SMH - Beheading Foley is an Attempt to Drag the US Back Into a Ground War in Iraq.

[grahamhgreen]

"What's happening is they are trying to get Western intervention in Iraq and Syria," says Clarke Jones, a former national security operative specialising in counterterrorism now with the Australian National University.

"That would enable them to develop a new and powerful narrative of Western oppression of Muslims that would help them attract a new wave of recruits."

Renowned Norwegian terrorism expert Thomas Hegghammer agrees, questioning whether the attack on the Yazidis, raids into Kurdistan and the beheading of Foley could all be a "deliberate provocation strategy".

"ISIS seems to be doing everything it can (short of attacks on the West) to draw the US into conflict," he tweeted.

An angry West suits Islamic State, says Monash University terrorism expert Greg Barton. Hostility to Muslims feeds into their narrative of belittled Muslims persecuted by non-believers. It helps recruiting among their target audience and, at the same time, puts pressure on Western governments to act.

http://m.smh.com.au/world/brutal-beheading-of-james-foley-an-attempt-to-provoke-ground-invasion-of-iraq-and-syria-20140820-1068ig.html

[kentuck]

1. I agree.

They are working very hard.

[TheKentuckian]

2. No shit and "we" will take the bait too because "we" are hopelessly lost in the region.

[Fred Sanders]

22. Obama will not fall for the propaganda and the warmongers that support enemy propaganda, it is

why he was elected, for that unearthly insight and calm.

First comes the fear, then comes the war. The American mass media is the greatest fear creating machine ever built.

Obama staying the course on his annual vacation is showing the enemy he for one has no fear of them, that would be enemy victory.

[malaise]

3. They who - John McCain and the rest of the neo-cons?

It's all too neat for me

[kentuck]

4. All of the above...

Including the corporate media and the MIC and all their spokespeople.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Well...we've got to something. However stupid and self defeating the something will be.

[flamingdem]

6. I wonder what's really going on

but doubt that Obama wants any part of it. This should be obvious to people on DU unless you think he wants to have his legacy for leaving Iraq destroyed and leave a possible mess for 2016.

What does appear to be clear is that many people will be massacred and that the US can aid with airstrikes to some extent.

This one has to be a diplomatic solution with pressure on Turkey to stop the Jihadi flow and pressure on Iraq to get it together.

[sadoldgirl]

7. Of course ISIS and others want us to get involved,

but- and I am very selfish here - I prefer for them to keep their actions in the ME. Considering quite a number of them have either dual citizenship or Western passports, this could come close to the Western countries. So I wished Obama would only protect the Kurds via airstrikes, but forget the rest. Even if we were still a rich country, we will not be able to settle the Shiite/Sunni problem.

It is disgusting to think that the money we pay for our oil goes into ISIS' pockets via Qatar and Saudi Arabia, while we send our people into battle against ISIS.

[NuclearDem]

9. ...

[blueamy66]

24. Got a headache?

What if that was your son or brother of father?

Beheaded like that?

They have no souls.

Done.

[Dragonfli]

27. There are many souls in Iraq, many of whom are aiding Christians and others attacked by IS

This link should cure at least some of your ignorance.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025434146

[NuclearDem]

29. Actually, it was a buddy from basic that was blown up working a checkpoint in Baghdad.

So you can shove it.

[CreekDog]

37. EarlG says you are a troll.

I can't say I've ever disagreed with that.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=182932&sub=trans

[CJCRANE]

10. So...nuke Iraq because of something a British guy did?

[CJCRANE]

25. So Iraq took out the towers? Is that you Dick Cheney?

[Dragonfli]

28. No, doesn't sound smart enough, I think Bush has a hobby other than poor artwork /nt

[JI7]

18. how about Nuke the UK and Europe considering that's where the worse of the Thugs

seem to be coming from ........................

[Dragonfli]

26. You mean Saudi Arabia? You do know it is they that are funding and sending IS out.

Or do you think nuking the victims in Iraq will somehow not be evil because it wold give you a bulge in your shorts.

[magical thyme]

11. We broke it; we own it.

and that is the sad and sorry truth.

[grahamhgreen]

12. No, if that we're true, I could go smash your car and 'own' it. We broke it, WE

are the problem, not the solution.

[magical thyme]

13. you would "own it" in the sense that you would be required to pay me its unbroken value

and could tow away the smashed car at your own expense.

It's the sign you still see occasionally in a store. You break it, you pay in full and clean up theh broken mess.

I don't know how we pay for or fix the mess we have made. But we certainly do own responsibility for the mess we have made.

[grasswire]

14. wasn't it Cheney who declared the "Pottery Barn" rule in effect?

Ironic, considering his part in breaking Iraq.

[magical thyme]

15. I think you're right. It was Rummy who said, "Democracy is messy,"

or words to that effect.

Cheney wanted to own it and he certainly was part of breaking it. Maybe we could send him the bill.

[grasswire]

17. oh wait -- google says it was Colin Powell

He was warning Bush that he would own the citizens of Iraq.

[magical thyme]

19. well, then W can't say he wasn't warned

maybe we can send W the bill.

[grahamhgreen]

31. We pay for it by prosecuting those responsible for the illegal war, we

certainly don't get to break it again, IMHO.

[magical thyme]

32. prosecuting the criminals does not make their victim whole again

I don't deny they should be in prison.

But we owe Iraq, Syria and other countries that we broke. It's a sad state of affairs when they find their lives were better under their old dictators. I don't know how we pay back that debt.

[grahamhgreen]

33. The way I see it, following the analogy, is like if you had a car accident and killed someone, then

it turned out you were driving under the influence.... prosecuting the perpetrator would provide some measure of solace for the victims family, though they certainly could never be made whole.

[magical thyme]

34. obviously we can't bring back the dead

but we destroyed the infrastructure and economy, plus we armed and trained another set of brutal oppressors.

[grahamhgreen]

35. And we need to hold those responsible to account for their actions.

[magical thyme]

36. we are in complete agreement there.

I was as shocked and disappointed as anybody with the "looking forward" speech and lack of investigation and prosecution.

And sadly it continues, courtesy of McCain and company.

[magical thyme]

16. We already were back in Iraq, bombing the dam in order to drive ISIS out and protect it

so they didn't need to make a movie of their slaughter of Foley to suck us back in.

Now that we've identified the British slaughterer as the twenty-something son of a wealthy Brit, we have a new target. That is all.

[pampango]

20. ISIS would love that. I think Obama will disappoint them. He has no intention

Last edited Sun Aug 24, 2014, 06:27 PM - Edit history (1)

of pursuing an Iraq III policy from what I can tell.

[flamingdem]

21. They were dumb to kill Foley

because this became a reason to cut off their access via Turkey.

Otherwise Turkey was being tolerant of the Jihad Highway - entrance via Turkey was just about the only way for these foreign Jihadis to easily slip into Syria.

Also, they have sustained losses in Northern Iraq. They will sustain more.

The upside for them is that it was a giant, cinematic recruitment video for their cause.

[ncjustice80]

30. Sad that he got kidnapped and murdered but any American

Who travels to that part of the world is a fool after what we did to them.