Speaking to ESPN during a Tampa Bay Rays exhibition game in Havana today, President Obama insisted that US and coalition airstrikes against ISIS targets around the world would continue unchanged in the wake of today’s Brussels bombings.
Obama insisted the US is going to “continue pounding ISIS and we’re going to go after them,” adding that he rejects “the notion that any political agenda would justify the killing of innocent people,” a particularly awkward comment given the number of innocent civilians killed in US airstrikes.
In all likelihood, the Brussels attacks will be used as a pretext for further escalation of the ISIS war, much as the November Paris bombings were quickly parlayed by the Hollande government into approval for broad new emergency powers and deployments of more warplanes to the region.
That sort of decision is likely to come out of the European Union, however, as the US is continuing apace with its own escalations and doesn’t really need any new pretexts. In the meantime, the Obama Administration seems to be selling the idea that they’re staying the course.
Is he going to continue to arm terrorists, too, or is that on hold for now?
In the minds of Americans it’s easy to imagine that a black president could do anything. Uppity fit the description for ya’all?
What are talking about?
The suspects were born in Belgium and their motive was to retaliate against Belgium’s role in the international coalition against the Islamic State. Belgium had bombed the Islamic State since 2014, but in 2015, it withdrew its air force due to financial difficulties, but it still employs 35 military advisors to advise the Kurdish and Iraqi forces fighting against the Islamic State.
It is a mistake to believe that the attack was a result of Islamic State propaganda. The attackers were born and raised in Belgium and did the attacks precisely because the West had increased their bombing in the Middle East.
It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
1. Politicians believing that the Islamic State had “radicalized” people to attack the West
2. Politicians begin to bomb the Islamic State
3. The heightened bombing leads to increased revenge attacks against the West
4. This “reinforces” the myth that the Islamic State alone is responsible for “radicalizing” people to attack the West
5. Calls to bomb the Islamic State will continue, fueling more terrorist attacks, perpetuating this cycle
Why is this so hard for people to understand?
Two reasons: It’s hard to accept that America is wrong and are the bad guys.
US wars of aggression are cheap and there are little or no real consequences, save for the hit on 911 and that was 15 years ago.
Now if the terrorists got their hands on a nuke and used it on the lower 48, the object of the post you responded to would be immediately and thoroughly understood.
It’s because the Islamic State identifies itself as “Islamic” so it’s easy to place the blame on Islam rather than thoroughly examining the motivations.
If it’s a secular organization then people will be more motivated to do more thorough examination.
Also the news always talks about Muslims committing acts of violence; this makes people believe that Islam is the primary motivator of such attacks. The news leaves out the context regarding how U.S. intervention is involved in almost every case of violence perpetuated by Muslims.