An open-ended survey: What, if anything, should the United States do about IS/ISIL/ISIS?

[Algernon Moncrieff]

Barack Obama has invited you over for White House home brew, and he asks you what you think the US should do, if anything, about IS/ISIL/ISIS? How do you respond?

Responses could include, but are not limited to: nothing at all; invest in intelligence; form a multi-national coalition for military action; ask the UN to handle it; send in the Marines; bomb them back to the stone age; engage them diplomatically; load B-1 bombers with currency and Victoria's Secret catalogs and drop both from the sky (an irreverent suggestion Jimmy Buffett made many years ago regarding the Mid East).

What is your view on this?

[CJCRANE]

1. I'd want to know where they get

all their brand new Toyota trucks, ski masks, black flags and orange jumpsuits from.

[think]

2. especially the orange jump suits /nt

[jwirr]

19. I saw that photo also. And I wondered the same thing.

[L0oniX]

3. Send Hillary over there to fix it up.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

5. As the old proverb goes, be careful what you wish for

..it may be granted.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. "More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones."

[treestar]

4. Analyze whether they are a threat to the US as far as terrorist attacks

Concentrate on Al Qaeda because they want to make terror attacks here.

The rest of the ME, let them sort themselves out at this point.

Asking the UN to do whatever it is they can do is something I'd support too.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

8. Apropos of nothing, this is probably the view that most closely mirrors my own

I support whatever we can do to disengage from the ME. Brokering peace has proven to be a monumental waste of effort, and military intervention has been a disaster.

[WDIM]

6. Nothing

The countries and people in that region need to find their own stability and peace.

[Sancho]

7. Remove all military equipment and personnel from the mid-East for a start.

Close a couple hundred bases all over the world and cut the military budget in half.

Quit exporting or selling ANY weapons or arms.

If the US did that...repost your question in 5 years.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

9. Serious question: if we did that, what do you think would happen in five years? (nt)

[Lurks Often]

20. Russia and China will have attacked one or more of their neighbors

Does anyone really think allowing Russia and China free reign to do what they will is a good idea?

[AgingAmerican]

24. China is not territorially expansionist

And Russia is about as powerful as southern California.

The end result would be a lot less dead people.

[Lurks Often]

26. Then you haven't been paying attention to the news from the Far East

China is upgrading it's military and has been laying claims to much of the the disputed sea areas containing oil and other natural resources.

Russia is powerful enough to invade a number of the smaller countries surrounding it. Certainly Poland is sufficiently nervous to have decided to increase it's military spending in an effort to strengthen it's military.

[AgingAmerican]

27. You push the RW talking points

China is not territorially expansionist and Russia is not very powerful.

[Lurks Often]

31. Oh please

Someone disagrees with you and all you can do it is trot out the old "RW talking points" bullshit.

I could care less if you believe me, but some of us actually pay attention to what is happening in other parts of the world.

[AgingAmerican]

32. You are pushing the RW position

The left wing position is GTFO of the middle east.

Thinking like yours is why we have such a screwed up foreign policy to begin with.

[Lurks Often]

33. And thinking like yours is naive

The Middle East has been screwed up long before we got there. Whether we like it or not, our economy needs the oil. So unless you are willing to embrace domestic frocking and off shore drilling on the Atlantic, this country has interests in the region.

Ron Paul = Right wing Nut Job; Ron Paul is against foreign intervention and you agree with Ron Paul.

The President just sent the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division to the Middle East, I guess his position is a RW position as well?

I must have missed the memo where you get to decide what the left and right wing positions are, can you send it to me?

[AgingAmerican]

34. No it wasn't

The Middle east was peaceful for centuries before we (Europeans & Americans) came there. Your lack of even basic historical knowledge about the middle east history is telling.

Our economy needs to get away from oil, which is destroying the climate and our childrens futures.

So any Democrat who is against interventionism is a Ron Paul follower? That statement is too riddled with logical fallacies to take seriously.

Yes, the President takes the right wing position on this and many other issues.

I get to decide everything? This is what you gleaned from my statement?

More right wing nonsense....

[Lurks Often]

36. So according to the you the President is taking a right wing position?

He is certainly far more informed on what is going on in the Middle East then either of us and yet somehow because he doesn't agree with you, he is taking a right wing position. I think I'll agree with the President since he is far more informed and has the advice of experts who have both knowledge and personal experience in the region.

Peaceful Middle East? It was peaceful because it was under the control of the Ottoman Empire which had conquered what is now Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel & Libya, among others.

Prior to the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East wasn't that peaceful, here is a list of some of the wars:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conflicts_in_Asia

What you are posting isn't right or left wing nonsense, it's just plain nonsense.

[geek tragedy]

37. "The Middle east was peaceful for centuries before we came there."

You should probably read up on the history of the Ottoman empire.

[Scuba]

11. +1

[world wide wally]

10. Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and Israel need to form a coalition and each pick an IS target

and crush it.

[onecaliberal]

12. Ask our "friends" who are funding them

To clean up the epic mess they made creating these people.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

18. Interesting to note: our "friends" also created the Taliban

Last edited Wed Feb 18, 2015, 02:58 PM - Edit history (1)

...with friends like these....

[onecaliberal]

21. No doubt, our "friends" have made the world a dangerous place.

[The2ndWheel]

14. We'll be fighting them, not just bombing them, at some point

In the short term or the long term.

[riderinthestorm]

15. Pressure the Gulf States to stop funding them.

keep US ground troops out and let the locals handle it.

Provide humanitarian aid to fill the void that ISIS has left since they aren't a governing body but only a killing machine.

[libdem4life]

16. Let them go at it like it used to be before they found out they had a rich Uncle (Sam).

1. Pretty much
2. We already have NATO...for what good that does us.
3. The UN????????? They are not a "state" and have no standing or rules or consequences.
4. Marines...what, 1 "good guy" to every 100,000 pissed off people?
5. Who'd like to pay for all of these bombs and aircraft et al ?
6. Diplomatically...see #2 and #3
7. I miss the implication of the dropping of currency, but the VS, I get. Ha Ha

I say, let THEIR god sort it out...#1. The Good Guys and the Neighbors are going to have to up their game. Right now they don't have to. It's a sad situation that goes back for centuries,which in this century we likely did stir the pot, but not worth losing our way of life via taxed up the kazoo like did the Roman Citizens way back when.

Many factors caused the Fall of the Roman Empire, but none more than military hubris and greed, overtaxed Citizens, and lack of young, able bodied men to move forward the culture. One difference, our men can get home to procreate every now and then.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

22. The Jimmy Buffett theory was a form of stimulus

You drop the catalogs because....you know.

You drop the money so the people on the ground can buy the stuff in the catalogs.

The money comes back to the US; underwear and lingerie leave the US for the mid east. Unemployment falls; birthrates rise. People are happier all around.


...and yes, I agree, let them sort it out. I have genuine sorrow for the loss of life so far; however, this is a problem the ME has to solve for themselves. if they don't want to live in the 13th Century, then I'd suggest that they do something about this.

[libdem4life]

41. Oh thank you...I just laughed my a## off...my sociology education has just been

expanded exponentially. One learns so much here on DU.

And my political sense agrees with the last paragraph. Not sure anyone in the West has the will to be that sensible in our willy-nilly jingoism political seizures.

[Xyzse]

17. I don't feel like doing much with them really.

I feel like this is a manufactured crisis that is being given more credence than we should.
It's like missing the forest due to a damn stump. Getting tripped and that's all they could look at.

[leftynyc]

39. That they aren't on our shores

doesn't make this a "manufactured" crisis. I hardly think the Coptic Christians who were beheaded or the Iraqis that were burned alive just this past week think it's manufactured. I don't think the Yazidi women sold into slavery think it's manufactured. I mean, talk about being USA-centric. You don't want to help out those groups, that's fine, just say so but to pretend isis isn't made up of murderous scum who are wreaking havoc isn't being honest.

[Xyzse]

40. In the larger scheme of things, yes, it is overblown.

If we really wanted to make a difference, we wouldn't be doing it there.

We also would not be doing a militaristic intervention. A better method would be through economics, education and diplomacy.

I don't see how the push for more military methods as a solution. I think it does a lot more harm than good at the moment.

So yes, I consider this a stump in comparison to many many other things going on at the moment.

By concentrating on them, rather than dealing with the more moderate factions and allowing them room to actually do good or some breathing room to mature, it is basically painting someone to a corner which leaves them with less options but to do what they think are their only options, which is succumb to terror.

Not saying that the instances you have mentioned are not tragic, just that I feel the drumbeat towards "War"as ridiculous and a setup for failure in something that we as a society should have an honest assessment on what we could, and should or should not do.

[leftynyc]

42. Well

It's not like the US is forcing themselves on the rebels and whoever else we may be helping. We're being asked to help with logistics, intelligence and drones strikes. You may be willing to stand by and watch the terrorists take over air fields, weapons depots and airports but it appears from recent poll, that Americans are ready to take the fight to isis. The numbers ready for boots on the ground is just under 50%. For what it's worth, I don't want American troops on the ground there but I have no problem with the drone strikes taking out isis. In fact, our help with Jordan, Egypt and others at our side will do more for our diplomatic missions than anything else has done for decades.

[Xyzse]

44. That is a key difference.

Being asked for help. I am just having a harder time trusting at the moment.
Logistics, and intelligence I have no problem with.

Drone strikes, I have an issue with.

[bemildred]

23. Contain them by arming their enemies, and they will fall of their own folly or evolve

into something less extreme. Unless you want to occupy Anbar again.

[geek tragedy]

38. yep nt

[NightWatcher]

25. Stop fucking up the region so that thugs can rise to power

Bring stability to the region and watch how quickly these people police themselves and clean up their trash.

Maybe they should drop some of that excess Washington State high-grade weed and a bunch of junkfood on them.

[KamaAina]

28. Nuke 'em to glass!

[hunter]

29. We should hand Bill O'Reilly a Bible and a rifle...

... and airlift him into the heart of the mess.

With God on his side, I'll bet he could settle things.



http://www.mediaite.com/tv/oreilly-we-are-in-a-holy-war-with-isis

[Thinkingabout]

30. We have a situation which is not going to be stopped by sitting down to tea.

ISIS is most radical and wants to start apocalypse, they are interrupt the Koran literally and think the time is now to end the world. Along with other matters to be looked on in the future. For ISIS, it looks like total annihilation may be in order. They recruit members, reward them with women and girls for their pleasure and train them to be vicious and brutal. Human life does not mean to them. They send their recruits to do the "work" of ISIS and it is spreading to more than the middle east. They have targeted Jews and muslins who do not believe as they do. They have taken hostages and bought them to carry out their executions, proving anyone anywhere will provide for their entertainment. It's not going to stop while they are alive.

[fadedrose]

35. The US can't do anything, except

try to convince ISIS followers that no one can bring about the Final Conflict and maybe they will stop trying.

The world could end as we know it, but not from beheadings....been there, tried that.

[JackRiddler]

43. Stop arming the world.

These questions only seem to be asked of the public after the latest monster only "we" can slay has already arisen as a consequence of earlier U.S. policy (inadvertantly, unintentionally, intentionally, oops as a necessity). The question is why did the United States and U.K. governments destroy the nation of Iraq in an act of aggressive war, thereby causing millions of refugees to flee mostly into Syria? Remember that? Why did these same governments follow up some years later by intervening to assure the destruction of Libya? Why do they arm and support the Gulf states, some of the most oppressive and aggressive regimes in the world, whose direct support for the most extreme factions in Syria and Iraq gave rise to ISIS?

Related, why did the U.S. government devise and force a policy on Mexico that led to an insane drug war in which tens of thousands of people have been murdered, often with the same barbarity (mass beheadings, for example) as in the ISIS-controlled territory?

Stop helping to set up future conflicts and wars around the world. Stop allowing private interests to profit from these by way of arms sales and debt.

[Orsino]

45. UN Security Council. n/t