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August 08, 2014

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Captain Hate

So pulling all the troops out prematurely leads to genocide? The deuce you say.

Steve

Tom: you and I will both be long dead before the crazies over there ever agree to live together without trying to blow each other up and/or chop off their heads. There's just too much bad history and too much fanaticism to think that there's ever a chance of attaining Bush's idealistic vision of people living together, holding hands, singing songs and sharing a Coke.

The best we can hope for (and this was true before Bush invaded) is to stick American lives into the mix which gives the crazies a target they all dislike more than they dislike the other. The 'peace' or 'victory' our troops win isn't a real victory, it's merely somewhat of a pause in the fighting. Flooding the streets with NYC cops doesn't make the Mafia families love one another, it just forces them to wait things out for a while, and the same holds true here.

Given this reality, how many American lives is worth it to buy a temporary lull in the fighting?

NKinLimbo

Pulling the troops out, letting the Mullahs boss the Shia coalition govenment who stick it to the Sunni, Scare the crap out of the House of Saud who see the Shia Crescent expand south and west to Baghdad and Damascus and Beirut, so they pay to arm ISIS. The blood floods so hard and fast, even the desert can't soak it all up. This is the way of Obama.

narciso

the practical reality, is that the Sunni tribesman are the short to mindterm enemy,
from the Euphrates river beginning in Syria,
crossing through Deir ur Zour, and running
SouthWest into the Nejd, where the Ikwan tribes of Arabia, lie

NKinLimbo

And a Caliphate run by the madest Jihadis of all between the Levant and Mesopotania helps Americans how? Please

Beasts of England

Has Nancy said 'We have to airstrike it to find out what's in it'?

narciso

so they are getting around to this now;


http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2014/08/us_adds_nusrah_islamic_state_f.php

who are we targeting, just rank and file ISIL
fighters, there's no sense of seriousness here,

Ignatz

It's not the wars we're sick of as much as it is the pieces peaces.

The public is tired of losing wars that never end based on strategies with no hope of success.

If we delineated a clear strategy that defines for everyone to see that "here are the things we won't tolerate and we'll decide where we won't tolerate them" and then went about smashing to perdition anyone who performed any of those things and then left them to clean up the mess they caused themselves we would soon find, again, that having enemies who are scared to death of you makes for a much simpler more peaceful world.

When you slaughter your enemies like the death angel and lay waste their lands and armies for certain proscribed acts with no concern for subsequently building a nation out of a tangle of mangled tribes you soon find there are fewer proscribed acts to stomp out. And it's a hell of a lot cheaper in lives and treasure.

And those proscribed acts can include the kind of barbarity we're witnessing right now.
If ISIS knew it would be pulverized and obliterated beyond recognition and, more importantly, its aims never reached because it chooses to massacre allies of ours like religious minorities and invading Kurdistan it would most likely be doing neither.

It knows it will either get away with what it's doing with only minimal damage or at worst will have to wait out and win a prolonged proxy war that we never really care too much who wins and so they don't fear us or the consequences of their actions.

'Rubble makes no trouble' is inaccurate. Rubble makes plenty of trouble; it just makes it for someone other than the guy who made the rubble in the first place, which is the best one can hope for in a world full of evil.

Jeff Dobbs

What this world really needs right now...An Obama Major Speech on Why The Terrorists Militants Have Disappointed Me Greatly and Are Irresponsibly on the Wrong Side of History and If Only They Will Unclench Their Fists We Will Offer Them an Open Hand . . . delivered in Erbil.

And if that doesn't work, a #hashtag

Miss Marple

Testing.

Miss Marple

Aha! I couldn't figure out why I couldln't post, and then realized that when I deleted my cookies my name and email weren't on the posting screen, so nothing would post.

I am sort of slow in my thinking early in the morning. Ha!

I am going back to work at the food pantry today, so will check in to see what new disasters have befallen the republic when I return.

Extraneus

What are the odds that a caliphate would arise under an American president whose middle name is Hussein and a CIA Director who probably converted to Islam?

Threadkiller

Last night Danube pondered Obama's use of "targeted" with reference to air strikes.

I think it stems from two things.

From his uber-liberal side he believes that guns kill people more so than people kill people, so he is promising that extra care will be used with these dangerous toys.

Second, from his jihadist-Muslim side, he thinks the best and the brightest Muslims, who have contributed so much to technology, wouldn't just randomly send missiles across the country side. This justifies his notion that munitions have a mind of their own.

rse

MM-this is for you. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118910907.html

The former mayor of Indianapolis has written a book called The Responsive City on the use of all that delicious governmental data to plan and take care of the needs of the disadvantaged especially. That of course is why cities exist.

The fact that NYC and the Windy City are also featured. No wonder Open Data was bo's first act in office-the day of his initial inauguration. We have to begin to wonder too if people exist to finance and give a reason for the existence of a broad public sector in this vision of the future.

Threadkiller

If John Jay were the odds maker he would say pretty likely.

Old Lurker

Ext, that wouldn't happen unless you also had an Iranian mole acting as puppeteer of that president. Then you have a hat trick.

Threadkiller

Hagel helps with the crafting of the odds:
http://www.answeringmuslims.com/2013/01/secretary-of-defense-nominee-chuck.html?m=1

Threadkiller

IDIOT JOHN KERRY TELLS STARVING AFRICANS NOT TO FARM ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwE2hYkziLs

Extraneus

Forgot about her.


Btw, that came from VictoriaJackson.com. Remember her?


http://victoriajackson.com/10438/obamas-senior-advisor-muslim

Threadkiller

Chris Stirewalt on Fox points out that Obama is the fourth consecutive President to order air strikes on Iraq.

narciso

well he doesn't really care, about this, fundamentally transforming 'is his thing'
ISIS seems to be undercutting OPEC, unlike
the way the BEND is doing in Nigeria,

Comanche Voter

Well last night in the White House, the trapped weasel sung--sort of. Who knows which way he'll wiggle next.

AliceH

I have Geraghty's "Morning Jolt" open in another tab and for the 3rd or 4th time I did a double take by misreading the tab caption as "We're Dropping Acid".

(What it really says: "We're Dropping Aid...")

I may never close that ;)

narciso

an update;

http://minx.cc:1080/?post=351043

darnok, when the walls fell,

NKinLimbo

This is right up Janet's alley: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-08-06/a-streetcar-named-progress

Rick B

Narciso,

What is BEND?

NKinLimbo

The Iranian Ferret's threats? I think they were aimed primarily at the Dem Clintonistas, Tea Party second.

Beasts of England

I agree, NK. Although if she was that miffed at the Clintonistas, imagine what she thinks about the rest of us.

NKinLimbo

"imagine what she thinks about the rest of us."

DEATH TO AMERICA!! that.

Jim Rhoads f/k/a vnjagvet

(long OT)

Thanks for all your prayers and good thoughts. They worked. After I had a nuclear stress test on Saturday, it was determined that the tachycardia attacks likely came from impeded blood flow from the left side of my heart. So, rather than an ablation, on Tuesday the very skillful interventional cardiologist who opened my totally occluded right CA in January 2013 opened an almost totally occlude left anterior descending CA (aka the "widow maker").

The procedure has been a great success restoring heart function as far as I can tell. I made 1 lap around the hall Thursday, 4 yesterday and 4 so far this morning with greater strength each time. My main problem is that I was able to walk too fast, and my leg strength flagged somewhat. I slowed done a bit with good result.

Now, I am on controlled, supervised diuresis to assure the die used in the procedure caused no significant kidney damage, and that will be a slow process to do it right. If all continues to go well, I will be discharged tomorrow or Sunday, likely the latter.

In the course of the blood work, it was discovered I have serious hypothyroidism which is easily treated, and should greatly improve my activity level.

NKinLimbo

Hey hey hey.. good new JimR. Keep up the good work.

Jeff Dobbs

Thanks for the update Jim and continued prayers.

Threadkiller

I am glad to hear your progress, Jim!

Rick B

Great news, Jim. Please keep us updated.

narciso

Nigerian river pirates, attack oil platforms along the delta


http://therightscoop.com/bill-whittle-the-murderer-in-the-kremlin/

Extraneus

Thanks for the update, Jim!

narciso

Great news, Jim,

Farguhar was a little better than David 'Abbott' Kirkpatrick, but still woefully inadequate at the Moscow desk

henry

From Chitown lurking types, a takedown of income inequality arguments. Thorough smackdown of economic modelers, no extra charge.

Threadkiller
On Tuesday of this week, Barack Obama turned 53. Or so we were told.

On the occasion of this presumed birthday, it might be useful to revisit a claim by Obama himself as to when he was born, one that would put his current age at 48 – or younger.

http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/obama-turned-53-or-did-he/

Beasts of England

Cheers, Jim Rhoads - great news!

narciso

this may slow down his golf game;


http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/08/top-advisors-predict-a-long-very-long-campaign/

Jane on Ipad

Yay Jim! Just remembering all that medical jargon would have done me in! Are you home?

Old Lurker

OK, we can breath now. Congrats, Jim.

Old Lurker

TK.........

Thomas Collins

Glad to hear that you're on the mend, Jim. Stop by here when you need to take a rest from your exercising (although I realize following Obama's half measures in the face of the Islamic State establishing itself as a sovereign body politic may not be the best recuperative strategy).

Cecil Turner (on mini pad)

Good grief. As lame and as hesitant as the conduct of the Iraq war was, it was a win. The President, elected on a platform of hopelessness, needed a loss. The only way we could lose was by withdrawing . . . and so we withdrew. Kind of inspirational, in a back asswards sort of way.

I'm convinced our best path going forward is to announce an immediate alliance with ISIS. Their die-hards would choke in despair . . .

NKinLimbo

CecilT-- I agree with your first graph. My sarcasm detector doesn't function, so I don't get your second graph :)

narciso

Who's to say we haven't as was done with the
February 17th Brigade, how did that work out again,

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/08/top-advisors-predict-a-long-very-long-campaign/

narciso

the press decided they needed another Vietnam, and they got their McGovern it would be so.

Threadkiller

Maybe we should do "targeted air strikes" on all the oil fields. Take away their purpose.

It worked against The Humongous.

rse

Hooray Jim.

Assuming you are still in hospital let me recommend the Mediterranean restaurant across the street to your family. Mom had a hip replacement there last year so I was there quite a bit over several days.

Extraneus

2010:

Obama Declares an End to Combat Mission in Iraq

Mission Accomplished.

Extraneus

In 2010, Biden Predicted Iraq Would Be "One Of The Great Achievements Of This Administration"

Extraneus

2007:

“There’s no doubt there are risks of increased bloodshed in Iraq without a continuing U.S. presence there.”

The greater risk is staying in Iraq, Obama said.

“It is my assessment that those risks are even greater if we continue to occupy Iraq and serve as a magnet for not only terrorist activity but also irresponsible behavior by Iraqi factions,” he said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/19862711/ns/politics-decision_08/t/obama-dont-stay-iraq-over-genocide/#.U-T2L_ldVc9

Extraneus

FACT: President Obama kept his promise to end the war in Iraq. Romney called the decision to bring our troops home “tragic.”

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 22, 2012
NKinLimbo

It's extraordinary how totally wrong Obummer is about everything. He's the living embodiment of the Costanza Rule. Slo Jo? how moronic can someone be without being institutionalized?

Cecil Turner (on mini pad)

My sarcasm detector doesn't function, so I don't get your second graph :)

The truly sad thing is, I'm not sure it's a joke.

I just watched John Kerry try to cheerlead for a "wakeup call" on how bad ISIS is. Obviously he thought somebody should do something about it . . . he just wasn't sure who.

As for the airstrike(s), the current description is that (one) section of Hornets dropped bombs on (one) mobile artillery piece. Hopefully we'll do more, but so far it's hard to see how the material support outweighs the propaganda down side.

And in the running for shortest operational life span of a pentagon statement is Pentagon: Iraq bombing reports 'completely false'. The strategic cluelessness and confusion is palpable.

So, if your choice is "US as ally" vs "US as enemy" . . . which way do you go?

NKinLimbo

BTW-- are the FA-18s carrier based?

Cecil Turner (on mini pad)

NK: according to reports they were, and it's hard to see where else they'd be based, so I'd rate that as very probable. There also must be some airborne tankers in the area, but those weren't in any reports I saw.

MarkO

Jim,

Great news.

Ignatz

I'm glad you're mobile and on the mend, Jim.
You must be one tough son of a gun.

Jack is Back (From Bridgehampton via the Road from Hell)

CT,

Is it a iPad Mini? How do you like it?

Got to be the G.H.W. Bush (CVW-8) since it was in UAE August 2nd.

Threadkiller

BTW-- are the FA-18s carrier based?

Launched off the George Bush.

lyle

Great news, Jim.

opened an almost totally occlude left anterior descending CA (aka the "widow maker").

That one took my brother's life at the ripe old age of 42.

NKinLimbo

CVN-78 it is. Back to the future. 24 years and 4 POTUSs dropping ordinance on Iraqi sovereign territory. I am sure NancyP will jump up and blame Obummer for 'encouraging' ISIS as she did with GHWB's 1990 Ambassador to Sadaam.

Rick B

". . . which way do you go?"

Simple. You refer to the Obama Administration Strategic Ten Year Ad Hoc Plan and then use a Magic 8 Ball backed by a Quija Board for confirmation of your decision. Over time your results will fall in line with the success rate of climate or economic models.

Extraneus

If only we had a military base in the area.

Pagar

Glad to see your good news, JimR.

MarkO

Whatever happened to overwhelming force?

Sandy--Engorged Capital~Fallow Districts--Daze

Great news, Jim !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TM -We see this "war-weary public" meme everywhere. But are we weary of war, or weary of endless, inconclusive struggles fought with no plan for victory?

Exactly.

Jack is Back (From Bridgehampton via the Road from Hell)

Jim R,

That is great news. Keep up the PT.

Extraneus

US warns Russia that any intervention in Ukraine would be viewed as 'an invasion of Ukraine'

Whoa. They must be sweating now.

Sandy--Engorged Capital~Fallow Districts--Daze


Iraq is over as a nation. As established post Ottoman rule (whether the British era, the Kingdom or Sadamn's Republic established in 58), it is dead.

Not coming back.

Stick a fork in it, that potato is baked.

The only questions remaining are

1) the Kurdistan carve-out--hopefully the Barzans are engaged with PM Netanyahu to develop a security relationship, fat chance that the feckless in WDC will help.

2) the southern oil fields--how long can they be operating and, on a side note, if we are concerned about "conflict diamonds" what will the international community (HAH HAH what a laugh) will think about "conflict oil."

3) Will we--or anyone for that matter--be concerned when the Islamic State army rolls to Kuwait's border, smashes it, and then marches to Medina and Mecca.


No entity in the world--save the United States of America--is capable of stopping the Islamic State army.

There will be a bloodbath in Baghdad and environs which will make what we have seen so far, and just recently, the Yazidi matter, be a pin prick in comparison

Go to Live Leak (eg: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7fd_1406604477) if you want to see the documentation.

If you thought the last thirteen years were something, just await the sequel over the next six.

Hey, you "Consequence management experts" -- time to start earning your Wheaties...

Cecil Turner (on mini pad)

Is it a iPad Mini? How do you like it?

A Nexus-7 and I like it fairly well. Very good for reading (and adequate for scrolling through JOM). It's great for travel. I miss the functionality of a laptop a bit, but love the space/weight savings.

NKinLimbo

"No entity in the world--save the United States of America--is capable of stopping the Islamic State army."

1. What is the combat ability of the Saudi armed forces?

2. can the Mullahs deploy combat forces to Basra? to Baghdad?
3. Would the Mullahs drop the Shia Bomb on ISIS?

Extraneus

For the lawyers...

Monkeys take 'selfies,' sparking copyright dispute

A series of self-portraits taken by Indonesian monkeys has sparked a copyright dispute between Wikipedia and a British wildlife photographer, who wasn't amused that the popular images are being used for free.

Photographer David Slater complained Thursday that Wikipedia rejected his requests for the images to be removed from the website. He said he owns the copyright to the images of crested black macaque monkeys, which were taken in the Indonesian jungle in 2011.

Slater told the BBC that although the monkeys pressed the button, he had set the self-portraits up by framing them and setting the camera on a tripod.

"It wasn't that the monkey stole the camera, went behind the bush and photographed it all by itself. It required a large input from myself," he said.

But Wikimedia Foundation, the group behind the free information-sharing site, argued that Slater didn't own the copyright to the photos because he didn't take the images.


lyle

The best and the brightest:

Ben Rhodes, the U.S. deputy national-security adviser, told me that Obama believes a full withdrawal was the right decision. “There is a risk of overstating the difference that American troops could make in the internal politics of Iraq,” he said. “Having troops there did not allow us to dictate sectarian alliances. Iraqis are going to respond to their own political imperatives.” But U.S. diplomats and commanders argue that they played a crucial role, acting as interlocutors among the factions—and curtailing Maliki’s sectarian tendencies.

This is a NYT excerpt.

narciso

those Harvard types are really sharp, of course wouldn't the Donbas repo team, have been kind of an intervention, I'm just saying,

Hornets, what Intruders weren't available, you have to go aways back to the Abbasid caliphate,

Ignatz

--Iraq is over as a nation.--

I agree and am willing to admit SloJoe may actually have said something not idiotic years ago when he suggested Iraq as three states would be a better solution that trying to keep three incompatible groups in one room.
Would it have prevented or blunted ISIS? Who knows? But it would likely have meant a more stable area to begin with.

--Will we--or anyone for that matter--be concerned when the Islamic State army rolls to Kuwait's border, smashes it, and then marches to Medina and Mecca.--

The infidel in me regards that as one of the great opportunities of history to finally and forever destroy this insane cult of Islam by using such an event as an excuse to level to the ground and salting the earth of those two irreplaceable monuments to Allah's supposed power and sovereignty. As even moslems admit, no Mecca no Allah; no Allah, no Islam.


Threadkiller

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/8/democrats-applaud-obamas-airstrikes-iraq/

Danube on iPad

CNN poll.

"Forty-six percent of people believe the events leading up to the resignation of President Nixon were 'just politics,' according to a new poll that coincides with the 40th anniversary of his stepping down.

"The CNN poll found a narrow majority, 51 percent, believe the Watergate scandal was a serious matter, while slightly less describe it as the kind of thing in which both parties engage."

NKinLimbo

I consider Watergate a 'serious matter', and Nixon's resignation was necessary. 1974 wasn't a very good year for the USA, but as a constitutional Republic based on liberty... we were miles ahead better then.

Speaking of polls, 70 % see mass illegal immigration as a 'threat' to the USA. You don't say?

Jane

Yeah Dot but that was a time when integrity in a president mattered. Not so much today.

NKinLimbo

@1:09-- NancyP's quote? There are no words anymore to describe that Botox addled old lizard.

MarkO

Nixon obstructed justice for the purpose of winning an election.

Sound familiar?

NKinLimbo

actually he won a landslide, without any knowledge of 3rd rate burglaries, but later he obstructed justice to prevent inconvenient facts from being revealed that would hurt him politically and aid his political enemies.

lyle

Definitely worth your time:

http://pjmedia.com/blog/to-be-liked-or-to-be-feared/2/

lyle

Infuriating. Nobody circles the wagons like asshole Dems.

narciso

Well the first Wahhabi state, did exactly that way, working it's way up south toward the two shrines, and north into Najaf and Karbala,

what exactly was Nixon's great offense, political surveillance, get me the smelling
salts, some penny ante dirty tricks, attempting to sic the IRS on his opponent, some undisclosed campaign contribution that funded the former exercises,

lyle

Wretchard:

For the ultimate source of leftist legitimacy is the view that they are better simply persons than the rest; able to make moral judgments no one else can. Their self-regard is almost erotic. They’re in love with themselves. Or to paraphrase one the president’s campaign lines: ‘we are the people the world has been waiting for.’

We’re ready for our moral close-ups.

NKinLimbo

Well Nixon ordered subordinates to obstruct responses to lawful subpoenas, subpoenaed audio tapes lost info, and he flat out lied to the American people.. wait?!!!

Captain Hate

Watergate is something LBJ would get done before breakfast on a slow day. I was no fan of Nixon other than exposing that creep Alger Hiss, but the hypocrisy of the commiecrats set the bar at such a high level that it's never been surpassed.

NKinLimbo

Thanks for the Link Lyle. All very true.

Jane

Speaking of landslides, was there one near you, Mark?

Danube on iPad

"If John Jay were the odds maker he would say pretty likely."

Help us out: what did Mr. Jay have to say about Islam and people with the middle name "Hussein?"

NKinLimbo

I will say this about Nixon... the major difference between Nixon and JFK, and LBJ and FDR was the Media covering up for them and conducting a Jihad against Nixon. Nixon had the unfortunate timing of coming after LBJ and Vietnam, both of which the young turk media types (W & B) despised, so getting Nixon was like a two-fer for them.

Jane

The liberals I know are desperately waiting for the talking points. So far all they've got is "It's Bush's fault". Might not work this time.

daddy

Good Morning. Is it "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" yet?

NKinLimbo

Daddy-- no chance of you being recalled to fly some S-3 Texaco missions is there? BTW, what does the Navy use for Texaco these days? http://www.history.navy.mil/planes/s3.htm

lyle

Marie Harf, best and brightest:

And that’s why throughout this conflict you have seen us continue to ramp up our support and continue to look very urgently at other things we could do to help fight this threat, because at the end of the day we can help the Iraqis, but the Iraqis also have to stand up, they have to pull themselves together, with our help, because this is a threat that certainly they but no one else in the region wants to see grow any more.”

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Wilson/Plame