Now that the U. S. has started bombing ISIS in Syria I have seen a familiar pattern emerging. Some are already declaring success while others are immediately declaring failure. That is what we saw in each of the Obama Administration’s major initiatives—the stimulus package, healthcare reform, and now operations against ISIS. Either one is tremendously premature. Success can only be measured against strategic objectives and simply because the bombs detonated or struck their intended targets does not mean that there is a clear strategic objective to accomplish, that progress has been made in accomplishing it, or that the strategic objectives can be accomplished by means we are willing to employ.
For that we will need to wait for weeks, months, or even years. Frankly, I do not believe we can achieve any real last, strategic victory unless we’re willing to occupy large portions of the Middle East for a century or more, something I do not believe we are willing to do or should be. Consequently, I tend not to be sanguine about this latest campaign.
You missed a possibility: Even if you have a clear strategic objective doesn’t mean it’s a GOOD strategic objective.
To be fair, you’ve just said you feel pretty low, Dave.
I doubt you’re sanguine about much of anything right now. Maybe you should concentrate on entertainment posts today.
http://youtu.be/u3IKNXppQpk
Lucy loves Ferrante & Teicher. She oohs and ahhs.
More frogs:
http://youtu.be/OMt9Ydrdb-U
You could entertain yourself dor a good while at Bill Crider’s site. He teaches English and writes in Alvin, TX:
http://billcrider.blogspot.com/
Don’t forget, we aren’t just bombing ISOS, we are also bombing Khorosan, or Korbomite, or whatever the fuck they’re called. We are now at war with two terrorist organizations in a country embroiled in a civil war and we are on the side of the guy who uses poison gas on civilians – allegedly.
Thank God we’re not doing stupid shit anymore.
We spent years meddling in the internal politics of ME countries. We overthrew/helped overthrow governments. We armed and trained insurgent/rebel factions, some of whom were religious fanatics. We did al of this thinking that somehow we would never suffer any retaliation. Never suffer any deaths or injuries on our own soil. We, or at least those who believed that, were wrong.
We will never win this conflict in the sense that we will be free from future attacks or killings on our own soil. Americans will now always be at risk when they travel. The best we can do is minimize our risks.
Also, there are plenty of historical examples of countries suffering an extended occupation, then revolting. Heck, nearly all of these ME countries were run by some European country for over 100 years. What suggests that we will be better at turning them into a secular democracy than they were?
Steve
… Khorosan, or Korbomite, or whatever the fuck they’re called …
I found it interesting that the “terrorists on the run” were able to stop and come up with a new name. Actually, they were AQAP, and AQAP were al-Qaeda. It is the old child’s trick of not naming the monster. Al-Qaeda does not exist because we do not call it al-Qaeda.
Clearly it is both a huge success and an utter failure. To capture this duality I suggest we adopt a new word derived from success and failure: “Sucfail.” So we can say we are “sucfailing” in Iraq and everyone will agree.
Now that the bombing has started, everybody who pushed for it has decided that neither the “moderate” Syrian “rebels” nor the Iraqi cowards will not be able to exterminate ISIS. I wonder where I heard that.
The speech writers, political operatives, and security consultants have insured they continue getting paid by causing a mess in another country.
Supposedly, President Obama is picking targets. I do not know whether to laugh, shit, or go blind. If true, it would be poetic justice. The delusional hawks get the war they wanted with the bombing directed by the delusional dove. Laurel and Hardy meets the Keystone Cops.
Who is dumber – President Obama or the people who badgered him into the war? Does anybody really think this is going to end well? If so, why? Please provide diagram(s).