Oh, I know, @jrj1701 ... I know. But in the meantime, how willing should we be to watch public beheadings without trying to do something ACTIVE instead of just thinking how nice it would be to stop funding and wait for it to go away? Has society become such zombie cold fish that only the bottom line matters? (Uh... don't answer that. I try very hard to hold onto the thread of naivety I have left when everything else brings out my cynical side.) I don't WANT to "get involved." I have been against 99% of what this administration has done and most of it feels like a dangerous joke. But someone very close was on the way to the Pentagon "that morning" and going through it again shouldn't be an option. I'm not unbendable... I take it all in, so please keep talking. I don't pretend to be up to speed on this and although I may come across as argumentative, it's actually the way I learn. As long as it's not someone bashing America because that seems to be in vogue now, I'm always listening.
Unless it's a false report (doubtful) I just got word that there's been another ISIS beheading of a journalist made public.
I hear you Kate, in a perfect world we would be able to do as we did in WWI&II yet most of what ISIS/ISIL is doing on is to get us back over there, and the biggest reason is so we will give weapons to an ally that hasn't fought, yet ran and gave ISIS/ISIL access to the weapons we gave them the last time. The Kurds will stand and fight regardless,if we help they will stand, if we give Turkey some consolation they might help, yet we will achieve nothing by going over there.
A perfect world... when I was young and dumb, I really thought it may happen before I turned 30. Uh... yeah, right, keep dreaming. Maybe by the time I hit 80? I won't hold my breath. Thank you for explaining more of this to me. It's easy for people to go into attack mode when questions are asked in different ways than they perceive as "the norm" and since I'm trained as a journalist, my "norm" is really *really* oddball sometimes. But you took the time to fill in some of the blanks and I appreciate that. What do you think of the ISIS murderer saying "I'm back, Obama" and calling him out by name that way instead of "America" like before? Just an intimidation tactic, yes? Or another veiled (literally) threat? And also, what do you think of the emerging (at least to me) news that Obama had been warned in security briefings for more than a year concerning how ISIS was building and becoming a threat and chose to do nothing?
I am hesitant to speculate, President Obama is the type to play down threats, trusting in the secret service to protect him.
Ah... yes. Well I didn't mean a personal threat to him. I meant more like challenging him on a personal level to do something instead of the customary "America" they used before. It just seemed strange like they're getting more agitated... guess that's a no-brainer. And now they're saying a British citizen will be next. Wonder how many beheadings it will take until people realize it's really not going to stop by ignoring it. Interesting breaking news I saw this morning... that an attempt was made to rescue the captured British man. (journalist? Not sure) The attempt failed, but at least it was tried. There's also a woman captive... but I haven't heard an update on that. I'm assuming she's still captive, but it's been about a week now since I've heard anything.
Kate the problem I am having is that of course the press is concerned about their captured reporters, and that the public display of brutality is horrible and moves me to anger, yet I cannot let that anger rule over wisdom. ISIS/ISIL wants us to fight, they want us to go over there and they are hoping to get enough people to their cause to beat us, because they are doing the things that have proven to get our attention. I now believe that we need to be more vigilant because their next step is to perform a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. which will provoke more anger and then we will end up doing what we did after 9/11. President Obama's administration has in the past been dealing with dissident elements in Syria who opposed al-Assad, maybe some other US groups have dealt with ISIS/ISIL when they were the enemy of our enemy, and how many times has that bit us in the behind.
I think it moves everyone to anger, yes. I do have to wonder if "wisdom" is in having a totally sucky foreign policy (wait, do we even have one any longer?!). I couldn't believe the recent Obama statement that he has "no strategy" concerning ISIL. (Even CNN is reporting that one... will wonders never cease!) Uh... think it might soon be time to consider one, Mister President? So what is wisdom in this case, jrj? P***-poor foreign policy that's making the rest of the world view us as sissy scaredy-cat wimps probably isn't one of the better choices. Being the weakest link has never been the right choice.
Kate, I am not defending our present POTUS and his seemingly poor foreign policy, yet some of our policy in dealing with an terrorist organization that might have a multi-national capability has to be covert, meaning that the public doesn't see reassuring actions that prove something is being done, all we are seeing is hostages having their heads cut off and a group of thugs rampaging across Syria and Iraq, and we want that to stop RIGHT NOW!!! Patience is a key component to wisdom and wise action, the opponent's job is to keep us reacting to their movement, thus they dictate our movements. One way to keep us reacting is to wage psychological warfare, do horrible things that will make us angry and force us to move before it is wise to do so.
I guess this thread has been ignored for awhile. ISIS is all in the news. We have people salivating at the thought of more war, others wanting to turn belly up, and a bunch of sane people worried and wanting to be sure that we know what we are doing. Bear in mind that these people (ISIS) are as much Muslim as Hitler was Christian (I know that some far right wingers think he was a Christian, but that is because they aren't). We need to remind Muslims that Mohammed said Jesus is the Messiah. And we need to remember that Muslims aren't the enemy, fanatics are.
Great post, @thomas pendrake . Extremists are constantly trying to make people forget things like this. There are so many examples of this in all areas... most recently the statement I heard that Christians are bad because a few "Christians" decided that burning down an abortion clinic was a good idea. Or another one we've heard... Christianity is bad because just look at what Westboro does! It's like people have lost the ability to distinguish between extremists and "normal" members of any particular religious group.
Interesting side note here, now that you mentioned it. I just realized that I haven't heard or read anything linking ISIS to Muslim. Odd... maybe I've just not caught it or paid enough attention, but I'm trying to think of an instance and I can't. In the past, groups like that (i.e. Al Queda) were often prefaced in reports/articles as a Muslim extremist group. Hmmm... yes, interesting. Maybe people are finally realizing that all Christians are NOT like Westboro and all Muslims are NOT like the extremists. At least that would be a step in the right direction.
Not linked to Islam? May I remind you ISIS is an accronym for Islamiic State of Iraq and Syria. How much more evidence is needed?
I said the news reports are not PREFACED in reports and articles as a "Muslim extremist group" (meaning with those words). Hmmm. Prefaced with those words. Yep, yep, that's what I said. My goodness, you remind me of someone else. Of course I know what it stands for and what the acronym means. This, as my post said, was about articles and reports and the wording *linking* them.
Isis is like a large school bully. When you don't want his attention you back off and watch someone else catch it thinking that it's alright because you keep backing off unscathed. What comes as a normal theme is that the bully will inevitably pick on more and more folks until it's your turn. You didn't really hassle the kid much so why you? Now it's time to stand up to the kid, hoping that he hasn't perfected his art and hasn't grown stronger since you started hiding out. We really do not have time to wait for an eventual assault by the enemy, just search out the jerk, ( badadi) show him the error of his ways until he calls on Jesus for help then move on. The first beheading by this crowd should have been the call to war. They are busy bullying Christians, and when they don't have enough Christians they bully real Muslims. Time to take out the trash.
New news guys!!!!!!! The U.S. Just performed air strikes against ISIS positions in Syria. The first of many more to come, I hope, until they forget wanting virgins.
I saw that on my breaking news app this morning, yes. For all the things this administration has done that I'm 100% against and appalled with, this one didn't seem to have a second option. Holding hands and swaying while singing Give Peace a Chance didn't work in the 60s and it surely wouldn't work now with this terrorist group. I think that for peace to have a "chance", the other side needs to have a concept of what peace *is* otherwise it's farcical.
ISIS definitely is a threat to the United States and our allies around the world. I think it's a pretty safe bet that we have ISIS members within our borders right now plotting deadly attacks. Our intelligence agencies think so. I think it's only a matter of time we are hit on a scale much larger than 9/11, sadly. I just hope our reaction to it isn't to throw away more of our liberties. We are just going to have to remain vigilent and hope our intelligence agencies do their jobs.
I love the fact that the United Arab Emirates sent their group of planes in led by a Female pilot, Major Mariam al-Mansouri, and then made a big deal about it. Not only did they bomb the suckers, they thumbed their nose about it. Send her to bomb the Taliban, too. And she is pretty, as well as smart.
She is pretty,Tom, but she now has another set of problems. This has been touted a, "war based on religion," and as such according to her father, she has been disowned by him. I specify,"him" because the mother has no say in the matter. I digress. So now, she is not only an enemy of ISIS, because she's a pilot for the UAR, but an enemy of her own people's faith which puts her as number one on the hit list. The media has done it again. If our own president O'Bama doesn't broadcast our movements and who is involved, the media does. In WWII our subs were dropping down to 300 feet because the Japanese ships were setting their depth charges to 200. The media came out with that fact and our subs took a beating after that. There are just some things that the media needs to think about before they publish. Granted, the lady pilot should have thought about her photo op and taken a pat on the back after everything is finished. But, whoever is in the wrong, I fear that all of her training will be short lived. That being said, I do praise her and others like her for going against everything in their fight for equality by fighting for their country. I dearly hope the UAR can protect her and use her in the capacity she has chosen.
