Bravo, President Obama. Air strikes in Iraq and Syria, combined with military advisors on the ground are sure to destroy ISIS. Aren’t they? No, of course not. Because ISIS, like al Qaeda before it, is an ideology, not a finite army or nation. And an ideology cannot be crushed with air strikes. We can play … Continue reading Air strikes won’t defeat an ideology
I watched President Obama’s speech tonight explaining his plan to deal with ISIS. I was not overly impressed. As he spoke about sending more equipment into Iraq to help them defend themselves and military advisors to train Iraqi soldiers, I couldn’t help thinking, Isn’t that exactly what we did before? We sent them all kinds … Continue reading Obama, ISIS, and John McCain
I was finally able to remember that ISIS, the jihadist group that’s rolling through Iraq now, stands for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Learned it well enough to type it without having to look it up every time (don’t count just now, when I originally typed Iran instead of Iraq). Then this afternoon I turned on the … Continue reading ISIS or ISIL, they’re still just terrorists
No sooner did the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) offensive in Iraq hit the headlines than a particular song refrain popped into my head: “You break it, you pay for it.” It was a ferocious earworm that I couldn’t identify and cannot get rid of. (I finally tracked it down. It’s from a song “You Break … Continue reading Iraq and the Pottery Barn rule
Ten years ago today, on March 19, 2003, the US began its invasion of Iraq. The following letter to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney is from a dying veteran of that war. . To: George W. Bush and Dick CheneyFrom: Tomas Young I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War … Continue reading Message to Bush and Cheney from a dying Iraq war veteran
Finally!! All U.S. troops remaining in Iraq, some 39,000, are heading home and will be out of Iraq by December 31. What took so long? Pres. George W. Bush took his eye off the ball in Afghanistan and our search for Osama bin Laden and sent troops into Iraq in 2003, supposedly because Saddam Hussein … Continue reading It’s about damn time!
