Drone strikes are successful wherever they are used. They also kill innocents, but as I said earlier, there are far fewer casualties than there would be in a ground invasion and subsequent occupation. That, and they absolutely terrorize the terrorists, disrupt their ability to get anything done, and generally give them a taste of their own medicine. This is why we're likely to see far more use of drones in the future - lower cost/casualties and higher inflicted value over traditional wars. Simply put, the need to invade is lessened by the ability to utilize drones.
ISIS in Iraq and Syria
- Thread starter Suli
- Start date
Drone strikes are successful wherever they are used. They also kill innocents, but as I said earlier, there are far fewer casualties than there would be in a ground invasion and subsequent occupation. That, and they absolutely terrorize the terrorists, disrupt their ability to get anything done, and generally give them a taste of their own medicine. This is why we're likely to see far more use of drones in the future - lower cost/casualties and higher inflicted value over traditional wars. Simply put, the need to invade is lessened by the ability to utilize drones.
If the goals are to kill as many terrorists as possible or to "terrorize" terrorists, drones can be considered a success. If the aims are to ensure the safety of the USA, to minimize the number of extremists, to minimize the influence of extremism or to spread democracy, drones are an utter failure.
Arab news channels have reported that Kobane has fallen like 20 times in the past few days lol. They always backtrack and say they captured this tiny unoccupied village instead.
There's nothing about drones that makes the US less safe. If anything, their success rate at knocking off both low and high level terrorists is very high. We have passed the point of no return in terms of expecting any sort of deescalation of drones or any other arms, would make the US or any other allied country safer. This is now an existential war where one side has to win or else risk being destroyed.
US air campaign against ISIS on the Kobane front.
This is what the Peshmega on the frontline face. Regular firefights and a loopy beardo blowing himself up as he drives at them in a Humvee. Not a single casualty (except the rat himself lolzy).
Read this Raoul, and tell me what you think, if this amount of killing and destruction is acceptable
http://costsofwar.org/article/civilians-killed-and-wounded
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...merican-wars/2011/12/05/gIQALCO4eP_story.html
Its definitely unacceptable, but once the sequence of events has started there's no turning back unfortunately.
the only way to do that would be to totally eradicate islam from the face of the earth, otherwise 'jihad' will always be a huge concept.
I think she means the West not attacking the middle east anymore. Unfortunately, we're well beyond the stage of laying down arms as doing so would just give the other side an advantage. Maybe Samuel Huntington was somewhat right after all.
That will never happen in our lifetime. Only one group can win this war, there is too much momentum on both sides to just stop.
your really trying it now with political scientists. Keohan and Nye are at least great thinker and its worth taking time to study their ideas. Huntington is shocking. You can do better.
I'm not a fan of Huntington's, but he seemed to be on the right track with a few things. I've met Nye before and hold him in high regard.
So now I am surprised. Your opinion seem to differ quite a bit from Nye. He argues for a very restricted use of drone strikes and he promotes the use of softpower.
edit: huntington got far too much attention for his shit. There are few political scentists who actually gain public recognition for their work. He is sadly one of them and deserves absolutely non.
edit: huntington got far too much attention for his shit. There are few political scentists who actually gain public recognition for their work. He is sadly one of them and deserves absolutely non.
Funnily enough theres been around more than 60 million people killed in the last century from wars, and "jihad" was not involved in most
He like most scholars isn't a fan of war (much like Walt, Mearsheimer and the rest). I'm speaking from a view of the international economic system being mutually interdependent, and the US as the world's powerful state and economic actor, being strong incentivized to seek long term stable markets by democratizing the middle east. That has obviously not happened, but will probably happen at some point in the near future once the situations in Iraq and Syria calm down.
That's obviously because wars are started for all kinds of of reasons, not just religious ones; mainly as a means to achieve power.
I know, its just that poster is of the thinking that Islam is a the root cause of every war on earth, as theres many people I know who hold that view, till I tell them about most of the major conflicts over the last 100 years, have had almost nothing to do with Islam
And even right now, the majority of people dying in wars right now, are Muslims, something most people dont seem to realise
again, he wants to achieve all that with soft power. In his opinion, using hardpower is counterproductive. He said that dronestrikes are only a valid option, when you have a specific target, that directly threatens the USA + there cant be "collateral damage".
He is also in favour of multilateralism, while you always promote the idea that the USA as last remaining super power should/can promote their own agenda.
edit: great video
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I'm not advocating Nye's specific views . I'm adding a structural realist component to a part of what he and Keohane contributed on complex interdependence back in the 70s.
I think more and more people are realizing this to be true these days.
If you want to talk about other wars then create a topic about them, bro. This is about ISIS, the west and terrorism linked with Islam. Im Muslim btw, so of course I don't believe that every war is caused by Islam.
You don't think I, or others, realise that? You don't think I see the fact that innocent Muslim women are being raped? The fact that innocent Muslim children are being murdered everyday? Not talking about ISIS here but the worst part of all of this is when Muslims become the enemy, or terrorists, when they try to defend themselves or fight back but thats a separate point for a separate topic. I know whats going on in regards to Muslims, don't try to assume something you don't know of me.
Haha sorry about that, ok I just wanted to basically clarify the people who are suffering the most, but I also believe ISIS have arisen from frustration after decades of seeing their country ruined by foreign intervention, and so much killing they`ve had enough, and basically want to put the law in their own hands
I do think they have a legitmate reason as their whole country is a mess, including government, who are just basically a long succession of dictators
BUT they are way too extreme , basically a product of their environment
If my post seems pro ISIS , it isnt , Im just citing reasons I think they have been formed, as long as the US and its allies continue invading the ME, more and more groups will come out.
60 billion? There are lots of totally wrong things you've said in this thread (stuff that is very easy to verify) and other people have addressed some of them but I just wanted to point out how getting stuff like this so blatantly wrong makes it incredibly easy to dismiss your rantings. It's 17 trillion.
Yes ISIS is a result of foreign intervention and nothing to do with Sunni and Shiite issues. Wow, that's beyond tribal, it's hive mentality.
You'll be encouraged to note we have our best intellectuals working on a solution....
http://news.yahoo.com/bill-oreilly-plan-to-defeat-isis-25000-mercenary-army-141145969.html
Kobane is still standing despite attempts to break into the city last night via the Southern front.
I spent the weekend in Paris so I kind of get where IS are coming from with this.
YPG spokesman releases statement stating that the YPG are more than willing to give information on ISIS positions around Kobane in order for air strikes to have a big impact.
Iraq: Lawyer and human rights defender Samira Saleh Al-Naimi executed by ISIS in Mosul
2014-09-23
With utmost sorrow and grief, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) received the news of the execution by the so called Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) of lawyer and human rights defender Samira Saleh Al-Naimi in the city of Mosul, Iraq.
Reports confirmed that on the evening of 22 September 2014, a group of masked armed men who belong to ISIS opened fire and killed her in a public square in the very heart of Mosul. She was kidnapped by ISIS from her home last week after she described as “barbaric” the widespread damage that ISIS inflicted on ancient features of her city.
Samira Saleh Al-Naimi is a prominent lawyer and human rights defender and famous for her activities that include defending detainees and supporting the disadvantaged families in the city.
The GCHR condemns in the strongest terms the execution of Samira Saleh Al-Naimi and believes it is solely motivated by her peaceful and legitimate human rights work, in particular defending the civil and human rights of her fellow citizens in Mosul. The GCHR believes that this heinous crime and other ISIS crimes are crimes against humanity.
http://gc4hr.org/news/view/758
I can't find the link anymore but they executed Mosul's top cleric a few weeks ago too for speaking out about what they were doing.
2014-09-23
With utmost sorrow and grief, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) received the news of the execution by the so called Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) of lawyer and human rights defender Samira Saleh Al-Naimi in the city of Mosul, Iraq.
Reports confirmed that on the evening of 22 September 2014, a group of masked armed men who belong to ISIS opened fire and killed her in a public square in the very heart of Mosul. She was kidnapped by ISIS from her home last week after she described as “barbaric” the widespread damage that ISIS inflicted on ancient features of her city.
Samira Saleh Al-Naimi is a prominent lawyer and human rights defender and famous for her activities that include defending detainees and supporting the disadvantaged families in the city.
The GCHR condemns in the strongest terms the execution of Samira Saleh Al-Naimi and believes it is solely motivated by her peaceful and legitimate human rights work, in particular defending the civil and human rights of her fellow citizens in Mosul. The GCHR believes that this heinous crime and other ISIS crimes are crimes against humanity.
http://gc4hr.org/news/view/758
I can't find the link anymore but they executed Mosul's top cleric a few weeks ago too for speaking out about what they were doing.
They're getting increasingly desperate. Getting blitzed on all fronts now pretty much.
Syrian Arab Army taking back all of North East Damascus now.
Syrian Arab Army taking back all of North East Damascus now.
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It's false apparentlyIraq: Lawyer and human rights defender Samira Saleh Al-Naimi executed by ISIS in Mosul
2014-09-23
With utmost sorrow and grief, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) received the news of the execution by the so called Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) of lawyer and human rights defender Samira Saleh Al-Naimi in the city of Mosul, Iraq.
Reports confirmed that on the evening of 22 September 2014, a group of masked armed men who belong to ISIS opened fire and killed her in a public square in the very heart of Mosul. She was kidnapped by ISIS from her home last week after she described as “barbaric” the widespread damage that ISIS inflicted on ancient features of her city.
Samira Saleh Al-Naimi is a prominent lawyer and human rights defender and famous for her activities that include defending detainees and supporting the disadvantaged families in the city.
The GCHR condemns in the strongest terms the execution of Samira Saleh Al-Naimi and believes it is solely motivated by her peaceful and legitimate human rights work, in particular defending the civil and human rights of her fellow citizens in Mosul. The GCHR believes that this heinous crime and other ISIS crimes are crimes against humanity.
http://gc4hr.org/news/view/758
I can't find the link anymore but they executed Mosul's top cleric a few weeks ago too for speaking out about what they were doing.
http://diaryofaniraqi.com/?p=78
This is just the type of media lies they do in every war, and people gobble it up word for word, and what I`ve been trying to say.
Im not that stupid, Imeant trillion, dont know why I wrote it wrong, but anyway here is article that states what Im saying
I quite like Iranian President Rouhani.
Gave a good speech at the UN.
Gave a good speech at the UN.
Ok here is the update from Kobane:
After YPG offensive in East and West fronts, ISIS have created a spearhead attack on Kobane via the South. This is a buffer zone and has been for 2 years. For those 2 years the frontline has moved forwards and backwards and the villages are always at risk.
The attack meant ISIS advanced into this buffer zone. Think of it like an arc, from the centre, the more you advance then the wider the circumference of your front line will be. What this means is that it'll be very hard to sustain this front because of the vast swathes of land. YPG took precautionary action and evacuated all of these villages, this is why you hear that they took 24 villages this day and that etc. These villages are empty because YPG want to keep the civilians safe.
The vast majority of the YPG has been involved in evacuating civilians. Only small units in the south have been involved in clashes with ISIS. They can take the buffer zone if they want. The spearhead attack now means they are nearing Kobane. This is where the bulk of the YPG fighters are located and this is where the real battle will be, so far it can be considered to only be skirmishes. YPG casualties have been kept to a minimal this way because it is not worth risking lives for this land that is not important, regroup and fight together.
The areas around the town of Kobane are full of trench systems created over the months in preparation for any advancement. Note that these trenches have been built so YPG can withstand attack not just from ISIS, but from the SAA who have more advanced weaponry and aircraft.
Now that ISIS have advanced into this area they have met stiff resistance. They have been flanked from both sides and are not taking any risk, their advancement is at a snails pace. They meet resistance and even if only 4-5 fighters are killed, they will withdraw to keep numbers high.
So in the coming days we will see the real battle in the south. Kobane is organised and prepared for this, it is self sufficient due to the blockade from Turkey and the fact that is an enclave. Any extra support will be beneficial but is not expected and will not be relied upon. Expect a Stalingrad like battle in the coming days and weeks, Kobane will not fall.
After YPG offensive in East and West fronts, ISIS have created a spearhead attack on Kobane via the South. This is a buffer zone and has been for 2 years. For those 2 years the frontline has moved forwards and backwards and the villages are always at risk.
The attack meant ISIS advanced into this buffer zone. Think of it like an arc, from the centre, the more you advance then the wider the circumference of your front line will be. What this means is that it'll be very hard to sustain this front because of the vast swathes of land. YPG took precautionary action and evacuated all of these villages, this is why you hear that they took 24 villages this day and that etc. These villages are empty because YPG want to keep the civilians safe.
The vast majority of the YPG has been involved in evacuating civilians. Only small units in the south have been involved in clashes with ISIS. They can take the buffer zone if they want. The spearhead attack now means they are nearing Kobane. This is where the bulk of the YPG fighters are located and this is where the real battle will be, so far it can be considered to only be skirmishes. YPG casualties have been kept to a minimal this way because it is not worth risking lives for this land that is not important, regroup and fight together.
The areas around the town of Kobane are full of trench systems created over the months in preparation for any advancement. Note that these trenches have been built so YPG can withstand attack not just from ISIS, but from the SAA who have more advanced weaponry and aircraft.
Now that ISIS have advanced into this area they have met stiff resistance. They have been flanked from both sides and are not taking any risk, their advancement is at a snails pace. They meet resistance and even if only 4-5 fighters are killed, they will withdraw to keep numbers high.
So in the coming days we will see the real battle in the south. Kobane is organised and prepared for this, it is self sufficient due to the blockade from Turkey and the fact that is an enclave. Any extra support will be beneficial but is not expected and will not be relied upon. Expect a Stalingrad like battle in the coming days and weeks, Kobane will not fall.
ISIS: Allah, Allah?.... ALLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH?!!??!?!?
Allah: WHAT?????
ISIS: Danger Zone? (Chuckling)
Allah: WHAT?????
ISIS: Danger Zone? (Chuckling)
Do you want Americans!? Because that's how you get Americans!