By what measure? They might have some basic municipal and administrative functions running in the urban centers, but not in the vast swaths of desert.
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French getting another round of "inshallah"
- Thread starter picklesuit
- Start date
By what measure? They might have some basic municipal and administrative functions running in the urban centers, but not in the vast swaths of desert.
Spekkio
He bowls overhand.
In the way that they exercise control over the population. You don't need to have a post office in the desert to have a system of government. Hell, I don't see a whole lot of government buildings driving through the mountains of Wyoming, but it's still governed by the U.S.
Jus to clarify. I was talking about Desert Storm. You mention OIF. IIRC, about 7 Arab countries participated in Desert Storm. Of course you are to be forgiven the mistake. You are an OIF era officer. You were a mere scrub for Desert Storm.
My point isn't whether or not IS exercises control over a group of people, but that the geography is vast and lacks security or rule of law by any party. In that sense, it is ungoverned.
This was his point, first and foremost. I re-read the article yesterday, and while I agree with Brett in that the idea of a caliphate is harder to eradicate than the caliphate itself, getting rid of caliphate is the first step. I also cannot fathom why POTUS is stubbornly sticking to this "nothing to do with Islam" rhetoric, but I have a few theories that are more appropriately shared over a beer, or many.
Long story short, calling it "Islamic terrorism" is the first step to solving the problem.
We argued this very topic a few months ago and I still fail to see how this helps with anything, at all.
Of course you don't Flash... We all get it.
On a separate, but related note - summary of President's press conference:
1. I'm right.
2. I'm right even though I don't understand what a "strategy" really is.
3. I'm right, and suggesting that we should change our approach (not strategy) is foolish.
4. I'm right, and despite the fact that nothing I've said, done, or seen supports the idea of being right, I'm right.
On a separate, but related note - summary of President's press conference:
1. I'm right.
2. I'm right even though I don't understand what a "strategy" really is.
3. I'm right, and suggesting that we should change our approach (not strategy) is foolish.
4. I'm right, and despite the fact that nothing I've said, done, or seen supports the idea of being right, I'm right.
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Please elucidate then how it will make help 'solve the problem'.
I noticed that, too. Looks like what's been going on is the radicalization of individuals in the country, drawn by the allures of ISIS and then coming back. Also, taking advantage of the mass immigration of refugees from Syria. Like anything, it's much more complicated than a simplistic soundbite or answer.
Well the Arab nations all played well together before...in 1947-1949, 1967-1970, and 1973. The truth is Arab nations don't have backbone to wage war, unless its something they fundamentally disagree with because it conflicts with their way of life (even if it has virtually no impact on it), or they will benefit in monetary gains. At the end of the day the only group of people in the region willing to commit and stand up to ISIS other than a tactical air campaign are the Kurds and the Israelis (who have enough problems and unlikely able to commit forces to operations outside their own borders for their own security).
Saying this isn't a Muslim problem is incorrect. It is a Muslim problem. It is incorrect to say Muslims are the problem, they are collectively not the problem and the scary census among some circles of taking down Islam as a whole sounds like a lot like we should put pope up in front of firing squad because someone bombed an abortion clinic in "God's" name. The end line is Arab nations need to grow some balls and police their own region of the world without committing genocide. I was hoping Jordan would actually start taking a lead on this after one of their pilots was burned alive, and the rest of the region would follow, but the region just doesn't really care. The Saudis are too busy trying to play god in Yemen, the Iraqi's are incapable of holding any ground or (gasp) even taking a meaningful offensive against any real opposition. Syria cares, but only after the rebels are wiped off the face of the earth first, and they don't care enough to pursue them outside their borders. Turkey is more than capable of launching an offensive, but the only if it involves a genocide against the Kurds too. Jordan will do little more than limited strikes until geographically threatened. If they put together a force like they did in 1973 they could very easily make ISIS disappear. There would still be the residual ideology, but the mass power it has would be gone. The only problem is the only people they're willing to unite against is Israel.
What it really is going to come down (or needs to come down) to is NATO forces, the Russians, and those nations that actually care in the middle east saying enough and forgetting all the other crap and focusing on ISIS. Solve the civil wars later, right now this needs to be dealt with. That's going to involve men on the ground, and us sticking to tactical strikes is pussyfooting around the problem because it will not and cannot bring ISIS to its knees on the scale we've been operating.
This data is old (JAN15), but still a starting point:
"
Country Estimate Per capita*
Austria 100-150 17
Belgium 440 40
Denmark 100-150 27
Finland 50-70 13
France 1,200 18
Germany 500-600 7.5
Ireland 30 7
Italy 80 1.5
Netherlands 200-250 14.5
Norway 60 12
Spain 50-100 2
Sweden 150-180 19
Switzerland 40 5
United Kingdom 500-600 9.5 "
http://icsr.info/2015/01/foreign-fi...s-20000-surpasses-afghanistan-conflict-1980s/
