All things Middle East related

we will strike America at its center in Washington," the man said.

Islamic State threatens attack on Washington, other countries (http://news.yahoo.com/islamic-state-threatens-attack-washington-other-countries-122051922.html)

Not a matter of if, but when.

I cant imagine all of the plotted attacks in the US that have probably been thwarted that we dont know about. No matter what we do, who is president, etc. .... a terrorist attack is going to happen in DC.

Lets see, in the last 2 weeks they downed a Russian plane, major bombing in Beirut and the Paris terrorist attack while battling the Iranians, Syrians, Free Syrian Armies, Russians, US-back Iraqis, and Peshmerga/Yadiz armies on several fronts.

Who is to say they cant do it?

This president and his administration better get their head out of their asses.

It's more than slightly baffling that they haven't brought the fight to the cities here. Fact is, as most liberals will gladly tell you, there is easier access to weapons here. We know that you can have mass shootings, we have them here. I get that an NFL game might be well secured, but think about the Colorado movie theater shooter. Imagine that scene repeated at 100 random movie theaters, or maybe at a specific movie release.

I am thankful there hasn't been one, but something must be holding them back. (in my opinion)

I was embarrassed by that performance by the president at the g20 today. What a speech, he looks so weak right now.

King of Jordan warns of 'world war' against humanity (http://news.yahoo.com/king-jordan-warns-world-war-against-humanity-161351407.html)

This guy gets it.

Could you imagine what all the PC folks would do if our president said this:

"We are facing a third world war against humanity and this is what brings us all together," he told a press conference.

"This is a war, as I've said repeatedly, within Islam," he said, stressing the high number of Muslim victims of the Islamic State (IS) group.

Abdullah said groups such as IS "expose themselves daily as savage outlaws of religion, devoid of humanity, respecting no laws and no boundaries".

ISIS is still not our battle imo. Obama has kept our involvement and cost in this pretty limited compared to what i assume a Jeb Bush type would do. Obama won bc the american people wanted to withdraw our troops and resources from the ME. I dont want us to be committed to a long term "boots on ground" type situation. it didnt work in Afghanistan and it wont work in Syria/Iraq.

We should stay part of a coalition, supporting but not leading europe, jordan, SA etc.

Obama has done a great job of keeping us out of the ME as much as possible. Down side is he will get blamed for looking weak and if something happens his policy of disengagement will be blamed ... regardless of whether a "boots on the ground and a perpetual occupation" campaign would have prevented anything.

ME is fucked. damned if you do, damned if you dont. i dont understand it. way to many moving parts and blurry lines.

OTM, question...did you support the Afghan invasion, the Iraq war part deux, or the Bush initiated Troop surge of 2007 in Iraq?

follow up question

of these national security threats : Taliban/al qaeda network (afghan invasion), Saddam Hussain, Iraqi insurgency/secretarian violence/civil war, or ISIS (2013-?) is the biggest to our country at the time?

OTM, question...did you support the Afghan invasion, the Iraq war part deux, or the Bush initiated Troop surge of 2007 in Iraq?

follow up question

of these national security threats : Taliban/al qaeda network (afghan invasion), Saddam Hussain, Iraqi insurgency/secretarian violence/civil war, or ISIS (2013-?) is the biggest to our country at the time?

No to the 3 initial questions. for the most part im a libertarian. its conflicting. i would love for us to completely disengage from these proxy like ME problems that just seem to increase and grow with no end in sight while spending a ton of money on Navy and air force so we can deal with the chinas and putins if needed.

but on the other hand, we cant turn a complete blind eye and allow insurgents to become ISIS capable or worse .....

idk man, i have no answers. id let the ME police the ME.

our greatest allies are the pacific and atlantic ocean. we are on the complete opposite side of the workd where all these problems occur.

ME is a shit show and no one has an answer. its not an obama failure, its not a bush failure. there is no way to truly win the game.

Honduras arrests five US-bound Syrians with stolen passports - BBC News (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-34864193)

Syrians with fake Greek passports trying to come through our leaky Mexican border...folks we refuse to secure the border, we refuse to come up with a Isis strategy...it's coming home to roost.

This administration...

ISIS is still not our battle imo. Obama has kept our involvement and cost in this pretty limited compared to what i assume a Jeb Bush type would do. Obama won bc the american people wanted to withdraw our troops and resources from the ME. I dont want us to be committed to a long term "boots on ground" type situation. it didnt work in Afghanistan and it wont work in Syria/Iraq.

We should stay part of a coalition, supporting but not leading europe, jordan, SA etc.

Obama has done a great job of keeping us out of the ME as much as possible. Down side is he will get blamed for looking weak and if something happens his policy of disengagement will be blamed ... regardless of whether a "boots on the ground and a perpetual occupation" campaign would have prevented anything.

ME is fucked. damned if you do, damned if you dont. i dont understand it. way to many moving parts and blurry lines.

Europe was just as crazy in the early 1900's, and one of the things that finally resolved it was long term US presence - obviously other factors around the 2 WW's as well. I think, and I know I am heavily in the minority, that the US missed an opportunity to set up a long term solution by investing in bases in Iraq at the end of the last war. Instead of pulling out, and creating the dreaded political vacuum we now see being filled, an all in strategy, incorporating Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia with joint training, full US bases would have at worst created an equivalent of a cold war shell like Europe from the 60's to 90's, with Iran/Russia/Syria playing a losing hand. Yes some level of attacks would be there at first, because unlike WW2, the enemy wasn't thoroughly defeated, but a US led coalition of moderate Arab States, with Israel, would have created an economic zone of influence that extremists would lose out to in the long run.

but that's not happening in this universe, and more powerful attacks are coming shortly.

Pentagon: 2 U.S. Navy Boats With 10 American Sailors Held by Iran Military - NBC News (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pentagon-2-u-s-navy-boats-held-iran-military-n495031)