The Islamic State’s Challenge To The United States -- David Ignatius, Washington Post
Warnings from U.S. officials about the terrorist Islamic State that has established a haven in Iraq and Syria sound ominously like the intelligence alerts that preceded al-Qaeda’s attack on Sept. 11, 2001.
Richard Ledgett, the deputy director of the National Security Agency, said at the Aspen Security Forum last week that the “most worrisome” threat he’s tracking are the thousands of foreign fighters training with the Islamic State. Lisa Monaco, the White House counterterrorism adviser, said at the same gathering that the al-Qaeda spinoff poses a potential danger to the U.S. homeland.
The lights seem to be blinking red, but the United States is holding its fire for the moment, despite some calls from congressional hawks to bomb the Islamic State terrorists before they get any stronger. This delay reflects a debate within the Obama administration about how and when to fight the selfproclaimed jihadist caliphate.
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My Comment: So who is to blame for the rise of The Islamic State .... if David Ignatius is to be believed .... it is everyone's fault .... but no blame on the current occupier of the White House. This is the problem with Washington today ..... the political/media class who run Washington always go to great lengths to protect themselves .... and when something goes wrong .... it is everyone's fault but not their own. This is especially the case right now .... and as the world implodes into numerous wars and conflicts, shifting and disintegrating alliances, coupled with economic fears that the bubble that we have been living through for the past four years is about to burst .... I sense a growing worry (if not panic) from those who see themselves as the guardians of U.S. power and media influence. They all know that the rise of the Islamic State is going to be one of many challenges that the U.S. is going to face in the next few years .... but what is interesting is that they all know (and fear) that there is a very good chance that the U.S. is not going to be up to the job to face them.
4 comments:
"They" might not be up to it, but the US still is if we get our bearings back.
The elites are who they are .... but it is true .... it is the people who make the U.S. what it is .... and while the U.S. has a long history of ups and downs they also have a history of always get it right in the end.
" get it right in the end." Well we have been getting it "right in the end" lately, but It'll come back to haunt some of these sob's. I know what you really meant.
I disagree with the message of the cartoon.
Many people assume that Saddam would have been able to rule Iraq form 2003 until now. that is not a given. He had a powerful neighbor to NE who wanted him out of power and were not afraid to take on the U.S.
The protests and/or revolts would have happened in Syria and Libya regardless of the U.S. resuming the war with Iraq. I do mean the that we resumed the war with Iraq. We had no peace treaty with Iraq after the Gulf War in 1991 only an armistice.
A country signing an armistice has no right to delay, obfuscate or otherwise mess with UNSCOM inspectors.
The protests during the Arab Spring were proceeded bu high prices for staple foods. It was hard for people to live. Unless the Iraq war caused high prices for wheat or other food, it did not cause the Arab Spring. The Libyan protests were part of the Arab Spring. The protests in Libya might not have been brought by high prices, but people in Libya saw the protests in Tunisia and Egypt and probably decided to protest to get their grievance addressed. Obama came along deposed the existing government. He broke it; he owns it. It is the "pottery barn rules".
Syria protests would have happened regardless of GWB or or Obama. They were fueled by natural grievance and the Muslim Brotherhood. IMHO what to do in Syria is tricky. Do we help depose Assad, who we have many grievances against, merely to have the MB installed into power? That does not seem like a good trade off. It is more like 6 of one and half dozen of another or worse.
Still Obama did himself nor America any good hemming and hawing about whether to intervene and speaking of relines that vanish like a mirage.
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