9-11 Quarter To The Foe, 2014 Edition

[jordan179]

We are now going back to war in the Mideast.  President Obama has hedged his war message with all sorts of nonsensical promises and all-too-likely to be true caveats which will probably make this war an abortive one.  The one piece of good news to keep in mind is that every Muslim Terrorist we kill will stay dead -- they won't spring back to life

Comments

[gremy]

I have a pretty liberal definition of terrorism. To me, a terrorist is simply one who terrorizes. As I see it, the main goal of terrorists is not to kill, but rather create an atmosphere of fear. Hate speech I consider to be terrorism, alongside political attack ads and school bullying. As I see it, if we wage a war against terrorism, we encompass all forms of it.

[jordan179]

Hate speech I consider to be terrorism, alongside political attack ads and school bullying. As I see it, if we wage a war against terrorism, we encompass all forms of it.You are not only expanding the definition of "terrorism" to insignificance, but choosing to expand it in a way in which we would have to give up our primary freedom of speech in order to fight terrorism

[ford_prefect42]

Hmm.. I kind of view "terrorism" as a collection of tactics. Particularly, anti-civilian methodologies intended to influence political decisions among the populace out of fear of non-state attacks.

Attacking our military, regardless of who or how, isn't terrorism. Attacking civilian targets by state actors (bombing cities) also isn't terrorism. Threatening a government shutdown isn't terrorism. On the other hand, Bombing a city bus to force Israel to release Hamas leaders on the other hand...

[jordan179]

Did you notice that two of his proposals (prohibit "hate speech" and "political attack ads") would pretty much end participatory democracy, and even to some extent representative democracy?

War and peace

[ilion7]

"Obama does not seem to grasp that he can't simply decree the scope of a war."

Rational people realize that you declare and negotiate peace.

"Liberals" and useful idiots of the leftists imagine that you can declare peace and negotiate war.

Re: War and peace

[jordan179]

Yes, and specfically: he doesn't get that he can't define the area in which the war is happening. If we fight ISIS, Obama may choose to only attack them in Iraq and Syria, but ISIS may choose to strike us elsewhere. Obama does not control things as much as he imagines.

[justgin1978]

Obama got elected by a bunch of people blindly shouting for some kind of change and because he promised to get the US out of Iraq. Now he is being forced to intervene against ISIS and boy is he hedging. He did say he is a "proud...Christian.." not very convincingly some years ago, and if he really was, he wouldn't have any trouble going to war against these apes. It'll be interesting to see how things pan out. I think we should draw a line in the sand, put the extremists on one side, the pacifists on the other, and blow up the extremist's side. The only good terrorist is a dead one.

OTOH, oh Father Abraham, why did you go in unto your wife's maid? Why couldn't you have waited for Sarah to get pregnant? This is all your fault!

[jordan179]

The existence of ISIS is directly related to many of Obama's policies. Some of their leadership are graduates of Gitmo who never should have been allowed to breathe the air as free men again. His pullout from Iraq created the power vacuum into which they later moved and in which they have now slaughtered tens of thousands of civilians. And finally, if he hadn't decided to turn on Basher Assad, ISIS never would have gotten its foothold in Syria in the first place.

Here, communication is important. Had Obama explicitly stated that he was turning on Qadafi and Assad for the (multiple) sins of those regimes against the United States of America over the last thirty to forty years, he might have used his actions to deter attacks on America. Instead, he said he was doing so for vaguely humanitarian purposes -- which communicated "I'm a fool. Roll me."

[justgin1978]

Well, those fools here in the US who wanted change sure got it. They shouldn't even be allowed to drive, let alone vote.

I agree that pulling out of Iraq just to shut up the liberals was a mistake. I didn't realize how much of a mistake until I read what you just said. Another thought: why did GW wait so long to declare war? I think that was a mistake too. How could we "smoke them out of their holes" when they were given enough time to make fortresses out of them?

I don't even know if this matters or not, but why does Obama call it ISIL?

[prester_scott]

Well, those fools here in the US who wanted change sure got it. They shouldn't even be allowed to drive, let alone vote.

It is refreshing to see someone besides myself saying this. Yes, I have long thought the American people, or that segment of them that voted for this clown, do share a significant portion of the blame for all that is going on. I hate having to admit it, but I I am quite discouraged about the project of restoring this nation to any kind of sanity, with the rot being so deep and so wide.

[prester_scott]

I can't even make myself listen to anything that guy says. I just assume everything he says is a lie meant either to advance his ideological goals or to service his own self-image. Even if he happens to speak a truth, it's bound to be banal, accidental, or in the service of a lie. I can't take him seriously, and it is evident no one else on the world scene, be they ally, rival or enemy, takes him seriously either.

[jordan179]

It has, I think, become very obvious to every other world leader (many of whom, of course, are paying lots of money to spy on or otherwise watch Obama's actions) that Obama is asleep at the switch. He basically just tells his staff "Do stuff," with some vague hints and limits about the "stuff" to be done, and makes speeches. He pays no attention to the detailed formulation or implementation of policy. He could be said to be leading "strategically," were it not for the fact that his chosen policies make it obvious that either he has no idea how to play the grand-strategic game, or that he's playing for some other team.

It's as if he never really wanted to be President, only to win the elections.

[prester_scott]

His "staff" are all clowns too. They're all a bunch of overgrown political science majors, used car salesmen, and assorted professional dirtbags. Who the heck takes Joe Biden seriously? Which foreign heads of state sit up straight when John Kerry walks into the room? Hillary Clinton was a little better, but she's still just an older, more cynical SDS operative. Can Valerie Jarrett or David Axelrod provide meaningful advice about more than political campaigns? The only reason anything even appears to be "getting done" is that the news media are all in the tank for Obama and/or his ideology. But as you point out, that only gets you so far. The Emperor's New Clothes won't protect him or us from the bad weather.

I tell you, if this is the bar for being President now, our future does NOT look bright.

[justgin1978]

I dread seeing who "we" elect next. I fear that those of us whose IQ's are actually over 100 will be out-voted by those who are only in the double digits. Is that mean? I too fear for our future. This country elected twice a guy who makes Jimmy Carter look good by comparison.

[whitefangedwolf]

I don't know the extent to which this lie is self-delusion on Obama's part -- he's one heck of a dumbass, and he may well imagine that his Mighty Presidential Will can just make it so "By the Power of My Well-Creased Pants!" (cue Magical Girl Transformation sequence).

I now have the image of Obama in a magical girl outfit stuck in my head.

I severely need some brain bleach.