For the latest time in recent weeks, US-backed Kurdish forces have
launched what they are calling a “final” push into ISIS held territory. Once again hopeful about finalizing the fight, timetables are getting more serious with President Trump saying he expected to announce final victory within a week.
These repeated reports of imminent victory are in keeping with ISIS
controlling no more than a handful of villages at any given time, but
even when they lose one, they tend to take another in a
counter-offensive in short order.
ISIS is in the process of just such a counter-offensive right now,
looking to once again contest control of the area in the immediate
vicinity of a nearby oil field. Though so far the Kurds have presented
the field from falling, ISIS seems very interested in showing that they
remain a force, even if it is just in a small portion of Syria.
The territory being contested amounts to three towns and half a dozen
adjoining villages. The Kurdish forces have been attacking this area for
several months. All towns and villages have fallen, repeatedly, but
never in a permanent way.
“never in a permanent way”….as in rubbled. Guess I’ll add another 10,ooo 155 shells to the total. Since the artillery is still there, despite the bloviating trump peace trainers.
From the article you published today from James Harkin concerning the Douma gas attack. The main evidence this article sites is from Bellincat, (Eliot Higgins)
a notorious US/UK outlet which receives funding from M16 and the CIA.
Also I suggest reading the comments by Wolf in the comment section following this article.
I loved the comment section. They tore Harkin a new A-hole
ISis was orders from outside to attack the Kurds to justify a longer U.S. stay. How predictable and lazy on the part of the intel
In the past when ISIS counter attacked they did so with forces large enough to actually take towns. This was an attack by a dozen fighters. If you look at the satellite maps of the area, ISIS is in the middle of a what amounts to scorched earth. For miles in all directions they are surrounded by a wasteland of destroyed villages.
The ISIS Caliphate is no more, it’s gone and Trump will be bringing our troops out in a few weeks time. When the best ISIS can do is a dozen fighters as a counter attack, that’s really nothing. They used to have a half dozen suicide fighters go in first with exploding vehicles and then swarm the entire city with hundreds of fighters and take it over. It would then take weeks or even months to take the city back. That’s over now, sure there will be more attacks here and there but nothing the local forces can’t handle.
I honestly don’t know why anyone is complaining that Trump is finishing off this last pocket of ISIS fighters. Do they want the Kurds to have to fight them door to door without our more accurate artillery? They will then have to use mortars instead, that are less accurate, more Kurd fighters will die, that’s for sure. It’s funny really. Anti-war people go from cheering for the Kurds to hoping we leave them in the lurch, right in the middle of the last push. Does that really make sense to anyone? I’m not a big fan of the Kurds but neither do I see any point in not helping them finish off ISIS when it’s actually one of the few things our military knows how to do.
So why are people here acting like Trump is some kind of warmonger if he brings our troops home three weeks from now, vs “Right now”!! It’s nonsense is what it is. Nobody else in America is doing anything other than hoping ISIS can be finished off and for this to be over with. Only anti-war people are in this case essentially rooting for ISIS. I wonder if people ever consider the marketing effects this has on the anti-war movement? It’s pretty hard to sell being anti-war as it is, it’s certainly not made easier by ridiculous calls like this. Are we now on ISIS’s side because they wave their swords at America too? Is that how it works? We support anyone who hates America, is that our great marketing strategy?
I’m hopeful that the withdrawal will actually occur. If it does, I’ll credit Trump with a promise kept.
But until it does occur, it hasn’t occurred.
And there is nothing wrong with “feeling” that way. But is it healthy to ignore reality? He’s pulling them out, so why not just admit it? Now you can complain that he will continue the rest of our BS policy all day long, because that’s also true. But why not just admit that he is pulling them out and support the decision? They are in fact just there wiping out this last bunch of crazies and trying to deal with all the women and children is a huge freaking mess too. Half the countries don’t want them back, some do. Honestly what a freaking mess that had to be dealt with by someone.
I’m glad it’s not going to be handled while we keep our troops there but I’ll tell you this much. I can actually see why people would think this is bad timing. Who deals with all these people now? And would it really have been better if Trump had pulled the troops out a month ago? That’s what people here said was the only smart thing Trump could do. Were they right or was Trump right to stay and finish them off? It’s not so black and white is it? We unleashed these people on the world, do we have zero responsibility for finishing this last part of it? IDK Thomas it’s easy to sit back and say what we would do in a perfect world.
Or am I crazy and you think there was some other rational choice for Trump? Do you think he could have ended Obama’s war against ISIS half way through and just pulled out? I honestly do not think he would have been allowed to stay in office had he tried to do that. However, he stopped arming all the rest of the fighters on day one (except the Kurds fighting ISIS), then he dropped the Assad must go line, (even when he shot missiles at Assad he wasn’t calling for him to go or else.) It seemed fairly clear to me that policies did in fact change under Trump.
Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if Trump had been president with his ideas instead of Obama? Would Libya or Syria have happened? Would ISIS exist? Would we have already been out of both Iran and Afghanistan for years by now? Think about it with an open mind for just a little bit and answer the question from a strictly policy based position. Forget that Trump is the orange gollum and all that. What if Obama had done a tiny surge lots of airpower and then said let’s get out? What if He hadn’t did Libya or Syria?
The world would be a different and better place if Trump had been president instead of Obama, that’s what I believe and the actual actions that Trump has taken back it up. Now it’s impossible to really know, but Trump has been saying the same things for a very long time. And no that’s not to say that I like his foreign policy either, just that when comparing the two, the world would be better if Trump had run eight years earlier and won as a Democrat. Then we would still be fighting against the war on terror and the spying and all that but we would be in a position to win that battle against the deep state. And I think someday we might get there yet thanks to Trump. And no I don’t think it’s because he plans all this either, I just think it’s because it had to happen and Trump will allow it to. By admitting it was a mistake and taking the blame for getting out he’s changed the dynamic completely.
And yes he’s still a murderer and compete statists and he hurts America in a whole bunch of his own ways, so the purists can still hold their nose all they want and be 100% correct in their own way that’s fine too I guess. Once he’s gone they will still have their consistent values and they will still be working for good either way or at least they truly believe they are. Tactics vary though don’t they?
I think I picked up too much marketing and sales along the way though, honestly. I can’t stand the way anti-war people have marketed themselves for the last decade. It’s been absolutely abysmal. No protests, no nothing just bitching and complaining and calling anyone names who doesn’t live up to their high standards. They tend to walk right into the “unpatriotic” meme like they are trying to be on anyone’s side but the US’s it’s such horrible marketing that I’m half convinced that anyone with the integrity to be truly anti-war must lack something else in their brains that has to do with business or something. IDK
Think about it. Vast protests under W then NOTHING for eight years! Now they bitch about Trump but still won’t protest. They take the side of every lousy smuck around and will spread some of the dumbest government propaganda so long as it doesn’t come from our own propaganda machines. LOL It’s like candy for some of them. A dictator chance American is Evil and they cheer!! Great freaking marketing right there. That will convert half of America any day now, I’m sure. Why not spit on the troops some too?
Here is something for you. Since Trump who else has actually moved us towards peace? Who? Name them. Who actually did it, not BS but actually has mobilized peace efforts to end this stuff and don’t pretend he hasn’t because you read enough to know how much is going on and how much pressure he is putting on everyone. So name me someone else, who actually managed to gain enough power to matter, to have done this? Who?
“He’s pulling them out, so why not just admit it?”
I haven’t noticed any stories to that effect, but I might have just missed them.
Talking about pulling them out, saying he’s going to pull them out, setting a date for when he plans to pull them out, etc., is all well and good. But it’s not pulling them out.
He ordered them to get out. That is simply a fact. Most of them supposedly went to work on the logistics of it and are now forging ahead. He sat his generals down and told them to wrap it up and get out. They are doing just that. Honestly, you are not a stupid person, why deny that he did it? Are you just trying once again to be “Right”? Well OK Mr. Semantics. You are right, until they leave they have not yet left,
Did you know that it takes extra men to go in and get them all out safely, with their equipment? We will see a surge of troops going in and numbers will actually go up (if you could get them), You will probably call that a real surge because during that time they will still be hitting targets. Well don’t do that anyway, because as I said, you should expect more troops to go in and it’s just the logistics of how it works.
But Anyway, Good for you, you are right even though you show at the same time that you either don’t want to deal with reality or just have to be right for the hell of it. But you won, they haven’t left yet, they were only ordered to, you split that hair and won.
“Did you know that it takes extra men to go in and get them all out safely, with their equipment?”
Yes, the movement of any substantial force is a complex operation that will have numbers going up and down while in process, and in this case one factor in temporary increase is the absence of a permanent in-country logistics operation.
Now: Did you know that orders are sometimes crafted, given, partially executed, then suspended or reversed for this or that reason?
You’re looking everywhere for Trump hate here. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but the only way you’re going to find it from me, on this, is if you just make it up. I’ve already registered my strong support for Trump’s stated policy and orders on the matter. And if he oversees successful execution of that policy and those orders, he’ll have my support for that, too. But until he does, he hasn’t.
I also love it when someone tells me he can get me some really good blotter for five bucks a hit. And I love it when the little pieces of paper arrive. But until I’m actually tripping, the deal isn’t really done, is it?
As I said, Thomas. You win the semantic game. He only ordered them to leave and they are only staging their removal right now and getting ready to pull them out. That’s totally different and really means that they are not leaving.
No, it does not mean they are not leaving. It means they haven’t left.
I gave Trump credit for saying they should leave.
I gave Trump credit for ordering that they shall leave.
And I’ll give Trump credit for them leaving when and if they actually leave.
I helped my kid with a project to hatch chicks from supposedly fertilized eggs once. And I cautioned him not to count those chicks until they actually hatched.
Listen, out of everything I wrote YOU pulled this little tiny quote out of what I wrote just to make a dumb semantic argument.
“He’s pulling them out, so why not just admit it?”
I haven’t noticed any stories to that effect, but I might have just missed them.
You haven’t heard any stories that he’s pulling them out? In what context? In the context I used this in, I clearly said, that he had given the orders and that they were obeying the orders. That’s what I clearly meant by “He’s pulling them out” That’s what I meant and instead you replied as if I said they were leaving right now. I didn’t say that, but you decided to argue as if I had.
You created a strawman by arguing against something I clearly didn’t mean, you took it out of context and then act as if I’m wrong? Whatever.
So Yes Mr. Semantic you are right, we are not out until we are out. But you had to take my words out of context and play stupid semantic games to “Win”. But you always have to win, so…..
Semantic strawman for the win!!
I’m not sure what your hang-up with “winning” is.
You enjoy slamming people for not “admitting” that Trump hasn’t done yet what he hasn’t done yet. Presumably your enjoyment constitutes “winning” in some way for you. I don’t begrudge you that victory, such as it is, at all, and what’s going to happen is going to happen regardless of whether or not you want to bicker about it and regardless of whether or not I indulge you in doing so.
My point is that you have to “win” even if it mean creating a stawman like you just did, again. It’s dishonest and shitty. But if it means so much to you to “win” that’s fine, you win. Just don’t expect me to think more of you when you act like a troll. And not a very good one either, good trolls are at least original. Strawman arguments and playing semantic games is lame third grade stuff.
And yet again, I didn’t start this conversation and strawman you or troll you, so I don’t know what you are complaining about. If you don’t like it when I point out you are being an ass, don’t troll me and act like an ass. Or maybe if you are going to take the time to converse with me you could do so like an adult? Instead of acting like a child every single time we go back and forth. It’s always the same, you have to win so you will end up being dishonest about the debate.
You know that by “Pulling them out” I did not meant this second. So why act like a turd about it? Are you twelve? You seem like it sometimes, that’s for sure.
The only place where I care about “winning” arguments in a comment forum is your imagination.
You have an opinion. You get to state it.
I have an opinion. I get to state it.
And if you want to whine about what an asshole I am for daring to occasionally disagree with you, that’s fine, too.
Thanks for proving my point. I did not say you are an asshole for disagreeing with me. You are acting like an ass, in my opinion, because you keep creating straw-men and you just did it again.
And why did you do it again? Why be dishonest if it’s not to “win”? Should I have said you hate to lose an argument so bad that you are willing to be dishonest? IDK I’m just asking you, is that why you do it? It’s the only thing that makes any sense to me. And yes creating a strawman is dishonest. What’s your integrity worth that you would make such an obviously dishonest argument? Not much apparently.
And you are welcome to your opinion, you are even welcome to stawman my arguments and you are welcome to being dishonest and you are welcome to taking me out of context, etc. etc. etc. You are free to troll me as well. Knock yourself out, you Win!
You are king troll, semantic argument god and all time strawman champ!! Congrats.
“And why did you do it again?”
To see if you would respond with a crap ton of butthurt word salad again, I guess.
Thanks for being honest and admitting you are just trolling me. It’s too bad though, adult conversations are usually more useful. I’ll remember to not reply to you again.
Well, normally it starts with me offering a short and relevant comment on something that you wrote, often something I agree with for the most part. Then you feel the need to complain — at War and Peace length — about whatever you’ve decided my motives must be for having the gall and temerity to post anything more complex than, or varying in any way from, “I agree” (generally when I agree with you completely, I just upvote your comment — that happens a lot).
At some point, it gets tempting to see if your reservoir of self-perceived victimhood has any bottom.