So what is everyone's thoughts on Obama's plan for ISIS?

[TobiasFunke]

over time they would be a direct threat to us and then everyone would be pissed that we just sat on our hands while they gained power

Since you can see into the future, who wins the 2023 World Series?

[InsideThePark]

What do you think would have happened if we didn't start conducting airstrikes in Iraq, Tobias? They were quickly gaining power while hundreds of thousands could have been slaughtered or died of thirst or starvation. Yeah I get that we're not the world police but what was the Middle East doing about this problem? I think you have a little too much faith that they would take care of ISIS for us. They don't do much about terrorism and aren't effective at it unless we lead the way. In Syria, Assad pretty much stayed out of their way because they were helping him kill the rebels.

[nate]

if they continued to grow they most certainly would be.

 

They would have to grow into China to be a threat.

[Lhalo]

everyone is entitled to their opinion. I'm not looking for a heated debate but keep in mind that the Middle East didn't do shit about al-qaeda until we led the way. They of course were a threat. One could say that they still are but undoubtably to a much lesser degree.

Let's not forget why Al Qaeda attacked us in the first place. Hint: it wasn't because they "hated us for our freedoms."

[floplag]

I think the president is on the right trail. It sucks but nothing will get done if the US doesn't lead

 

while true, this is the part ive grown to despise.

the rest of the world looks to us to take on this role, and in the process paint the giant target on our backs.

this isnt our job to be the friggin world police, it should be NATO if that worthless organization had any legs left, but it clearly doesnt

if the rest of the world expects us to be the police then they need to compensate us, support us, and not hide behind bullshit when it hits the fan

otherwise, help, or do the darn job yourselves.

[gotbeer]

everyone is entitled to their opinion. I'm not looking for a heated debate but keep in mind that the Middle East didn't do shit about al-qaeda until we led the way. They of course were a threat. One could say that they still are but undoubtably to a much lesser degree.

 

I read an article, might have posted it in the Iraq thread.  But in it, said that ISIS was expanding into Pakistan, Afgahnastan, and small parts of India.  Mainly taking over Al Qaeda areas.  And the funny reason, that Al Qaeda was getting too old, and that they were slow on taking action.  

[gotbeer]

while true, this is the part ive grown to despise.

the rest of the world looks to us to take on this role, and in the process paint the giant target on our backs.

this isnt our job to be the friggin world police, it should be the UN NATO if that worthless organization had any legs left, but it clearly doesnt

if the rest of the world expects us to be the police then they need to compensate us, support us, and not hide behind bullshit when it hits the fan

otherwise, help, or do the darn job yourselves.

 

Fixed.

[Adam]

Is Nate the only voice of sanity in this thread? ISIS wouldn't care about us if we would just GTFO of Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Emirates, Libya, Sudan, Egypt, Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan and god forbid Israel and Palestine. Just who the f*ck do we think we are?

In the mean time we get our rocks off by pissing on the lawns of both China And Russia. The two nuclear powers who are learning to trade without the US Dollar (Google it) in order to send us into economic disaster.

It's time to quit spending money and lives on conflicts half way around the world when we should be focussing on ourselves. Close our international bases and bring our troops home.

 

I agree with not putting resources toward fighting them, but I disagree that they'd never be a threat if we weren't there. Evil is a threat to everyone. Australia just escalated their terror-rometer to high. Australia! 

 

I would love for someone over there to suck it up and destroy those bastards. 

[TobiasFunke]

What do you think would have happened if we didn't start conducting airstrikes in Iraq, Tobias? They were quickly gaining power while hundreds of thousands could have been slaughtered or died of thirst or starvation. Yeah I get that we're not the world police but what was the Middle East doing about this problem? I think you have a little too much faith that they would take care of ISIS for us. They don't do much about terrorism and aren't effective at it unless we lead the way. In Syria, Assad pretty much stayed out of their way because they were helping him kill the rebels.

I would think that IS would take over as much as they can until they mess with the wrong Middle East country and get stomped.

 

The Middle East wasn't doing anything about that Christian group in Iraq because they didn't give a shit. And why should Egypt or Jordan or Iran or Turkey or anyone else care? It doesn't concern them. I know you think it's crazy but there was a time in our brief history that America didn't care about every little thing in this world. (Pretty much everything pre-Spanish American war).

 

Middle Eastern countries didn't do much about terrorism because obviously they didn't feel threaten by Al-Queda. Why should they care? Why should Iran care about Al-Queda when that group wasn't harming Iran's way of life? America obviously was threatened and attacked by Al-Queda so we felt like we should go to war with them which we sorta did in Afghanistan. IS doesn't just have beef with America like Al-Queda, IS if anything has a bigger problem with Europe and muslims in the middle east that do not share their belief system with IS.

 

You obviously don't get that we're not the World Police because once again, you want us to be the World Police with a group that until now has only threatened us via youtube videos. If we attacked every group that said America sucks on the webz then you better enlist today because we're going to be busy.

[mtangelsfan]

So your answer would be to sit by and do nothing as people died?  I don't think I can support that kind of thing.  I'm not talking about being the world police but damn, if we have the capability to stop something awful and it isn't high risk, why wouldn't we?

[nate]

So your answer would be to sit by and do nothing as people died?  I don't think I can support that kind of thing.  I'm not talking about being the world police but damn, if we have the capability to stop something awful and it isn't high risk, why wouldn't we?

 

So how come we aren't in Sudan?  Where were we in Burma?

 

We aren't the world's police.  This crap has to end.

 

The only reason we went after ISIS is because they trapped some Christians.  If they were just some Kurds or something we wouldn't have done shit.

[mtangelsfan]

So how come we aren't in Sudan?  Where were we in Burma?

 

We aren't the world's police.  This crap has to end.

 

The only reason we went after ISIS is because they trapped some Christians.  If they were just some Kurds or something we wouldn't have done shit.

 

They weren't Christians nate.  Regardless I agree we can't do it all but we were set up there to do it and it wasn't difficult. 

[Adam]

So how come we aren't in Sudan?  Where were we in Burma?

 

We aren't the world's police.  This crap has to end.

 

The only reason we went after ISIS is because they trapped some Christians.  If they were just some Kurds or something we wouldn't have done shit.

 

This is a problem I have. If we're intervening strictly on moral grounds, we're hypocrites. 

 

So your answer would be to sit by and do nothing as people died?  I don't think I can support that kind of thing.  I'm not talking about being the world police but damn, if we have the capability to stop something awful and it isn't high risk, why wouldn't we?

 

I have the same issue with it. I don't pretend to understand all of the nuances of the different relationships between the US and the other countries and powers in the region, but you'd think some sort of negotiations would be possible - trade agreements, treaties, financial agreements, etc. could be made to convince Iran or Saudi Arabia or multiple entities to take care of it. 

[TobiasFunke]

So your answer would be to sit by and do nothing as people died? Yes

 

I'm not talking about being the world police. You are though

 

but damn, if we have the capability to stop something awful and it isn't high risk, why wouldn't we? Because we aren't the world police

[mtangelsfan]

 

So your answer would be to sit by and do nothing as people died? Yes

 

I'm not talking about being the world police. You are though

 

but damn, if we have the capability to stop something awful and it isn't high risk, why wouldn't we? Because we aren't the world police

 

 

I'm not a police officer but if I stand by and let something bad happen to someone else when I had the capability to stop them at low risk I would be a pretty crappy person.

[TobiasFunke]

I absolutely do not want to bring in the topic of Israel in here, but I will real quick.

 

It's unfortunate that we are besties with them therefore have to hate Iran because Iran would be a great ally in the Middle East. To be honest they would be the best ally we have. They aren't arab, don't need our money for assistance, they are moderate for the most part, and IS will eventually be their enemy. Sure would be nice to utilize them.

 

But Iran when it comes to Middle Eastern conflicts are smart, they stay out of everything when it doesn't concern them.

[TobiasFunke]

I'm not a police officer but if I stand by and let something bad happen to someone else when I had the capability to stop them at low risk I would be a pretty crappy person.

I'm all for stopping baddies also MT. But like Nate using just a few examples. There are COUNTLESS countries that sketchy horrible low risk bad things are happening. If we are going to be the high ground moral police then we need to tackle them all. If we are going to pick and choose what good things we do then I say let's worry about America and our numerous problems first.

[arch stanton]

 

 Arab nations vowed on Thursday to “do their share” to confront and ultimately destroy the Sunni extremist group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The promise came after the nations’ foreign ministers met here behind closed doors with Secretary of State John Kerry.

A joint communiqué issued by the United States and 10 Arab states endorsed a broad strategy to stop the flow of volunteers to ISIS, curtail its financing and provide aid to communities that had been “brutalized” by the militants.

It also called for a coordinated military campaign in which nations would contribute “as appropriate.”

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/12/world/middleeast/john-kerry-saudi-arabia-isis-strategy.html?_r=0

[nate]

Lol.  Yeah 99% us forces and 1% middle east forces.

 

Why would they spend money and political capital helping us when we will just do it for them?

[arch stanton]

I absolutely do not want to bring in the topic of Israel in here, but I will real quick.

 

It's unfortunate that we are besties with them therefore have to hate Iran because Iran would be a great ally in the Middle East. To be honest they would be the best ally we have. They aren't arab, don't need our money for assistance, they are moderate for the most part, and IS will eventually be their enemy. Sure would be nice to utilize them.

 

But Iran when it comes to Middle Eastern conflicts are smart, they stay out of everything when it doesn't concern them.

Not true. They funded and instigated pretty much the whole Shia battle against the Bahraini government.

[arch stanton]

Lol.  Yeah 99% us forces and 1% middle east forces.

 

Why would they spend money and political capital helping us when we will just do it for them?

They spend billions on weapons from our defense industry. That's their insurance policy against ever having to use them.

[mtangelsfan]

I'm all for stopping baddies also MT. But like Nate using just a few examples. There are COUNTLESS countries that sketchy horrible low risk bad things are happening. If we are going to be the high ground moral police then we need to tackle them all. If we are going to pick and choose what good things we do then I say let's worry about America and our numerous problems first.

 

We aren't set up militarily for many of those places, not all of them are doable.  I'm not for picking and choosing either, but when the opportunity is easily there to stop something awful, we should do so.

 

Now, if we weren't already set up there to make that sort of mission I may not have been for it. 

[TobiasFunke]

Here's a pretty good article about Iran and their threat with Iraq/IS

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/iranians-are-terrified-irans-isis-nightmare-10856

[TobiasFunke]

Not true. They funded and instigated pretty much the whole Shia battle against the Bahraini government.

Sorry. I should have said almost everything.

[TobiasFunke]

We aren't set up militarily for many of those places, not all of them are doable.  I'm not for picking and choosing either, but when the opportunity is easily there to stop something awful, we should do so.

 

Now, if we weren't already set up there to make that sort of mission I may not have been for it. 

Sorry MT, that's just too picky and choosey for me to get behind.