Do you approve or disapprove of American military strikes on ISIS?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

35 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Approve
	14 (40%)
	Disapprove
	21 (60%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[randys1]

1. Horrible fucking dilemma THANK YOU BUSH AND CHENEY

Those fucking idiots, look at the god damn mess they have created.

We will never leave Iraq, folks.

Never

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. Pottery Barn rules

We had Saddam in a box with the sanctions and no fly zones.

[amandabeech]

14. At what point do we get to say that we only make things worse by trying to fix it.

How about giving them $50 billion in settlement, and let them do what they think is best now?

[randys1]

22. What happened to the journalists is terrible, but we cant go to war over it

[grahamhgreen]

29. If you keep breaking it, you need to leave the store! Now! Sir! Outside!

[The Magistrate]

3. I Approve, Sir

It seems to be necessary to take such action.

Part of a legacy of destabilization brought on by the colossal folly of the Bush administration in invading Iraq in 2003. When you kick the keystone out of an arch, you cannot complain of falling rubble....

[JustAnotherGen]

11. I agree with a coalition

And I agree with building new coalitions from those bearing the brunt in the Middle East.

US only though? I think the op doesn't align with what I heard President Obama say.

[jwirr]

4. Did not really want to make a choice - imagine how the president feels. Congress has put it all on

his shoulders.

[BlueCaliDem]

5. I'm incredibly pissed off that this is happening. It didn't have to had Bush and Cheney kept

their oily noses out of Iraq. Saddam Hussein was a horrible tyrant, but he kept groups like ISIS in check. Then a Republican was installed in the White House, an illegal and unnecessary war was launched, and the one dictator that kept the powder keg dry in the M.E. was taken out - and ISIS was born.

I'm so incredibly frustrated by all of this.

Will we EVER leave the M.E.?

[Cali_Democrat]

6. Disapprove

What's the exist strategy? How can we be sure when we've "won"?

How long will the strikes go on for? What if it drags on for months or even years?

Why are we ALWAYS bombing the Middle East?

Can we afford it? Where are we gonna get the money?

Why can't we feed the poor here at home instead?

Etc..etc...etc...

[LibAsHell]

36. Pretty much

To be sure, we will never "win." The most we can hope for is helping the groups fighting IS to reclaim as much of the IS-controlled territories as possible, maintain it, disperse IS fighters, then deal with their periodic suicide bombings. So basically back to Iraq before IS showed up. That's as good as it will get for a long time.

[Fred Sanders]

7. I would like to hear what Obama has to say first and then take the time to weigh my response....

Just kidding! I already have my response before all that.

"Bombs away" requires no thinking, so I guess I am going to have to go with that.

For now.

[NightWatcher]

8. I wonder how many people support this war strictly because of the beheadings of the two journalists

Daniel Pearl was beheaded by Al Qaeda in 2002 and this horrible act was used to sway public opinion into getting us into war.

In Iraq Nick Berg's beheading in 2004 was used to sway public opinion and get us deeper into a deadly war.

So now they've beheaded two journalists and Americans are frothing at the mouth to get back into a war in Iraq and Syria.


The proper manipulation of four gruesome deaths has pulled us into how many years of bloody war? How many American lives have been lost because of the manipulation of 4 deaths?

So here we go again. Damn it's easy to pull us into war.

[amandabeech]

15. Yes.

The WaPo has an article on their front page about a young woman who escaped a forced concubinage to an ISIS fighter.

It is terrible, but there are terrible things happening to women in all kinds of places around the world, and we are not intervening. I'm thinking Nigeria and its neighboring countries. So why do we get involved here?

[kwassa]

17. we get involved here because the potential for disaster is so much worse.

ISIS is a major threat because they have proven themselves to be extremely competent fighters, unlike most groups in the region, and brutal fanatics willing to murder anyone, including all the prisoners they capture. In a very short time they have taken over most of northern Iraq and western Syria, a vast amount of territory, and no one who has encountered them has been able to stop them. Even the Kurds, the most professional fighters in the region, can't stop them .... without our air support. With our air support, they are making headway.

If we don't intervene, the dream of al Queda will come true, a caliphate base on an extremist version of Islam that will sacrifice all those refuse to convert. Think of the millions murdered by Stalin, as a comparison. Think of Pol Pot in Cambodia murdering a third of his countrymen.

And, as many of the supporters that have rushed to join, Muslims from Western countries enticed by ISIS's slick social media campaign, these new fighters in turn become the perfect terrorists as they return the countries they grew up in fueled by this new fanatic ideology. This is a huge threat.

[amandabeech]

20. At some point, the Shia will fight these lunatics.

It should be their battle. In fact, the Iranian Army is leading what we call the Iraqi Army, according to NBC's Richard Engel, and the Sunnis in Iraq will not fight with them because they do not trust them.

Meanwhile, there is a caliphate brewing in Africa and if millions have not been killed, they will be soon.

Why are Middle Eastern lives worth more than African lives?

[kwassa]

23. The Shia have already failed to stop them. You aren't following the news.

You clearly don't follow the situation remotely closely. The Iraqi army ran away, Shia untrained volunteers have come rushing up, but they haven't a chance against skilled, determined and experienced fighters. The two lead ISIS military commanders are former generals from Saddam Hussein's army.

You also don't follow Africa. There is no caliphate there, Boko Haram is small potatoes compared to ISIS, controls little to no territory, though it is fighting an equally incompetent government army.

You are making a very false analogy.

[amandabeech]

27. When the oil fields in southern Iraq are threatened,

the Iraqi Shia and the Iranians will fight, and the effort will be lead by the Iranians. Mark my words. The Shia will be much more interested in fighting then.

I do follow Africa, and simply don't agree with your assessment of the situation.

You say that I don't follow these situations, but I think that perhaps were are seeing things through very different lenses.

Good night.

[kwassa]

31. it isn't a question of willingness, it is a question of military competence. The Shia don't have it.

The Shia don't have it. I have no doubt Iran would step in, but that isn't the issue.

The issue is the creation of large, fanatic, and extremist Islamic state, with plenty of it's own oil fields, in northern Iraq and western Syria. Crazy people with lots of money and military power. That is the biggest threat the Middle East has ever seen.

[amandabeech]

33. Iran has already stepped in. It is in charge of the Iraqi army.

If this is the biggest threat that the Middle East has ever seen, then I suggest that they settle it themselves.

Every time we get involved, we just make things worse.

I will not make any more contributions to this discussion.

[kwassa]

34. and the Iraqi army can't fight, can it?

This future ISIS state is a threat to the US. Not just the other nations in the Middle East. The US.

You don't seem to understand this point.

[morningfog]

9. I disapprove of all wars of choice.

[moondust]

10. The alternative?

Sit back and watch as dehumanized, genocidal fanatics establish a safe base from which to plan, train for, and carry out the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children on a global scale?

No thanks.

[Johonny]

12. I'm skeptical that they will actually stabilize the region

on the other hand I would not like to see the Kurdish area over run. This is one of those times I'm glad I'm not president because I don't think there is a great choice here. If there was a slam dunk choice Obama would have done it already.

[flamingdem]

13. We owe this one to the Iraqi people, especially groups like the Yazidi

and other minorities that are innocents in the oil wars.

[whatchamacallit]

25. Enlist

[Algernon Moncrieff]

16. I say we assign three missiles to every target

[egduj]

19. Best movie ever.

[RedCappedBandit]

18. How has our policy of dropping bombs all over the fucking world

been working so far?

[Maedhros]

35. It had been a dismal failure, but amazingly enough it became an enormous unqualified success

on January 20, 2009.

[uppityperson]

21. Yes, no, it depends. Will it target ISIS accurately? What else will be done to help stabilize the

region as far as education, healthcare, food?

[whatchamacallit]

24. I guess it depends on how many children we blow to bits assuaging our fears n/t

[AnalystInParadise]

26. Disapprove

we aren't doing enough, airstrikes do not defeat an enemy.

Exhibit A: 12 years of drone strikes in Pakistan
Exhibit B: 10 years of airstrikes in Ymen
Exhibit C: 6 years of airstrikes in Somalia

And I know someone is going to say Libya. That wasn't airstrikes alone, it was a credible local military force on the ground. The Iraqi Army and the Peshmerga while credible at defending their territory do not have any offensive capabilities. When we commit ground forces I will change my vote. (and yes I will be more than happy to go if they will take this recently retired soldier back)

[orpupilofnature57]

28. It is an act of unfounded aggression, like the last farce .

[rbrnmw]

30. Except it's not

Iraq asked for our help so that makes it not an act of aggression.

[orpupilofnature57]

32. Against Iraq , or Pakistan, or Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia....

All the places Bin Laden lived, hid, or was born, except Iraq where we did such a good job training and They worked hard to become independent of us, Right .

[justiceischeap]

37. I'm sure I'll be labeled a hawk but I approve

For me it comes down to the word genocide. I remember watching Clinton do nothing for too long when it came to the Bosnian conflict. We're still not doing anything in Africa. I've always felt the world community should come together when it comes to ending genocide.

Somehow, we've become the worlds police long before Obama had to make this decision. He's damned if he doesn't and damned if he does.