Nuvendil said:
Yes we could withdraw air support, but then it would become a brutal war of attrition. History has shown that. We don't have much on the ground, btw. It's almost all air support. As for whiping out ISIL, most of the US population is strenuously opposed to more boots on the ground, a president marching 100,000 troops into ISIL territory would be political suicide. And besides, the ground forces currently there are winning with air support. And even with boots on the ground civilian casualties would be high, history shows this. It's a fact of war. So short of boots on the ground, annihilation of ISIL could be done via our 100+ heavy bomber fleet but the collateral damage would be enormous. And as for the world not objecting, you don't watch the same media I do cause if they flip over 82 accidental deaths, what d you think they would say to 100× that number? Cause that's the reality of that kind of campaign. As for US agendas there, Obama and Congress have been trying to disentangle us from this mess for years because whatever reasons we had for being there is far outweighed by the growing negativity in the public eye about any boots-on-the-ground involvement. But the US gov also doesn't want to show weakness. It's all politics really, there isn't much in the way of resources over there we need to be brutally honest. Not to give the impression I think most of our gov cares about Iraq, they don't. They just care about appearances. It's still a callous, calculated stance. Just not the one you're thinking of. My overall point here: this is the cost of war, casualties like this would come either by a US drone or an Iraqi or Syrian rifle or tank. Welcome to back to real war. It's been a while, but this is what it's like.
Edit: And yes, I do agree western intervention in the middle east has mostly been a train wreck. It worked mostly in the far east but its clear we have not accomplished nearly that in the ME. We were unprepared for how things would go, that much is clear and I personally think we played right into the hands of those who formed ISIL. |
I appreciate the well thought out and respectful response, will be back for discussion this evening, hopefully, and will share my thoughts - Gotta get my day started already haha