Mitchell Prothero, a journalist with McClatchy DC, discusses ISIS’s remarkable takeover of a large swath of Iraq where an upstart Islamic caliphate is being established.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS
Unbelievable. How long ago was it that the “Islamo-Fascist Caliphate” was just a bit of ridiculous George Bush war propaganda? Now it’s for real. As you said, ISIS isn’t just a group anymore, it’s a PLACE.
Jihad is all about “struggle”. By giving Mujahideen warriors something to struggle against it seems we’re inspiring ever-more new generations of these guys.
This is like stupidly obvious, but it’s gotta be said as much as possible, Bin Laden-ites and Zawahiri-ites are pissed about specific things related to foreign policy.
It must always be stressed that this isn’t just a war of cultures, it is a group of militants who have definite geo-political ends. It’s not Western culture, it’s Western POLICY got-dang-it.
Once somebody understands that, we see the blunders and we see the possible solutions. Roll back the imperial warfare state, abolish the whole damn thing as soon as humanely possible. There’s MY solution haha.
At some point it becomes too late to dial anything back, and you’re forced to deal with the consequences of multiple bad decisions. One can only hope we are not at that point but I have my doubts.
WKP-AnCap!
Excellent, excellent comment; only an idiot would disagree with it.
I will post the link to this interview, but I will also post your comment on my Facebook page. Thanks for writing it.
David James Vickery
Ya think so? I feel super limited in what I can confidently say on these topics. Anything I’ve said has been said many times by people like Scott and Justin Raimondo and the like.
But hey thanks man, appreciate the kind words there.
Porgy Tyrebiter
I think you’re right, that we can’t simply dial back what’s already said and done, but what I think is important is that we don’t continue to make the same blunders over and over again. The only way we can really inform our current policy is to look back on past policy.
Rand Paul recently had an interview with Godzilla whats-her-name, Crowly, and she kept insisting that things were “in the past”, as if that means we must completely disregard it and “move forward”. Well yeah we CAN do that, but then 6 months from now we’ll be saying the EXACT same thing, that the errors we’ve made TODAY are now “in the past” and therefore have lost all relevance.
I can’t quite tell if such a position requires immense dishonesty or if people are actually that foolish, but either way it’s a dangerous way to treat foreign policy. Fuck everything up on a constant basis and insist that things are in the past, and that we’ve gotta push on doing the same bad things.
When it in a hole, stop digging, America!
This guy fails to recognize that the US is largely responsible for creating the mess in Iraq. And how dare he say the Obama administration offered to keep behind a residual force, as if the US presence isn’t what caused the problem to begin with.
Don’t have this guy on again, please, Scott, he’s way too rah rah America and fails to recognize that HIS country screwed Iraq.
Docherty, Gerry; MacGregor, James (2013-07-04). Hidden History: The Secret Origins of the First World War (Kindle Locations 753-755). Mainstream Publishing. Kindle Edition.
The British effort to keep Central Asia (Russian and China) from aligning with central Europe, (Germany) against the maritime powers (the British and the US) was described by H.J. Mackinder in the following 1904 essay. It makes clear by inference that the Anglo-Americans are determined to keep Germany and Russia separated, if not killing one another, at any cost, lest they combine their resources and know-how to challenge Anglo-American dominence.
The crusade of the Anglo-Saxons is about pure colonialist exploitation. Essentially it’s a thuggish state in its foundation and in its technology.
Here we’re talking about a state which is fundamentally thuggish, because its very basis is thuggery towards other states
England controlled Saudi Arabia and Qatar have in effect declared war on Shiites in Iraq, with Qatar in particular warning the US to back off from Iraq. If they don’t they had better line up the body bags in advance is essentially what English controlled Saudi Arabia and Qatar are saying…
SIS is Fighting For US and Israeli Interests so why US will Bomb its own Private ARMY known as ISIS/ISIL. ISIS was being trained in Jordan for whole 2012-2013 by US Military Instructors in Jordan for this very attack on Iraq by them. They are rebel when they fight for west and arab kings and again become terrorist when they pose threat to US/uk.