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What should be done? Bomb the hell out of the Syrians? Surely they have suffered enough. Iraq III? Maybe this time.... maybe.... Send the ground troops into

What should be done? Bomb the hell out of the Syrians? Surely they have suffered enough. Iraq III? Maybe this time.... maybe.... Send the ground troops into Saudi? Quatar? Acknowledging that some of ISIS / Al-Qaeda gripes do have some merit, stop interfering in other countries affairs, stop propping up dictators because they are "our" dictator. Something else? Unfortunately for the Syrians, my money is on bomb the hell out of them, trying to limit the number of "collataral damage" of dead women and kids, but hey, not our fault. And so we go round the merry go round again.

serge2k 11y ago
Well we can either change foreign policy and start a long road to trying to repair the damage done, bomb more, start another ineffective war, or somehow get the blessing of Russia and bring the full weight of the (actually fully committed and mobilized) western world down on Isis and everyone else who fucks with us. Now obviously option 1 is probably the best approach, option 2 is the most likely, and option 4 is the one that is appealing in the wake of hundreds of innocent people dying.
blisterpeanuts 11y ago
We have to concentrate on stabilizing Syria, Iraq, Yemen, etc., assist the Kurds and other moderate groups against the extremists, and be vigilant within our own borders, yet without sacrificing our liberties. Beyond that, there's not much more we can do.
- bronson 11y ago
  We tried to stabilize Iraq, now we have ISIL.
  - blisterpeanuts 11y ago
    Arguably, we gave up on stabilizing Iraq and pulled out too quickly, angering the Sunni tribes who were counting on the U.S. to protect them from the majority Shi'ite government. Once they saw the U.S. military bailing out, they began allying with Sunni extremists and gave ISIS a fertile soil in which to take root.
    - Ygg2 11y ago
      US has been mostly used as a very expensive bludgeon to deal with internal enemies. You don't like your local police officer, call him terrorist and see the world's most expensive bludgeon deal with him. Don't want to deal with rebellious village? Tell Americans they are terrorists.
- Ygg2 11y ago
  Moderate is a relative term. Compared to ISIS, Asad is a secular moderate. Hell, Al Quaida is moderate compared to ISIS. Every other sensible actor in Syria left the country long time ago.
asasasasasas 11y ago
What if we were to remove our dependence on foreign oil? Though fusion is a long way out, hypothetically, if we didn't have any reason to interfere and could just leave the Middle East to figure out its own problems, they wouldn't have a reason to see us as the enemy.
- slantedview 11y ago
  Shifting the mind-blowingly insane amount of money we spend on defense over to fusion could help move things along pretty quickly.
- ps4fanboy 11y ago
  Wouldn't that destabilize the middle east even more?
  - jacquesm 11y ago
    It would start an avalanche. The problem is that you never know when or where those stop.
- intopieces 11y ago
  In 2014, net imports accounted for 27% of the petroleum consumed in the United States. 37% of that comes from Canada, followed by 13% from Saudi Arabia. [0] Our dependence on foreign oil is no longer an excuse for our meddling in the Middle East. [0] http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=727&t=6 http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=727&t=6
  - zaroth 11y ago
    I think our significantly decreasing reliance on foreign energy has put the writing on the wall. Middle East countries used to pushing hundreds of billions in oil welfare and running surpluses will be in serious deficit and facing a decimated budget which will tank their economies. Perhaps the thinking is to revolt now before the money is all gone? With such a strikingly oil-centric economy, oil crashed from its high, steady technological progress making their fields increasingly irrelevant over time... Cities built on $140 oil will sink back into the sand. Seems to me massacring innocent French civilians only makes it happen faster. We meddle a lot less overall in the Middle East the last 8 years than the prior 8, right? If we don't then Russia steps up to do it themselves (for better or worse US has no leadership there anymore so maybe why not Russia give it a shot?) In the end I personally don't believe the massacre is in any way "caused" by US or other foreign involvement in the Middle East. This is not the first caliphate, nor will it be the last, and it's not about righting wrongs or a struggle for independence, it's literally about inflicting mass casualties on the infidels in as an atrocious and terrifying (i.e beheadings) manor as possible. Over 100 murdered is a mind boggling atrocity but also a terrible security failure. Not just in failing to catch and prevent it, but failure to take out the shooters at the concert sooner. (I haven't read a detailed account of how the shooters were stopped if there is one)
slantedview 11y ago
Our bombs and bullets are what led to the creation of ISIS. Surely the solution is not more bombs and bullets.
- jacquesm 11y ago
  Bombs, bullets and money.

serge2k 11y ago

Well we can either change foreign policy and start a long road to trying to repair the damage done, bomb more, start another ineffective war, or somehow get the blessing of Russia and bring the full weight of the (actually fully committed and mobilized) western world down on Isis and everyone else who fucks with us. Now obviously option 1 is probably the best approach, option 2 is the most likely, and option 4 is the one that is appealing in the wake of hundreds of innocent people dying.

blisterpeanuts 11y ago

We have to concentrate on stabilizing Syria, Iraq, Yemen, etc., assist the Kurds and other moderate groups against the extremists, and be vigilant within our own borders, yet without sacrificing our liberties. Beyond that, there's not much more we can do.

bronson 11y ago
We tried to stabilize Iraq, now we have ISIL.
- blisterpeanuts 11y ago
  Arguably, we gave up on stabilizing Iraq and pulled out too quickly, angering the Sunni tribes who were counting on the U.S. to protect them from the majority Shi'ite government. Once they saw the U.S. military bailing out, they began allying with Sunni extremists and gave ISIS a fertile soil in which to take root.
  - Ygg2 11y ago
    US has been mostly used as a very expensive bludgeon to deal with internal enemies. You don't like your local police officer, call him terrorist and see the world's most expensive bludgeon deal with him. Don't want to deal with rebellious village? Tell Americans they are terrorists.
Ygg2 11y ago
Moderate is a relative term. Compared to ISIS, Asad is a secular moderate. Hell, Al Quaida is moderate compared to ISIS. Every other sensible actor in Syria left the country long time ago.

asasasasasas 11y ago

What if we were to remove our dependence on foreign oil? Though fusion is a long way out, hypothetically, if we didn't have any reason to interfere and could just leave the Middle East to figure out its own problems, they wouldn't have a reason to see us as the enemy.

slantedview 11y ago
Shifting the mind-blowingly insane amount of money we spend on defense over to fusion could help move things along pretty quickly.
ps4fanboy 11y ago
Wouldn't that destabilize the middle east even more?
- jacquesm 11y ago
  It would start an avalanche. The problem is that you never know when or where those stop.
intopieces 11y ago
In 2014, net imports accounted for 27% of the petroleum consumed in the United States. 37% of that comes from Canada, followed by 13% from Saudi Arabia. [0] Our dependence on foreign oil is no longer an excuse for our meddling in the Middle East. [0] http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=727&t=6 http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=727&t=6
- zaroth 11y ago
  I think our significantly decreasing reliance on foreign energy has put the writing on the wall. Middle East countries used to pushing hundreds of billions in oil welfare and running surpluses will be in serious deficit and facing a decimated budget which will tank their economies. Perhaps the thinking is to revolt now before the money is all gone? With such a strikingly oil-centric economy, oil crashed from its high, steady technological progress making their fields increasingly irrelevant over time... Cities built on $140 oil will sink back into the sand. Seems to me massacring innocent French civilians only makes it happen faster. We meddle a lot less overall in the Middle East the last 8 years than the prior 8, right? If we don't then Russia steps up to do it themselves (for better or worse US has no leadership there anymore so maybe why not Russia give it a shot?) In the end I personally don't believe the massacre is in any way "caused" by US or other foreign involvement in the Middle East. This is not the first caliphate, nor will it be the last, and it's not about righting wrongs or a struggle for independence, it's literally about inflicting mass casualties on the infidels in as an atrocious and terrifying (i.e beheadings) manor as possible. Over 100 murdered is a mind boggling atrocity but also a terrible security failure. Not just in failing to catch and prevent it, but failure to take out the shooters at the concert sooner. (I haven't read a detailed account of how the shooters were stopped if there is one)

slantedview 11y ago

Our bombs and bullets are what led to the creation of ISIS. Surely the solution is not more bombs and bullets.

jacquesm 11y ago
Bombs, bullets and money.