[Pie]

Originally Posted by TheVrist ↗

To me that is Obama just saying in so many bombs "I'm doing my part in the efforts to abolish terrorism-------------pause---------------NOT!!!!"

What exactly else do you want from him? Obama does nothing, people moan. Obama launches attacks against the enemy, people still moan he's doing nothing.

It seems most of the Obama haters are just jumping on the hate band wagon for the sake of it, he could nuke ISIS back to the stone age and the Anti-Obama crowd will still accuse him of doing nothing but play golf all day.

[Pyramid_Head]

Mess with the bull and you'll get the horns.

[TheVrist]

Originally Posted by Pie ↗

What exactly else do you want from him? Obama does nothing, people moan. Obama launches attacks against the enemy, people still moan he's doing nothing.

It seems most of the Obama haters are just jumping on the hate band wagon for the sake of it, he could nuke ISIS back to the stone age and the Anti-Obama crowd will still accuse him of doing nothing but play golf all day.

I didn't want Obama from the start (incoming i'm racist) so I was part of the people pulling that wagon.


He needed to -play pretend- americas first black president during peace time.

[niknik]

Obama getting this coalition was a good thing, politically. And because some of these nations are bordering Syria hopefully that means they'll close those borders tight. But from a miltary perspective I'd imagine having a coalition is of no advantage for us. Wonder if we're paying for all the coalitions bombs. At least if it's byob it will be nice to share the cost, bombs ain't cheap.

[TheVrist]

Yea the coalition is great! as long as sunnis (none govt) stay ok with bombing other sunnis.

Most of those coalitions were made within 24 hours-

[TheVrist]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/miriamberger...witter#1hiv48w

[Mr Poo]

Originally Posted by ralucagymnast ↗

Yeah, look how well "arming the rebels against Assads regime" went I must admit I got a sinking feeling when I read about arming Syrian opposition, after all, wasnt that what IS were in the beginning??? they were the "opposition" werent they? Thats why I said "time will tell"...

ISIS was Al Qaeda's Iraq branch that split from them. So no, no they weren't.

[TheVrist]

The key thing to understand about ISIS and al-Qaeda is that they are competitors, not allies, and certainly not part of the same larger group.

ISIS used to be al-Qaeda in Iraq. But the group split apart from al-Qaeda in February 2014 because it wouldn't listen to al-Qaeda HQ's commands, including orders to curtail its violence against civilians. (That's right: it was too violent for al-Qaeda.) This ISIS-AQ divorce is a key reason why ISIS is so unremittingly violent, yet many people still lump the two groups together.

For years, al-Qaeda was the clear leader of the global jihadist movement. The loose network of militant groups, internet forums, and "lone wolf" individuals saw al-Qaeda as the gold standard — and many pledged allegiance to it or established some kind of junior-partner working relationship.

iraqi jihadis

Unidentified Iraqi militants. STR/AFP/Getty Images

When ISIS broke off, it upended everything. By taking a chunk of territory the size of Belgium in the heart of the Arab world, ISIS had come much closer to the end-goal of an Islamic caliphate than al-Qaeda ever did. All of a sudden, it didn't seem so clear that Islamist groups around the world should pledge themselves to al-Qaeda. ISIS fought openly with Jabhat al-Nusra, which is al-Qaeda's Syria branch — and outperformed it on the battlefield. Today, ISIS controls far more territory in Syria than Jabhat.

This ideological competition drives ISIS to be more violent. "They're in competition with al-Qaeda, and they want to be the leader," JM Berger, the editor of Intelwire and an expert on violent extremism, said. According to Berger, one way they do that is by broadcasting images of their military prowess worldwide. In the sick, screwed up world of Islamic extremism, images of massacres are a show of strength.

When ISIS executed American journalist James Foley and put the video on YouTube, or when it declared its intention to wipe out Iraq's Christians and Yazidis, it's not doing it just because they can, although among individual militants indulging a sick desire is certainly part of it. At a broader level, this part of ISIS's plan to beat al-Qaeda and spread the ISIS brand globally.

The worst part: There's some evidence this plan is working. Even before ISIS's rapid advance in June, ISIS was wresting groups in Tunisia and Libya away from al-Qaeda's allegiance to their own. There have been ISIS-linked suicide bombings as far afield as Malyasia.

http://www.vox.com/cards/isis-myths-iraq/al-qaeda-isis

[Mr Poo]

Originally Posted by TheVrist ↗

http://www.vox.com/cards/isis-myths-iraq/al-qaeda-isis

Exactly, we didn't arm them.

[niknik]

Originally Posted by Pie ↗

What exactly else do you want from him? Obama does nothing, people moan. Obama launches attacks against the enemy, people still moan he's doing nothing.

It seems most of the Obama haters are just jumping on the hate band wagon for the sake of it, he could nuke ISIS back to the stone age and the Anti-Obama crowd will still accuse him of doing nothing but play golf all day.

I agree there's bandwagon Obama haters. I define those people as people who can't explain accurately why they disagree with the President.
They just have some talking points they got from Sean Hannity they repeat without a full understanding of the facts and the situation.

That being said Obama's handling of foreign policy period is inconsistent with reality. Speaking of Hannity, it's insanity what Obama is doing. During the 2012 campaign Obama and Biden called Romney a war monger. Saying to cheering crowds Romney will have us in a war with Syria, and won't pull the troops out of Iraq. Stating they will end America's wars, even calling Americas provocative arrogance and stature as the reason for foreign threats.

So he had to be pushed kicking and screaming to go to war. He doesn't even want to call it a war. We can't even get a war rally speech. Sup wit dat.