia/Sunni rivalry, Trying not to bring ISIS to their own countries, etc. We're never going to get Muslims to do our dirty work for us against other Muslims.
Sunni's and Shia's will always hate each other, imo. The Saudi's are scared to death of Iran and is quietly supporting ISIS, IMO. Odierno made the point that the Iran nuke deal made this much, much tougher. The Saudi's are even more fearful of Iran after this deal, thus pushing them toward ISIS support.
The only way to defeat ISIS and its ideology is to defeat ISIS on the battlefield. Their recruiting goes up with each ISIS victory around the world. Destroying ISIS will help to destroy their ability to recruit. This will only happen with US leadership. Europe must join. And we must get the Sunni's to join the battle, even if we have to threaten the ME states. This cannot not involve the Shia, imo. We still have leverage in the ME and we have to use everything in our tool book to bring the Sunni's along.
Al Qaeda was almost destroyed. We have to do the same with ISIS and do it on the battlefield. We can greatly reduce their ability to recruit if we can lead a coalition, including Sunni's, to destroy ISIS. We have to stop ***** footing around with the Saudi's. They have got to stop teaching hatred in their madrassa's. They have to stop preaching hate in their Mosque's. They have to stop funding groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda. The ideology will only be defeated if we can cut off its genesis. You're right, it will take a very long time. But we have to start the battle. ISIS is using Saudi text books in Iraq and Syria for goodness sake.
Bring it to a head and get it over with as quick as possible, rather than drawing it out over 200 years, where only God knows what technology will be present for the radicals. Better to deal with them now than later, whether it fits into ISIS' agenda or not. Quit being so mamby pamby on this and use your heads, not your hearts.
Lots of talk and no specifics. If bombing them so much that we're running out of bombs is "mamby pamby" then I guess you're calling for an all out U.S. ground war and you'll have to wait for the next prez (at least). It won't happen under BO and I don't see Hillary making your wishes come true either. I'm sure that Trump would accommodate your approach.
We need to do what was done after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Form a coalition and bomb the hell out of them and send in the ground forces to clean it up. Remember the road to Baghdad. Never heard the death toll there. I think it was so bad that the US didn't want it out.
Air power cannot totally win the war alone but it can destroy the enemy to the point it cannot survive once ground troops are in there. Air power in the desert is as good as air power at sea if the rules of engagement are loosened, Forget civilian casualties because they do happen. Also, put the Arab nations on notice, If you're not for us you're against us
