Attack ISIS?

[KeithE]

[Dave Roberts]

I fear Obama is being lured into the same mistaken strategy as was Bush. Most of the borders in the Middle East were created by Western Colonial powers and the mandates of the League of Nations. I'm not certain that there is a way to make all these borders work. I fear that the real reason we have such a great interest in all of this area (and have had since the 1930's) is the oil beneath the sands of the Fertile Crescent. We, the British, French, and Germans all want governments friendly to oil giants in selling their wares and setting their prices. Is ISIS more of a threat to us than was Saddam Hussein? We are rightly angered over the brutal deaths of two American journalists, but if we bomb ISIS back to the stone age, then what? Bush had not exit strategy for Iraq (or Afghanistan). Obama managed to exit, but we did not have a strategy for the long-term building of Iraq. Billions upon billions of dollars were poured into Iraq's government, but there was no accountability for its use. We now suffer from off-the-books expenditures that accomplished nothing except create greater markets for our military-industrial complex. Eisenhower was right to beware of that problem.

[Sandy]

ISIS, Al Qaida, Hamas, all organizations that exist because of the mess made of the Middle East following WWI due to European economic exploitation. The US benefits from it as well. Extracting wealth, which doesn't benefit the people who live there, supporting oppressive dictatorships, continuous destruction and war aimed at protecting economic interests, would we put up with that on our continent?

We have ISIS now because Dick Cheney, and his puppet President W used the excuse of 9-11 to attack Iraq instead of Al Qaida in Afghanistan, and upset the balance of power in the middle east. Saddam was also a creation of US and British manipulation of middle eastern politics, nothing good comes from that, but he had nothing to do with 9-11, and taking him out only upset the balance of power and opened the door for ISIS. Cheney made billions on the deal. So did Bush.

[KeithE]

[Sandy]

I should have said, Cheney made billions, Bush benefitted as well, though not as much since he's just a shareholder in Haliburton, and several other private companies that had big Iraq war contracts.

Cheney was critical of the President's plan and speech the other night, obviously disappointed that he won't be able to profiteer on another middle eastern war.