Because ... why not? What could go wrong?!
Well, we've a good week of bombing in the Middle East, which means its just another ordinary week of the past 25 years. The latest round of
results so far:
Across insurgent-held Syria over the past week, images have proliferated of protesters burning American flags, calling President Obama “the enemy of God,” and declaring that the American-led airstrikes against the Islamic State extremist group are helping the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
“America became the arm of Bashar to the terrorist,” read a sign held by a child in Kafr Daryan, in Idlib Province, in one of the dozens of protests that Syrians filmed and uploaded to the Internet.
...
The way the strikes are being carried out has deepened suspicions that the United States has abandoned the goal of ousting Mr. Assad, according to several rebel commanders who have received financing from the United States, diplomats in touch with insurgents and activists, as well as dozens of residents of opposition-held areas inside Syria who were interviewed by telephone or electronic messaging.
And on Tuesday, Mr. Assad’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, told The Associated Press that the government was “O.K.” with the attacks.
Well that's just fanfuckingtastic. Alright, whatever. Are we destroying ISIS? Two
views, one from a fighter and one from a defector:
In an exclusive interview with CNN, a Syrian ISIS fighter using the pseudonym Abu Talha said the militant group has been preparing for such attacks.
"We've been ready for this for some time," Abu Talha said. "We know that our bases are known because they're tracking us with radars and satellites, so we had backup locations."
He taunted the U.S.-led coalition that has been pummeling ISIS targets in Syria over the past week, including attacks on mobile oil refineries and vehicles.
"We have revenues other than oil. We have other avenues, and our finances are not going to stop just because of oil losses," the 28-year-old militant said.
...
One man who recently left the ranks of ISIS also said the militants took precautions before coalition strikes.
"They almost entirely emptied out the headquarters," the defector, using the name Abu Omar, told CNN's Arwa Damon in Turkey. "Some equipment they hid in civilian neighborhoods. Some they hid underground."
Abu Omar also said ISIS relies heavily on foreign members -- including Westerners -- to carry out its mission.
Splendid.
Okay, weve been hitting em hard in Iraq for six weeks now. Hows that going?
After six weeks of American airstrikes, the Iraqi government’s forces have scarcely budged the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State from their hold on more than a quarter of the country, in part because many critical Sunni tribes remain on the sidelines.
Although the airstrikes appear to have stopped the extremists’ march toward Baghdad, the Islamic State is still dealing humiliating blows to the Iraqi Army. On Monday, the government acknowledged that it had lost control of the small town of Sichar and lost contact with several hundred of its soldiers who had been besieged for nearly a week at a camp north of the Islamic State stronghold of Falluja, in Anbar Province.
We have no idea how effective our bombing is going to be. Either in destroying ISIS in Syria (we already know it isn't working in Iraq) or in preventing a major terrorist attack in the West. Nor do know the potential ramifications our bombing will have in the Syrian Civil War. As a brilliant military genius once said, "there are known unknowns and unknown unknowns." But hey, you go to war with the unknowns you know, not the unknowns you dont know. Or something.
But here's something we do know: Boehner says ground troops are inevitable:
"At the end of the day, I think it's gonna take more than airstrikes to drive them outta there," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, "At some point, somebody's boots have to be on the ground."
He acknowledged that President Obama does not support sending ground troops in to fight the radical group also known as ISIS or ISIL, but Boehner said that if other nations do not step up and provide ground forces, "we have no choice."
"These are barbarians. They intend to kill us. And if we don't destroy them first, we're gonna pay the price," he said.
The joint chiefs
seem to agree. Dempsey is calling for 15,000 troops, which means you ought to triple it if you really want to get past the lowball Pentagon number.
Any chance ISIS is prepared for that too? Yep. Thats exactly what they wantt:
The chief spokesman for the self-named "Islamic State" (IS), also known as Isis, has given the clearest indication yet that his fighters would actually welcome a ground war in Iraq and Syria against US troops.
In a 42-minute audio message uploaded to the internet the group's Syrian-born spokesman, who has taken the adopted name of Shaykh Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, mocks recent US air strikes and the moves to build an international coalition against Islamic State.
Addressing President Obama, the spokesman says: "Is this all you are capable of doing in this campaign of yours? Are America and all its allies... unable to come down to the ground?"
Well this is all just lovely.