You got a plan to deal with Russia when we "land grab" Syria? Combine that land grab with TN's bomb Mecca proposition and the odds are pretty good you get Islamic fanatics with Russian nukes floating around nearby. And yes, that would be a terrible idea for the Russians but since when has any country outside the Middle East done anything rational when confronted by problems there of their own making?
Wow.... seeing these reports about King Abdullah of Jordan and if they are true this guy is an absolute badass. He wasted no time getting out of Washington and back to Amman. Why? So he could quite Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven about what he is going to do to ISIS. Then he throws on his military uniform and leads a bombing raid over Iraq that kills 55 ISIS scumbags including someone who is known as the Prince of Nineveh. After he executed the al-Qaeda commander and the hag yesterday he took it to a whole new level today. This was his exact quote... “Any man I see out there, I’m gonna kill him. Any son of a bitch takes a shot at me, I’m not only going to kill him, I’m going to kill his wife and all his friends and burn his damn house down. " He also said... "The only problem we’re going to have is running out of fuel and bullets." Throw in he rides Harleys and his wife is pretty hot...
The problem with all that is the amount of innocent collateral damage it's likely to cause. The indiscriminate killing of innocents is kind of how groups like this gain a foothold in the first place.
This is the Middle East in a nutshell. The crazies are crazy like they are because the authorities are corrupt, entrenched and every bit as vicious as the bad guys. Mexico is going that way also. Coming soon to a border near you.
The real problem is that it illustrates exactly what the terms are in the conflict between ISIS and the ruling elites in the Middle East. The elites don't have enough popular support to rally their peoples against ISIS and so they have to use fear and intimidation instead, which is playing right into ISIS hands. Why is ISIS strong in the Syrian desert? Because the Assad's have been brutal dictators for decades and the common man doesn't see any difference between the authorities and the usurpers, so he just keeps his head down and prays.
I don't understand. A handful of posts after you talked about how moderate muslims in the region are too afraid to do anything to ISIS, you criticize a moderate muslim leader for taking a strong stand against ISIS? (am I reading into your posts wrong?)
No moderate leader would ever suggest that he would kill the wife of an enemy. Women and children, noncombatants in general, are never fair game except for those inclined to brutal pursuits. What this incident did was to tear the mask off of the Jordanian elites and expose them for what they are: brutal unelected rulers who will maintain power by any means necessary. We've always seen the Jordanians as moderate but when pressed, and they're being pressed now, they're capable of the same brutality that pervades the governments in the region. Quick question: are we better off with Saddam Hussein dead at this point?
Huh? sure Jordan is capable of the same brutality and yet they've shown to be peaceful allies to the west. They are pressed now but their anger is at the "bad guys" and that's not a bad thing. I understand Jordan's not the greatest country in the region but at the same time someone's got to take a stand on ISIS.
Now this guy is a motherfuckin BADASS. His wife Jordanian? For our country its all politics and democracy, I can't stand it at times...I dont want to go all George Bush here, but we need to fucking bomb these fuckers to smithereens
It's this kind of thinking that's gotten us into the trouble we're in now. There's a commie sympathizer taking over the oil supplies in Iran! Depose him and bring back the Shah (King), whose father was extremely brutal, to power. The Savak? No problem, let the guy do what he needs to do to maintain order. What! Ayatollah who?! Oh shit... Sure, Saddam Hussein is brutal to his own people, but he's been a good ally to the West and so whatever he has to do to maintain order is ok. What! Invade Kuwait! That's not being a good ally to the West (despite his offer to sell oil to us at $10 a barrel in perpetuity). Make him an enemy and depose him. What! Can't put Iraq back together again? That's not stable and not good in the long run. Leading into... Sure Hafez Al-Assad is a brutal guy in Syria. But he keeps order and the Russians support him. Sure Bashar Al-Assad is a brutal guy in Syria. But he keeps order and the Russians support him. What! Using chemical weapons on his own people? Depose him. What! ISIS what? When you rely on brutal rulers to suppress their own people and maintain your influence in the region you're going to get turbulent nasty events as a continuous stream of the by-product of that and they're going to get worse and worse as time goes on. It took 26 years for the UK and US overthrow of Mossadegh to produce Khomenei. It took a decade for the CIA investment in Bin-Laden to produce Al-Qaida and 7 more for the Twin Towers to fall. It's taken less than a decade for the overthrow of Saddam and the meddling in Syria to produce ISIS. It's a bad deal for us. Interfering at the level that we do in the Middle East is like sticking both feet into a hornet's nest, only the hornets go for the throat as well as the toes.
Apparently she is Palestinian but grew up in Kuwait. Yeah I understand what Brad is saying but he was only quoting a movie, I remember the old King of Jordan (I assume his father) was married to an American so I have always viewed Jordan as friendly towards Americans and pro west despite them lacking democracy in the traditional sense. I gather based on people I know who have visited is that most people there live pretty well.
sidebar: King Hussein of Jordan was married to an American (Queen Noor) who was the 4th of his 4 wives. First wife: Sharifa Dina bint 'Abdu'l. Cause of death: mycetism (ate poison mushrooms). Second wife: Antoinette Avril Gardiner. Cause of death: mycetism (ate poison mushrooms). Third wife: Alia Baha el-Din Toukan. Cause of death: fractured skull (wouldn't eat poison mushrooms). Fourth wife: Lisa Najeeb Halaby (renamed Queen Noor al Hussein on her conversion to Islam).
If the Jordanian King wants to wage "Total War", that is his right to do so. Especially since ISIS is doing the same. Although this does put civilians directly in the line of fire, when has it ever been otherwise over there? ISIS uses human shielding in the form of putting their depots in civilian areas so its quite natural there will be civilian casualties however, War is never neat and as the burning of the pilot illustrates, war in this area of the world has to be fought on less than humane standards as the Geneva Conventions don't apply there. ISIS wanted all-out war and now hopefully, they'll get it.
Joe where are you getting your information or is this just a joke? I say this because I know Queen Alia died in a tragic helicopter crash- they have an airport named after her, and I think at least one of the others is still alive. btw- I don't wanna turn all Big Blocker in here talking about hot,dead chicks but Queen Alia was a TEN if I ever saw one...
If so, she would have been dead anyway. ISIS hostages are as good as dead. ISIS is not an honorable organization and their word cannot be taken as having any value at all. Raqqa should be leveled and all inhabitants who died should be considered collateral damage.
