Saturday, June 14, 2014

Friedman on Iraq & Syria

David Friedman points out the obvious in regards the situation in Iraq:

"Has anyone commented on the fact that the recent events in Iraq make the U.S. and Iran de facto allies, both opposing a Sunni uprising? Or that the the U.S. and the militants we oppose in Iraq are de facto allies against Assad's regime in Syria, a semi sort of maybe Shia regime supported by Iran?"

In other words, Syrian Alquada/AlNusra good, Iraqi Alqueda/AlNusra bad.

8 Comments:

At 8:16 AM, Anonymous Humboldturtle said...

Bill Maher did a great job exposing this on last night's Real Time on HBO.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/06/14/Maher-Hits-Islam-Again-The-Sunnis-and-Shiites-Are-Going-to-Have-This-Out

 
At 9:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'll reserve judgement until GWB puts down his paint brush and gin bottle long enough to give us his insight on the situation.
Or, in the event that that never happens because no one in the "liberal media" will ever dare ask him, then perhaps Tom Brokaw will tell us if we still can claim ownership of Iraq as he did aboard the USS Mission Accomplished,May 20, 2003.

 
At 9:09 AM, Anonymous liberal jon said...

In other words, Syrian Alquada/AlNusra good, Iraqi Alqueda/AlNusra bad.

Not exactly. But complicated events make for chances to grand stand and shove events into a set narrative.

This might help for those that would like to take this beyond white had black hat. It's a graphic called a "A Tangle of Alliances and Enmities"

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/06/13/world/middleeast/in-iraq-crisis-a-tangle-of-alliances-and-enmities.html?hp&_r=0

 
At 9:43 AM, Anonymous liberal jon said...

Turtle that is the exasperated, irreligious left brought to us via the tea-party right.

There is a coldness there that frightens me - let them fight it out is the bottom line. The majority agrees with you right now. "Why should Americans decide which of these shit hole countries they (independent terrorist organizations) are in."

It's sad to me that the only person speaking reasonably in that group was the conservative whom I had never heard of. Maher seems to have found a niche being a contrarian on religion generally - so the right uses snippets of his show when he speaks about Islam= bad.

It fits the narrative both the right and the exasperated left feel right now. Let them fight it out.

The only reason we can do this is because we don't see "them" as essentially us or human. And the latter is the hard, liberal lesson that Bill Maher walks around. He thinks we would do something about the 1000s of bad acting Jehovah Witnesses terrorist groups if we had a chance. What exactly would we do?

This isn't about Islam. It's about criminals and bad actors. The left is buying into this libertarian, isolationist rhetoric at their peril. If we chose to ignore the world's problems. They will fester, grow larger in the power vacuum and then we will be forced, again, to action in the most destructive of ways.

Please note that ISIS has grown out of the Syria conflict. If we as a world community acted there, Assad would be gone and ISIS would not have fighters and momentum from Syria. Our policy has insured that the most vicious, the most repressive, the most militant always is the one that can offer the security which is the first thing people need.

We did break it. We bought it. And we have to do something intelligent about it. Not necessary military but we can't adopt the bury-our-head or religion-sucks mentality. It's not smart or even fair given what our tax dollars started in a region that had nothing to do with 9/11.

 
At 10:04 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

@Anonymous, no he can no longer say this because of the action of the current president. When Obama puts down his golf clubs maybe then we can hear it.Of coarse he will have to tune into fox news first. Becasue like the irs and V.A scandal the first he heard of the situation about the v.A and IRS was from watching the news. and the only station that has covered irs scandal, V.A scandal,bengahzi scandal, the new IRS scanal where the IRS erased hard drive so not to release the emails to the white house about targetting republican groups with the irs. Thank god for fox news or the president wouldnt know anything about his administration

 
At 1:28 PM, Blogger Joe Blow said...

If the commentary postings on these blogs proves anything, anything relevant to what's happening in Iraq and the World, for that matter, is that talking, negotiating, verbally communicating, whatever you want to call it is finished, done, kaput. That time is long past. The fuse is lit and the fire is burning and there is absolutely NOTHING anyone, in particular the U.S. can do about. Now is the time to settle scores - what goes around ALWAYS comes around.

 
At 5:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

for anyone who gets their news, only from Fox, a la anonymous@5 I feel for you, really.

"He can no longer say this because of the action of the current president."
What the heck does that even mean?
The idiot who got us into Iraq in the first place can't say anything about it now? He not only got us into this mess, he blew up Iraq in the process, disbanded the Iraqi army, which could have helped maintain some security at the time when it was most needed. On top of that his administration also cut the deal with the newly elected Iraqi Parliament to have us withdraw by 2013. Obama had to honor that deal and this country was fed up with Iraq too. What "action" should Obama have taken, - reinvade Iraq, imprison Parliament in Gitmo, continue the war, (against who exactly) with exhausted troops, no populist support and a suddenly austerity conscious congress after the financial meltdown of 2007-8? Also, during Bush's watch, FYI.

Yup, where else can you live in your fantasy world then turning on, tuning in and dropping out of reality with Fox news.

They do have quite the selection of blonde bimbos to entertain your fantasies while feeding you your pablum, don't they. Perhaps could use a few brunettes and a redhead or two for even greater coverage of hard facts.


 
At 12:50 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dick Cheney warned us that this would happen 20 years ago.
http://youtu.be/6BEsZMvrq-I

 

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