175 replies to this topic

[Chax]

My main point is that they're really not that big of a threat, not that they're not evil or whatevsz. xP

 

It's been blown up in the media but the majority of Iraq is more or less doing fine. 

 

 

Ahh, gotcha. So you're saying that they could be easily countered given the Iraqi army stops surrendering/running? 

Edited by Ernesto Che Guevara, 24 June 2014 - 04:43 PM.

[King Biscuit]

maybe the south of iraq (basra etc) and iraqi kurdistan is doing alright but the rest isn't.

 

Until ofc, the sunni/shia start killing each other without ISIS provocation.

Actual civil war.

Sure Kurdistan will be fine, but South Iraq?

Shoooot.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

And don't forget, ISIS also controls a substantial chunk of Syria, and is one of the primary actors in the civil war there, as well.  Their goal is to create a caliphate stretching from Lebanon to Iraq.  That would be bad.

 

As Ernesto "Che" Guevara, aka Chax, points out, Iran has made overtures to the United States in the past, and just recently President Obama and the new Iranian President (whose name eludes me and I am too lazy to look it up) spoke by phone.  The time is ripe for a rapprochement between the United States and Iran, with a new, reformist Iranian president and an outgoing American president looking to build his legacy.  Iran could be for Obama what China was for Nixon. 

 

Only Obama could go to Iran.

 

You heard it here first.

[Rogal Dorn]

http://www.bbc.com/n...canada-28009349

Nearly half the 300 special operations soldiers promised by US President Barack Obama are in Baghdad or on the front lines of the fight.

..

On Tuesday, two teams totalling 40 US troops began work assessing Iraqi troops on the front line, the Pentagon said.

Also, the rebels say they have fully captured the country's main oil refinery at Baiji, north of Baghdad.

[Rogal Dorn]

Sidenote. It looks like ISIL is attacking al Bakr air base, just 45 minutes north of Baghdad. al Bakr air base is where i was deployed to in 2008/2009 (back then it was LSA anaconda/joint base balad).

source: http://www.reuters.c...N0EZ0UV20140625

Also, that article is mainly about how Secretary of State Kerry is trying to convince the Kurds to save Iraq from falling apart. I'd rather have them become an independent state myself.

Edited by Rogal Dorn, 24 June 2014 - 10:20 PM.

[*Anastasia]

I'd rather have them become an independent state myself.

So would the Kurds, I imagine.

[Manoka]

Ahh, gotcha. So you're saying that they could be easily countered given the Iraqi army stops surrendering/running? 

lol

 

When is the last time the Iraqi Army has actually surrendered to ISIS?

Edited by Manoka, 25 June 2014 - 08:14 PM.

[Redezra]

Everyone loves the Kurds. Maybe the US should help them?

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

Even Turkey seems cool with the Kurds lately.  Maybe they realize an independent Kurdistan on their borders is better than a civil war or an Islamic dictatorship.

 

Everyone Loves the Kurds should be the name of a TV sitcom.

[King Biscuit]

http://www.cnn.com/2....html?hpt=hp_c2

 

[*Anastasia]

Turkey'd be fine with the Kurds on their border as long as their border doesn't move. Which, considering approximately half of all Kurds live in Turkey, is a problem. For an independent Kurdistan to be truly representative of the Kurdish people (not to mention sustainable in the long run), it would necessitate the cession of Turkish territory. Turkey is never going to agree to this willingly, especially not after four decades of calling the Kurdistan Workers' Party terrorists. Aside from not wanting to lose territory to an independent Kurdistan, there's the even bigger issue from their perspective that if an independent Kurdistan emerges within Turkey's present borders, Armenian irredentism is going to rear its ugly head right behind them, and if there's one thing Turkey wants less than the loss of territory to the Kurds, it's the loss of territory to Armenia.

[King Biscuit]

... and we all know how well the Turks get along with the Armenians...

[*Anastasia]

http://www.cnn.com/2....html?hpt=hp_c2
 

Let's be honest, as far as American media's concerned, anyone Syria kills is a civilian. If the Syrian Army killed a reanimated zombie Hitler wielding an RPG and shouting, 'Death to America!' CNN's headline would be, 'German Minority in Syria Victims of Assad's Genocide.'

[Cress]

Let them kill each other.

[Manoka]

Everyone loves the Kurds. Maybe the US should help them?

We did back in both Iraq wars. 

 

I wouldn't mind them being their own country, but since Iraq has largely reformed making them their own country seems counter productive, sort of like making Texas it's own country. Preserving the union is ideal. 

 

 

Then again, given the history of Iraq with the kurds, maybe it's a good idea. 

 

A kurdistan doesn't so bad, and heck, the middle east is evolving every day, so I wouldn't be against it per say but, keeping iraq unifying is still an idea; maybe a self autonomous region, like Crimea. Just don't invite the Russians. 

[Rogal Dorn]

Let them kill each other.

i wish there was a dislike button right about meow...

We did back in both Iraq wars. 
 
I wouldn't mind them being their own country, but since Iraq has largely reformed making them their own country seems counter productive, sort of like making Texas it's own country. Preserving the union is ideal. 
 
 
Then again, given the history of Iraq with the kurds, maybe it's a good idea. 
 
A kurdistan doesn't so bad, and heck, the middle east is evolving every day, so I wouldn't be against it per say but, keeping iraq unifying is still an idea; maybe a self autonomous region, like Crimea. Just don't invite the Russians. 

technically they have been an autonomous region since 1970. but it's only after the persian gulf war in 1991 when they functionally became de facto independent and whatnot because the Iraqi military pulled out of Iraqi Kurdistan which allowed them to not concentrate on fighting for their lives 100% of the time.

https://en.wikipedia...Iraqi_Kurdistan

Edited by Rogal Dorn, 25 June 2014 - 01:35 PM.

[Rogal Dorn]

... and we all know how well the Turks get along with the Armenians...

interesting fact of the day. Obama initially called the armenian genocide a "genocide" in his first days in office. then he pissed off his NATO ally (turkey) and hasnt used the term genocide since. sauce

Sad fact of the day. The Ottomans (spits on the ground) used some Kurdish tribes to commit the Armenian Genocide. sauce

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

They had a guest on NPR talking about this very thing (Syrian warplanes...).  It's pretty interesting, and a bit complicated.  But the long and the short of it is that Assad's regime is fighting both religious whackos, represented by Al Qaeda and ISIS, and moderates.  The moderates are also fighting the religious whackos.  So it's a three-way fight.  And the Assad regime has seen that it is to its benefit to be seen to be fighting Islamist extremists.  So there have been times that the Syrian air force has actually saved the religious whackos from the moderates, because they see the moderates as the greater threat.  In this instance, they are helping the Iraqi regime, allies of the Americans, who are also fighting terrorists.  And this is how Assad stays in power.  Because the devil you know is better than the devil you don't.

 

Fresh Air interview with Dexter Filkins

[Thrash]

ISIS holds military parade in Mosul

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

Yeah.  No matter the legality of it, the fact remains that ISIS is in control of a large portion of Iraq.  And in many cases, according to Filkins (above), the local Sunni population is glad.

 

Removing Saddam Hussein from power was not worth any of this.