The other Iraq air campaign
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I like the bit before that
"Like panic-stricken rabbits caught in the headlights, our political leaders do not appear to know which way to go.
The only thing that they do know is that something must be done. But developing a viable, effective strategy against the brutal campaign of the Islamic State has, so far, clearly been beyond their competence".
and this
"Sadly that is lacking as the West’s leaders seem to be stumbling daily as they try to configure exactly what they want to achieve.
Indeed, I have grave fears that they do not have a clear idea of what form such military intervention should take. For it is imperative that before we send so much as one British soldier back to Iraq, our government’s strategists must decide with absolute clarity and precision the objective of the mission.
They must also commit sufficient resources to ensure the job is done with as little risk as is possible to the lives of our men."
And like I said a few days ago - Maggie and don't micro manage the military, he confirms it
"Today’s floundering politicians could learn from one leader who handled such issues brilliantly: Margaret Thatcher.
Whether it was over the Falkland Islands or the Iranian Embassy siege (when the SAS stormed the building in London in 1980 after it had been held by gunmen for six days), she always gave clear instructions at the outset.
She never changed her mind once operations had commenced and didn’t try to micro-manage what was happening on the ground."
"Like panic-stricken rabbits caught in the headlights, our political leaders do not appear to know which way to go.
The only thing that they do know is that something must be done. But developing a viable, effective strategy against the brutal campaign of the Islamic State has, so far, clearly been beyond their competence".
and this
"Sadly that is lacking as the West’s leaders seem to be stumbling daily as they try to configure exactly what they want to achieve.
Indeed, I have grave fears that they do not have a clear idea of what form such military intervention should take. For it is imperative that before we send so much as one British soldier back to Iraq, our government’s strategists must decide with absolute clarity and precision the objective of the mission.
They must also commit sufficient resources to ensure the job is done with as little risk as is possible to the lives of our men."
And like I said a few days ago - Maggie and don't micro manage the military, he confirms it
"Today’s floundering politicians could learn from one leader who handled such issues brilliantly: Margaret Thatcher.
Whether it was over the Falkland Islands or the Iranian Embassy siege (when the SAS stormed the building in London in 1980 after it had been held by gunmen for six days), she always gave clear instructions at the outset.
She never changed her mind once operations had commenced and didn’t try to micro-manage what was happening on the ground."
our government’s strategists must decide with absolute clarity and precision the objective of the mission.
They must also commit sufficient resources to ensure the job is done with as little risk as is possible to the lives of our men."
They must also commit sufficient resources to ensure the job is done with as little risk as is possible to the lives of our men."
Unfortunately, the reality is of a 23 year old govt strategist with an Oxbridge degree in political history strongly 'advising' our political leadership from behind the scenes on how to conduct affairs in the ME. His/her 'advice' is married to that of the PR media luuvie team of 'don't make any decisions in case they turn out to be wrong' and heaven forbid an article on the cover of the Daily Star with any British casualties caused by any decisions made above.
This results in wishy woshy political decisions that are all based on how the polls could start to look with an election building. We could commit troops to posture on the world stage and inflate Camerons ego but at the same time, they could be confined to a safe area doing nothing of any use to avoid all risk.
Actually, what Iraq needs is a harsh and brutal military dictator to grip it by the balls and crush any form of rebellion. Someone in the mould of Adolf Hitler springs to mind. They used to have a bloke that kept the country in check and provided everyone agreed with him and did as ordered, life was fairly reasonable. People went to work, shopped, married, bought houses and raised families etc. Unfortunately, this didn't fit with the wests view of a modern democracy and how an independant country should govern its own affairs so we invaded to sort them out.
Maybe Putin should start spouting off in the UN about Ukraines WMD threat to Russia as a basis for a Russian invasion?
They used to have a bloke that kept the country in check and provided everyone agreed with him and did as ordered, life was fairly reasonable. People went to work, shopped, married, bought houses and raised families etc.
Not for one minute saying what's there now is better, just noting that it's not necessarily worse either. Thousands of people have died every single year since the eighties, of which only those in GW1 and GW2 and its immediate combat aftermath have not been victims of either tribal or sunni/shia violence.
Most importantly, it's not going to be solved by western military power - particularly not boots on the ground. For once, let's let those who are funding it bear the responsibility for fixing it. That's not to say, let the caliphate develop, merely pressure those responsible into dealing with it.
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Inaction toward the radical Islamic State (IS), formally known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), is no longer an option. They are an army, and it takes an army to defeat an army. We either confront the IS now or we will be forced to deal with an even stronger enemy in the future. The Islamic State is operating with military expertise, advancing across Iraq, and rapidly consolidating its position.
According to intelligence estimates the Islamic State is 80,000 strong and growing by the day. Al Jazeera reports that they attracted 6,000 recruits in the last month alone.
IS is not a problem that will remain in the Middle East if left unchecked. IS continues to warn that if U.S. airstrikes continue, Americans will be attacked “in any place, at any time.” The gruesome video of an IS militant purportedly beheading journalist James Foley in retaliation for airstrikes is one such example, and the executioner threatened to do the same to American journalist Steven Joel Sotloff, depending on President Obama’s next move.
Islamic militants, particularly IS, have proven again, and again, and again that they will never compromise with non-Muslims. They will never cooperate. They will never coexist. They are fundamentally, lethally opposed to non-Muslims, Muslims of other sects, and even peaceful Muslims. They revel in a culture of death.
Meeting with them diplomatically merely reinforces their self-aggrandizement, and they've already declared time after time that they are not bound by any promises or agreements we think we accomplished.
We need to get serious and treat IS like the plague they are. You isolate and exterminate, to ensure the safety of others.
Bob C
According to intelligence estimates the Islamic State is 80,000 strong and growing by the day. Al Jazeera reports that they attracted 6,000 recruits in the last month alone.
IS is not a problem that will remain in the Middle East if left unchecked. IS continues to warn that if U.S. airstrikes continue, Americans will be attacked “in any place, at any time.” The gruesome video of an IS militant purportedly beheading journalist James Foley in retaliation for airstrikes is one such example, and the executioner threatened to do the same to American journalist Steven Joel Sotloff, depending on President Obama’s next move.
Islamic militants, particularly IS, have proven again, and again, and again that they will never compromise with non-Muslims. They will never cooperate. They will never coexist. They are fundamentally, lethally opposed to non-Muslims, Muslims of other sects, and even peaceful Muslims. They revel in a culture of death.
Meeting with them diplomatically merely reinforces their self-aggrandizement, and they've already declared time after time that they are not bound by any promises or agreements we think we accomplished.
We need to get serious and treat IS like the plague they are. You isolate and exterminate, to ensure the safety of others.
Bob C
For once I have too agree... This is becoming properly worrying.
We should take particular notice that Iraq and Iran are cooperating, witness the su25 movements.
It would be nice to think the Saudis might use their toy box, but highly unlikely!
Not sure what the solution is that will not cause further escalation! Boots on the ground turns this into a major Islam versus kafir battle. Doing nothing risks our south London friend exporting his homies to come to paradise. Short of the old Vietnam solution involving boats I am at a very real loss to suggest something that is not totally ridiculous ie. involving buckets of sunshine or walk away and let them piss off Iran, Israel and eventually the Saudis and see what happens. Probably leading to something equally serious.
Answers on a postcode to wood lane, shepherds bush, London W1 and you get a shiny blue peter badge.
We should take particular notice that Iraq and Iran are cooperating, witness the su25 movements.
It would be nice to think the Saudis might use their toy box, but highly unlikely!
Not sure what the solution is that will not cause further escalation! Boots on the ground turns this into a major Islam versus kafir battle. Doing nothing risks our south London friend exporting his homies to come to paradise. Short of the old Vietnam solution involving boats I am at a very real loss to suggest something that is not totally ridiculous ie. involving buckets of sunshine or walk away and let them piss off Iran, Israel and eventually the Saudis and see what happens. Probably leading to something equally serious.
Answers on a postcode to wood lane, shepherds bush, London W1 and you get a shiny blue peter badge.
We need to get serious and treat IS like the plague they are. You isolate and exterminate, to ensure the safety of others
Boots on the ground turns this into a major Islam versus kafir battle
Will be seen far better in the wider Muslim world if their various religious leaders are seen to be meting out "justice", rather than the west.
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You are absolutely right to suggest that only a 'local' resolution will hold, but where is the will for this to happen? The deafening silence of the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia speaks for itself, and can only signify either their complicity or fear. More likely their effort will be to turn the jihad towards the west which will buy them a few more years but at immeasurable cost to those whose only error is their choice of the wrong religion, or none.
Bob C
Bob C
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The problem is that this is not limited to Iraq and Syria. The same problem is in Afghanistan and has been for many years, also Palestine. It's all over the Middle East. It's a war we'll be fighting for all of our lifetimes, and probably the lifetimes of some of those not born yet.
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There are reports coming out of Washington today indicating that Top U.S. military brass and former administration officials are publicly pressuring the White House to increase efforts in Iraq and take the fight against the Islamic State (IS/ISIS/ISIL) into Syria, warning that the terror organization poses an unprecedented threat to the United States. They are not talking about a limited engagement and seem to expect a “multi-year” effort.
Be interesting to see what the Administration does.
Bob C
Be interesting to see what the Administration does.
Bob C
IS seem to be the spiritual descendants of al Wahhab who lived in the 18th century. His interpretation of Islam is the avowed doctrine of the Saudi royal family. Their takeover of the Arabian Peninsula was also a spreading of the true religion - not that much different from how Spaniards spread Catholicism to Latin America.
It seems that buckets full of Saudi cash are making their way to IS. The mindset is spreading the true religion along with exterminating heretics, in this case Shias, Yazidis, Christians...
Protestants and Catholics got up to the same kind of mischief against one another during religious wars post Reformation - - 20th century examples being the Holocaust, the Troubles in North Ireland and former Yugoslavia which adds Orthodox to the mix.
The current problem is that IS got a massive infusion of US military equipment courtesy the former Iraq army. The 2003 fecklessness has spectacularly come to roost
So where do we go from here
It seems that buckets full of Saudi cash are making their way to IS. The mindset is spreading the true religion along with exterminating heretics, in this case Shias, Yazidis, Christians...
Protestants and Catholics got up to the same kind of mischief against one another during religious wars post Reformation - - 20th century examples being the Holocaust, the Troubles in North Ireland and former Yugoslavia which adds Orthodox to the mix.
The current problem is that IS got a massive infusion of US military equipment courtesy the former Iraq army. The 2003 fecklessness has spectacularly come to roost
So where do we go from here
- Airstrikes can remove all the nice military hardware that fell into the wrong hands,
- Delivery of sufficient arms to the Kurds will allow them to block IS from spreading North.
- The Baghdad regime needs sufficient assistance to stand up to IS once they have been deprived of the military hardware that fell into their hands.
