Iraq Situation

Time NOT to get sucked back into that hellhole. No reason for America to get involved in a Sunni/Shia war which essentially, is what we're looking at here. Maliki is a complete moron and the US knew it when we pulled out. His gov't was anything but inclusive so the population felt as if they have no interest in a "secular Iraq" that neither included them or wanted them involved.

Air power alone won't stop the carnage and neither will American blood in the streets. If the Iraqis don't believe their country is worth fighting for, why should we.

 

Gas prices going up?

 

Random thoughts:

1) Last week I thought to post about this world news, but refrained, this one hurts
2) Feeling like the entire Iraq campaign was a complete and utter waste.
3) Feeling like the Iraqi people/government failed to secure their country, were not prepared for us to leave, maybe we should have stayed there a bit longer (although, personally I have no interest in helping or supporting Iraq and don't expect any other American to have/feel a vested interest there).
4) Not sure about how Iraq will or will not affect gas prices (a dark side of me thinks we should have raped them of oil while we were there, it was pretty much the only benefit of being there, but apparently we didn't)
5) Obama foreign policy is really fucking bad.
6) Been reading there is a good chance the country could split into multiple countries
7) Heard about these Kurdish people in the North, and from what I hear they are somewhat normal, in that they have their way of life which doesn't impose on other peoples ways of life. They seem like a fairly peaceful Arab Muslim "nation". They seem like a people that would knock out the extremist and trade conventionally with the rest of the world.
8) Iran, Russia and Syria are bad, bad countries. They are not countries conforming to a free world, but hell bent on disrupting a free world. These are enemies of USA.
9) Read that USA was considering to support Iran, mind fucking boggling, how could we ever support Iran, amazed this is an option.

USA possible approaches
1) Let them kill each other, and watch Iraq burn, most likely an evil power eventually props up there (probably the country gets split into a few different countries) and say goodbye to any future trade from that region. Kuwait is probably fucked than too. The whole Middle east region is in turmoil, fucking crazy Muslim extremist.
2) (this seems to be the approach our President is taking) send special forces, some Marines (don't need an act of congress to send Marines), and military advisers. Try to establish/secure Baghdad as a headquarter/free state and slowly take out extremist with Iraqi government forces. Probably utilize US led airstrikes and drones.

These are all random comments, probably some ignorant comments up there (apologies). Cannot believe this is where we are today in Iraq, did no one warn our government leaders that this was a imminent possibility?

ALL SAID: I still stand firmly in that we should cut all aid to the Middle East in general. The only Nation that I would support over there is Israel. These Muslim extremists are living in the stone age. Isolate them and let them kill each other.

 

Iraq and Syria are going to be a proxy for Saudi Arabia vs Iran for the foreseeable future. They may be a proxy on a generational timescale.

Honestly, I don't understand what we get by going in and trying to stabilize a 900 year old religious civil war in which almost nothing we do will stabilize the situation. Just to repeat the most important point: there's nothing that we can do short of a 300,000 troop commitment that is going to stabilize the situation.

 

So is Alaska

 

I don't see us just sitting on the sidelines altogether. Now that this has spread from Iraq through and into western Syria people are now starting to worry about this spilling over into Jordan...and from there, the possible impacts it might have on Jordan's next door neighbor: Israel. Then things really start to heat up: Netanyahu pressing for pre-emptive strikes, Obama telling Benji to chill, Netanyahoo telling Obama otherwise.......and selfish little ol' me, trying to shield my eyes from the numbers wizzing by on the gas pump.

ef'fin' middle east ....
Keystone Pipeline!......clap, clap, clap-clap-clap! .......Keystone Pipeline!......clap, clap, clap-clap-clap! ........Keystone Pipeline!......clap, clap, clap-clap-clap! .... Keystone Pipeline!....

 

If the US voluntarily cuts gas consumption by 15% the price of gas will go through the floor.

We completely ignore the fact that it's our consumption that causes gas prices to rise the way they do. The prices surge in the summer when everybody is driving instead of taking the train to their vacation and then slowly fall back for the rest of the year with a brief spike during the winter holidays.

If we want to be held hostage by the gas pump we can just keep driving the way we always have. There's no win there unless you're an oil tycoon.


To put it another way: don't rant at the Middle East for high gas prices caused by you and your neighbors.

 

What train takes you to the beach? Sounds like we should expand the trains if this is really an avenue to cut oil consumption in USA.

I live in the city and do not own a car.

 

As American as apple pie.

 

You can get to every local beach via public transportation of one sort or another.

You can get down to Florida by plane or train and really enjoy the beaches and resorts there. You can stop off in South Jersey around Cape May and do the same thing. You can go to Atlantic City for vacation on basically free buses out of midtown. The casinos sponsor a lot of very cheap transportation. Same for the Connecticut casinos although it will cost you a cab fare to get to the beaches from either Mohegan Sun or the Emerald City. You can take Amtrak up to the Connecticut coastline and have a great time very cheaply. Same for Rhode Island.

The crappy US public transportation infrastructure is still a marvel compared to any place outside of Western Europe, Japan, Australia or New Zealand. You'll never have to ride on the roof of the bus unless you want to.

 

The thing to realize about the Middle East is that they're following our lead on oil prices. The Arab Oil Embargo was a specific reaction to decades of stealing oil from them at ridiculously cheap prices. There were other factors but basically the Arabs woke up to the fact that oil had real value and we were effectively handing them wampum for it.

Since then the price of oil has largely been governed by US policy. If we pumped our wells heavily and created a surplus the prices would fall dramatically but instead we throttle back production and create a huge national reservoir of oil for future use and some of the holding companies further reduce supply by sailing tankers around in the middle of the ocean when supply threatens to overwhelm demand.

If you're a Middle Eastern oil exporter are you going to say no to high oil prices if that's what all our other policies and national habits foster?

 

The quickest way to fix America is to install mono-rails nation wide. Faster, cheaper, will create many jobs, etc. When I run for President I will definitely propose this.

 

I cant run for president next time, unless a constitutional amendment takes place which highly unlikely. (Not old enough =/ )

 

Sorry fellas but we are not going to have a choice here.... we are going to have send troops back to Iraq. Here is why

http://7online.com/news/isis-terror-leader-ill-see-you-guys-in-new-york/120688/

A U.S. official said this week that its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, said "I'll see you guys in New York" when released in 2009.

If we ignore this problem now it's going to become our problem soon. Crazy thing is these are the same animals that idiots like Lindsey Graham and John McCain wanted to aid and arm when Assad supposedly gassed his own people which I still don't believe. The Russians were right all along and the American media fed us all a big bowl of bullshit. Oh and if you read around our "friends" the Saudis warned the US and Britain to stay out of Iraq. Right because this is their wet dream, an entire nation of Wahabiests pushing their form of Islam. Sorry to break it to you but Saudi Arabia is far from our ally. They are the #1 exporter of terrorism and they will continue to fund these animals until the rest of the civilized world stops handing them billions for their oil.

 

Soxxx is Walt Fuckin' Disney reincarnate!