The Speech

[erudne]

POTUS is about to tell us what we should think does he address these points?
1. How does the President define the nature of the enemy? Is it geographic or ideological? Do the key aims have to do with territory in Iraq and Syria or with a poisonous belief system with no borders? Any narrow focus on Iraq and Syria is doomed to fail.

1. Can Obama bring himself to describe the religious intensity of our enemies? ISIS and its allies are deeply motivated by religion. Refusing to admit that weakens any strategy to defeat them.
2. What would the President consider victory? If it is not the complete defeat of radical Islamism, it will not be a successful strategy. Talking about "managing the problem" or "containing the problem" is a concession of defeat. Every day the Islamic State, Hamas, Boko Haram, al Qaeda and their allies survive, they recruit new people, develop new techniques and become more dangerous.
3. How does he intend to defeat the more than 10,000 terrorists from more than 50 countries that are fighting with ISIS, and how does he account for the fact that the threat is in 50 countries, not two?
4. What is his strategy for defeating the terrorists and recruiters we now know are coming from the United States? British Prime Minister David Cameron is proposing significant restrictions on travel and activity by radical Islamists in the UK. How does Obama propose to counter potential American terrorists?
5. Is he prepared to ask for more resources for the military, which he is using in more and more places while continuing to cut the budget? It is impossible to have a serious strategy of defeating radical Islamism without an increase in funding for the military unless he plans to transform the Pentagon dramatically. Will he submit such a funding request to the Congress?
6. Is his strategy designed to achieve rapid, decisive victory? There are rumors of a three-year campaign. That would be an absurdity. In three years, the radical Islamists will have recruited more people in more countries. It took three years and eight months from the attack on Pearl Harbor for the United States to defeat fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Taking that long to defeat the Islamic State would be an exercise in self-defeating timidity.
7. Does the President plan to lead the fight against radical Islamism or merely to support others who he asserts have to lead? If radical Islamism and the Islamic State are mortal threats to Americans and to the United States, then we have to defeat them, even if Iraq is incompetent, Syria is a dictatorship, and the Europeans are timid. This has to be a coalition that is led by America, not a coalition that leads America. Which is Obama describing?
8. What are his plans for an extended conversation with the American people to build enough support that the strategy can be sustained with popular approval until victory is achieved? One speech, one time is a beginning, not a program for victory.
9. Will he seek congressional authorization for the plan he outlines? This is crucial because the conflict must be the country's war, not Obama's war, and a vote in Congress will legitimate his action.

If the President succeeds in these 10 areas, he will have given a historic speech. If he misses more than one or two, then he is proposing another formula for defeat

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[Stomper]

He already just said "ISIS (ISIL) is not a
Muslim entity, no religion calls for the murder of innocent people."

FAIL-1
The Quran DOES call for "putting the sword to the neck of the infidel.

FAIL-2
Never mentioned the security of our southern border to prevent FURTHER terrorist infiltration.

FAIL-3
Prattled on about how well our economy is doing.

I could go on, but what's be point?

 

[erudne]

US Confirms ISIS Planning Infiltration of Southern Border

By: Adam Kredo (Washington Free Beacon) via The Washington Times
A senior Homeland Security (DHS) official confirmed to Congress on Wednesday that militants associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) are planning to enter the United States via the porous southern border.
Francis Taylor, under secretary for intelligence and analysis at DHS, told senators during a hearing that ISIL supporters are known to be plotting ways to infiltrate the United States through the border.

 

[Brutus57]

Here's my take. LBJ was a far better politician and more experienced leader than BHO. He committed hundreds of thousands of troops to Vietnam. Did you know at one time there was one US serviceman in country for every 13 South Vietnamese citizens and STILL with a poor STRATEGY WE COULDN'T WIN THE that WAR! Valor was not the issue, developing a strategy to win was. BHO will be lucky to blunt ISIL. He doesn't get that these people hate him not because he's black but because he is American. Just like they hate the other 325 million of us. He doesn't have the guts of a Truman or even a Nixon who bombed the North to get them back to the peace table. We had to worry about the Chinese and Russians at the time if we chose to destroy North Vietnam. Today, people would bubblegum but nobody would start WWIII if we hammered Syria, Iraq and every other stronghold of these fanatics have a toehold in. I would not waste my time watching this charade that passes for leadership.
We can crush them now, or many more innocents will die when we crush them later. Anybody curious as to how long this will go on simply has to look at what Israel has been dealing with since 1947.
Brutus Out

 

[Rocky C]

He missed all of the above!

 

[erudne]

"With a new Iraqi government in place, and following consultations with allies abroad and Congress at home, I can announce that America will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat. Our objective is clear: we will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism strategy.
I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil.
Rather, it is a "counter-terrorism campaign" that "will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground," he will say. It's a strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, and is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years".
It was only a few weeks ago, August 9th, when President Obama told the New York Times it was/is "a fantasy" to support "moderates" within Syria and expect them to be able to defeat radical Sunni Islamists. Now, it appears, he is reversing course and saying the previous "fantasy" will be his specific approach.
It will also be interesting to see if President Obama has ANY reference to Libya or Egypt. Libya is a nation in absolute crisis driven by radical extremists who the president and Hillary Clinton helped bring to power. Egypt, on the other hand, is a nation who has brought radical Islamic jihadism under control, with the leadership of Fatah el-Sisi, DESPITE the efforts of the U.S. administration to undermine his efforts.

 

[Certaindeaf]

"ISIL is not Islamic" ..wha? what's that first letter stand for?

 

[mrblond]

the problem is we no longer fight wars to win them. We worry to much about how we will be viewed.. or how we may hurt some groups feelings.
If we fought Afghanistan like we fought WWII, All the bad guys would be dead. The leftists of the world may hate us but those against us would be bombed into dust.

 

[Just Jim]

Yawn, took a good nap rather than listening to a liar. Once a man is a proven liar his words have no meaning.

 

[Doc In UPlace]

Turning Afghanistan into a sheet of glass wouldn't have made a bit of difference. Even getting Bin Laden in the first couple of weeks wouldn't have. Even though the Jr. Bush failed to do so when he had a chance in Tora Bora, when CIA and SF had them holed up in the caves up there..

What's happening now is mostly a matter of blowback from interfering with other nations' governments and people, going back long before WWII. And that includes Viet Nam.

Iraq wouldn't be destabilized and vulnerable to ISIS as it is right now if it weren't for the incredible blunders of Cheney and Bush and Rice and Pearl and Wolfowitz and their whole gang of chicken hawks going in there and invading a country that did nothing to us, a country that had nothing whatsoever to do with the 9/11 attacks. Without Saddam in there to keep the lid on, the whole thing is wide open for this kind of takeover.

What the US would not do, and no one dare do now, is to go after the real perpetrators of that crime, which were the Saudis, who financed and staffed it, and the Pakistani ISI, who planned and supported it.

 

[Just Jim]

Well it may have been we put our nose where it didn't belong but your timing is off a bit. Jimmy was stupid to throw out the Shah and let the religious fanatics take over.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Blame whomever and rationalize things however.. it still doesn't justify the genocide presently being perpetrated by these jokers.
we're next if you haven't heard

 

[OLDNEWBIE]

His speech inspired me.............

to vote against everyone associated with him and convince others to do the same!

 

[erudne]

Blame whomever and rationalize things however.. it still doesn't justify the genocide presently being perpetrated by these jokers.
we're next if you haven't heard

As Victor Davis Hansen said years ago: An enemy is not defeated until they are truly defeated, until they themselves say that they are utterly defeated. Germany signed a peace treaty following WW1 but it's soil was never invaded, the country was intact giving Hitler the meme of Betrayal by the Jews to gain support for WW2 and the Holocaust. Japan and Germany were utterly destroyed and then became democratic nations after WW2.
North Korea was not destroyed
North Vietnam was not destroyed
Iran was not destroyed
Russia was not destroyed
China was not destroyed
Cuba was not destroyed
and now our borders lay open for all our enemys

 

[Brutus57]

Yeah, it was all Bush and Cheney's fault the Islamic Barbary Pirates kidnapped Americans and held them for ransom 200 years ago, and don't forget Lockerbie and Qaddafi's complicity in that. Bush screwed up on that.....too. Also the American Jew killed by radical Muslims on the Achille Lauro, Bush's fault there too......Come on you Obama apologists. He is a failure, period, made foolish by a two bit dictator last year in Syria, this summer in Ukraine and now by 10,000 radical Islam fanatics. 2+2 still equals 4!

Brutus Out

 

[erudne]

If you recall one of the big memes of 2002 was how this conflict was NOT a clash of civilizations, this was pushed because Bush wanted a Coalition of the Willing, well I have read Clash of Civilizations and if this ain't 'it' it will do until the real clash arrives which, with Obama's help, ain't that far off.
Of course Putin is happy to see this develop as without the use of very large bombs that end opposing viewpoints in a hurry this war will drag on for decades, maybe a century

 

[Rocky C]

Obama: "Let's Make Things Clear: ISIS Is Not 'Islamic'"
I'm sure there are a few gullible idiots who believe this.

Looks like CAIR got what they wanted. The headline below is from yesterday...

CAIR Tells Obama To Declare ISIS Has Nothing To Down With Islam During Address To Nation…
WTF!!

 

[Rocky C]

Puppet comes to mind. We may be in deeper doodah than we think

 

[Just Jim]

Like I said, he is a liar.

 

[mrblond]

Cair is as bad as the Brotherhood.