The first problem with the bombing campaign is that it has been piecemeal, rather than a sustained, comprehensive assault. There has been some success, with ISIS losing some ground in Iraq and Syria, they’ve had to change some of their operational patterns, and plenty of ISIS members have gone to see if they really do get 72 virgins (which are probably their fellow Islamist brethren). The second, and much larger problem, is highlighted in the second paragraph
(AP) After billions of dollars spent and more than 10,000 extremist fighters killed, the Islamic State group is fundamentally no weaker than it was when the U.S.-led bombing campaign began a year ago, American intelligence agencies have concluded.
The military campaign has prevented Iraq’s collapse and put the Islamic State under increasing pressure in northern Syria, particularly squeezing its self-proclaimed capital in Raqqa. But intelligence analysts see the overall situation as a strategic stalemate: The Islamic State remains a well-funded extremist army able to replenish its ranks with foreign jihadis as quickly as the U.S. can eliminate them. Meanwhile, the group has expanded to other countries, including Libya, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Afghanistan.
The assessments by the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and others appear to contradict the optimistic line taken by the Obama administration’s special envoy, retired Gen. John Allen, who told a forum in Aspen, Colorado, last week that “ISIS is losing” in Iraq and Syria. The intelligence was described by officials who would not be named because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The issue at hand is that extremist Islam continues to spread and grow, as more Muslims convert to the hardcore version. A hardcore version of Islam is being taught more and more in mosques and Islamic schools. It is being spread online through social media and blog posts. It worms its way into the lives of Muslims, slowly turning those who believe in peace towards a radical version, radicalizing them in thought, as pushed by the Muslim Brotherhood and a few other groups, followed by many turning to the violent version, as practiced by ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and other groups. This has been occurring heavily in places throughout the Middle East, Northern Africa, and Southern Asia. But, it has long ago spread to Europe, North America, and Australia, and seems to be accelerating.
One of the reasons that it continues to grow is that a chunk of the 1st World population is in complete denial as to the threat, and has decided that any criticism of radical Islam is a criticism of Islam as a whole. Which seems counterproductive, since radical Islam is a direct threat to what Liberals want to achieve themselves.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
Those seem like positive developments.
How would you handle ISIS?
Invade Iraq again? 100,000 US ground troops? Ban Islam in Western countries? Increased surveillance of Muslim churches and congregations?
And guess what….
None of this would be even going on had we not let the neocons and liberal interventionists run the federal government and invade all these countries.
They took a 911 tragedy and used it as an excuse to get us knee deep into a quagmire. We now have more money and Anerican lives lost by our foreign entanglements than what the terrorists accomplished on 911.
Good job America! Land of the nut jobs!
50% of all combat deployed military claim permanent service related disability when leaving the military.
Teach you chose NOT to fight 15 years ago, please tell us how many military you would like to see deployed on the ground. How long will they be there? is there an exit strategy? would it be a cakewalk like the last time? how long before we reached that fabled tipping point?
Teach how could you even consider takeing advice from people who were so wrong about the outcome of the Iraq War?
Fifteen percent of veterans dealing with echoes of their service that require benefits and care is far too many. Approximately four percent of our veterans have severe disability that will demand much from the system of care. Yet, the political lip service is there but will it come to fruition to do right by our veterans? Shinseki has expressed optimism that many of the shortcomings will be rectified by 2015. Until then, veterans may fall through the cracks of a system as their problems will not wait. Source USA today article.
According the The VA….. http://www.va.gov/vetdata/Quick_Facts.asp of 29,000,000 Veterans only 3.8 million required benefits.
So lets see that amounts to about 15 percent……….
NOT 50 Percent……Again John Is so full of BS that he just willy nilly makes stuff up and doesnt even care if he gets caught. Definitely a basement dweller.
BTW,
I wanted to say to both my Republican counterparts and my Democrat counterparts…. I love you guys….
while we may agree and disagree on different issues… I have found you are all my family.
I think ultimately both sides would help me in a time of need, and that is a very important lesson we need to pay attention to.
The reason is, because we are fighting over how the government acts on our behalf, rather than how we act towards each other. Bottom line is, we would never act this way towards each other in real life because both sides actually cares about human life… and that’s what’s important.
I would like that to really sink in and let that show you the evil of government itself.
We are all humans and in the end we just want to live in peace with each other….. yet we hire people to be evil… funny right?