American joins the Kurds in their fight against ISIS.

http://news.yahoo.com/syria-kurds-american-joins-fight-against-islamic-state-132542537.html

God bless him, and all who stand in defiance against those brutal ISIS pigs!

 

I'm sure that the State Department will have his passport flagged and deny his return to the US after he's ready to come home.

 

Not sure that they will deny his return but I'm pretty sure that he's in for several extensive interviews.

 

Which would be complete bs, all the while this administration wants to give illegal aliens free amnesty that they do not deserve.

 

I wish thousands of ex-soldiers and marines would join the Kurds. Maybe that would embarrass Obama enough to help them.

 

I agree, the Kurds are one of the few solid allies we have in the Middle East, and they have been providing safe refuge and protection for those being persecuted by ISIS, including Christians.

 

I mentioned the value of the Kurds back in August in a reply to post by KodiakBeer, and mentioned a friend I have that was an advisor to the Kurds in Iraq. He'd go in a heartbeat.

http://www.ww2f.com/topic/53712-australia-steps-up/

 

A very close family member (who still can't really talk about it openly) was in a "black" USAF squadron that flew "stuff" to the Kurds (C-130's) in northern Iraq long before the second Iraq war. He said that nobody had ever impressed him like the Kurds. If you are a Kurd you are a Kurd, period. It doesn't matter if you are Muslim, Christian,Yazid, Zorastrian - there are even Jewish Kurds. None of that matters to them. And if you look back at all the betrayals and bullshit since the war, only the Kurds have stood tall and kept their word. We owe them.

We should have just given Northern Iraq to them as "Kurdistan." Under the current situation, we should probably do it now - since the central government are all idiots we should just recognize the Kurds as a national entity. Let the Sunni's and Shiite's continue to betray and kill each other in the south.

 

The Kurd's are a brave and loyal people, I'd have no problem recognizing them as an independant state. Our problem in Iraq and soon in Afghanistan, is that we did not give them sufficient time or guidance to coalesce as a nation. It took our own country a number of years for the different elements to coalesce as a nation between the end of our revolution and our adoption of the constitution. In Iraq it was the Sunni awakening that brought about an end to the war. Despite this we've allowed promises to them to be broken and allowed the Iraqi government to kick them to the curb. The terrorists used sectarian differences, killings, beatings, and intimidation to keep the country unstable and fighting each other and us. Cooperate with the westerners and we'll behead you, and kill your family, real Mafia/gangster style tactics. If the same thing were to happen in the US, fear would prevent 80% of the populace from doing the right thing. Why do we hold the average Iraqi or Afghanistani citizen to a different standard? We have areas in the US where citizen cooperation with law enforcement could end much gang violence, but fear of retaliation against ones self or family prevents this cooperation. It is no different there. The terrorists, use particularly violent methods to coerce the population. My older son has told me that when they were patrolling in Haditha, there was a choke point near the river where Al Queda in Iraq had set up a complex ambush. The terrain was such that had they entered the kill zone they would have taken significant casualties. An Iraqi woman ran from her house and warned them of the ambush, the patrol used the information to use a different route where they suprised and killed a good number of the intended ambushers. A few days later they were patrolling the same area and found out that someone had seen her talking to the Marines and had informed the terrorists. They came to her house, beat her, raped her, boiled her baby and made her eat it, then beheaded her and left her head on the threshold of her door as a warning to others not to cooperate. For a while it worked, everyone was scared to cooperate. Then slowly the locals began interacting with them again, then further terrorist intimidation. With the Sunni awakening the locals came over to our side, provided information and fought the terrorists, the locals wanted our patrols staying in theior neighborhood's overnight to provide security. It broke the insurgencys back.
The war was over and winding down by the time the current administration took power. They didn't hesitate to take credit for the drop in violence and drawing down of forces, but they also took their eye off the ball and let the country (Iraq) slide back into old ways. Had the Obama Administration continued to remain engaged in the region, (diplomatically, not militarily) we would not find ourselves where we are now.
In Afghanistan the younger son fought in the Sangin fight. The media, politicians and many supposed military experts said that the Taliban was so deeply ingrained that in the area that we couldn't win. Well we did. How? By taking the fight to the Taliban, providing security for the locals. When the bad guys couldn't come to town at night and intimidate the people they lost control. When they couldn't intimidate the Marines into staying in their patrol bases, and then expanding out into the countryside, they had lost. All these gains will be lost if we leave before their military/security forces and governememt can mature.
Anyone that fought in Korea during the Korea War knows that the South Koreans, intitally weren't very good troops. My dad returned on his third tour in Vietnam as an advisor to the Korean Marines, and he has often told me they were the toughest, most proficient and mean troops in country. Why the change in that time? Korea had become a nation and had an identity as such, it's military had time to develop an experienced NCO and Officer corps, and it's military an institutional memory. Why do we hold the Iraqi and Afghanistani military to a different standard?

 

The people can't coalesce when the leaders are so divided. The problem in Iraq, in a nutshell, is that the British took 3 nations and artificially created one containing Kurds, Sunni and Shia. It worked as long as you had a dictator in charge who would kill thousands to impose "unity." It doesn't work at all under a democracy where 3 different peoples are at each others throats.

 

Maybe a lot of concerned veterans and citizens would fill up the ranks of new "contract companies" to go fight with the Kurds. Seems that this option is getting more and more likely since our week president is firmly against putting ground troops back in harms way in this new phase of the conflict (the war on terror).

 

I give you the words of the great and pioneering American piano satirist/math teacher, Tom Lehrer, a couple of lines from his song "Send The Marines", (From the album, "That Was The Year That Was.")


Got to be protected,
All their rights respected,
'till somebody,
We like can be elected.

Members of the Corps
All hate the thought of war,
They'd rather sort things out by peaceful means.
"What's that? Aggression?"
"Oo! We HATE that expression"

But FIRST...we send the Marines!



Until the albatross of religous belief is lifted from these people, who all take religon soooooo seriously, they will never be free to do anything. There will always be some mullah/priest telling them how to act, how to think and feel, and how to run their lives. A good dose of Montesques Separation of Powers Doctine (1784) is the best cure.

It's time to separate religon from government and the judiciary everywhere on the globe. People might be able to make rational choices then, based on their own needs, rather than some idiot telling them what a non-existent God wants.

None other than Yassir Arafat stated that, "Every religious conflict that has ever been has featured one side disagreeing with another over a non-existent entity."

 

I have been emailing Boehner for several days and McCain today. Even Pope Francis - at least the Catholic View site responded with inquiries regarding the various sources of the IS(courge) financing. But the poor YPG look to be in real trouble tonight. Meanwhile demonstrations are getting very nasty in Istanbul and other Turkish cities and will most likely end terribly. A true travesty and foreign policy failure.

"If you are a Kurd you are a Kurd, period. It doesn't matter if you are Muslim, Christian,Yazid, Zorastrian - there are even Jewish Kurds. None of that matters to them. And if you look back at all the betrayals and bullshit since the war, only the Kurds have stood tall and kept their word. We owe them." Well said KB! We are looking for some fighters to train in Syria to degrade IS. Well we have already tried this w usual suspects to no good effect and now we start over. Arm the YPG and let them tone down their rhetoric towards Turkey like Peshmerga later. They can fight now if given the supplies. They are lucky to still have ammo in Kobane due to Turkeys blockade.

USMC-P what a terrible fate for the woman who saved our troops. Just unspeakable evil lurks there, seemingly without end.

 

Kurdish organizers on twitter are compiling lists of volunteers. It appears difficult for volunteers to elude Turkish border guards to enter Syria near Kobane. Reports of three Dutchmen that have made it to Kobane to assist. Many people world wide are petitioning US Gov for, at least, resupply of the heroic YPG fighters.

Here are our trained IS Fighters, no one year lead time. Shorten the learning curve State Dept.

Sign petition please https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/officially-arm-peoples-protection-unit-ypg-syria-defend-isis-destroying-kobane-community/MqkGM32Y

Current 23,253 signatures. Over 5,000 in the past 8 hours. Thank you. Tuesday 437EST 41,299 signatures
Your help is needed and may make a huge difference to YPG YPJ Rojava. Great people.

Oh yes and too bad Turkey cannot be barred from NATO for colluding with IS murderers. At least thats what the reports indicate. Their actions reinforce the notion.

 

Twitter trend #2 worldwide #Airdrop2Kobane. Trying to pressure Coalition to get weapons (TOW) - Barrett .50's, ammo, medical, supplies, food, water to these brave resistance fighters in Kobane and the surrounding countryside.

Your help is needed and may make a huge difference to YPG YPJ Rojava. Great people.

Oh yes and too bad Turkey cannot be barred from NATO for colluding with IS murderers. At least thats what the reports indicate. Their actions reinforce the notion.

This People's Protection Force YPG and Commander Ms. Afrin will take it to IS and make a jolly good show. No one year training lead time required. They are ready now. Training on advanced weapon systems is all that is required. Our Combat Vets know these Kurds and still want to help them. Yes their women fight too - like Lioness. There are reports that female bombers took out IS captured tanks in Kobane. They would rather die than live under the rule of these Islamo Fascists.

We should all be so disappointed with Iraqi Security Forces. Giving up their equipment without even booby trapping it or spiking barrels. So weak.

Tuesday 437EST 41,299 signatures on the petition link in the previous post.

 

Turkey deserves to get their NATO membership revoked and to be economically, diplomatically, and militarily sanctioned(Just as what we should've continued to do towards Iran), they're not our friends, infact none of the Arab countires are, such as Saudi Arabia, the only true allies we have in the Middle east are Israel and the Kurds.

 

Are you really thinking the likes of the PKK are friends ? maybe in the "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" but not in the sense of sharing basic values. Recent events clearly show the risks of a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" policy. While I would be the first to define current US policy a dismal failure the options were pretty limited considering the US voters (that seem to be better at picking the "right" fights than the leadership) didn't allow for enough boots on the ground.

You need boots on the ground, and lots of them doing aggressive patrolling not just standing in the relative safety of heavily fortified firebases, to overcome an insurgency. You have to guarantee protection to the majority of the population that would "just go on with their lives" so that the extremists get isolated, most people do not like thugs, but if resisting means endangering your life and that of your loved ones they will not.
There are large similarities with the situation in Germany in 1933 or to a lesser extent Italy in 1922 (not to mention the Russian civil war where a comparison of the sizes of the armies to the millions that fought on the same ground 20 years later is shocking), the fighters may be a small group but the majority will be confused and stand idle.

US/NATO forces are also operating under some pretty heavy additional handicaps, there is a huge lack of personnel that understands local culture enough to win trust, most lack even basic local language skills, the tendency of soldiers to inimicate locals plays against them in the long run, top the mixture with a divided leadership and very confused mission objectives you have a no win situation.

Be careful of glorifying physical courage, there seems to be plenty of that around with the exception of the security forces that were apparently in it just for the pay. While it can be a positive trait in some circumstances (and usually is for soldiers) it is basically neutral if not disruptive when it comes to building a society. What is needed is moral courage that makes you stand for what is right no matter what, and a generalized acceptance of basic human right that defines the "what is right".

The west should start choosing it's "friends" giving more weight to moral qualities that to opportunity, whether it can do that without itself changing radically is the big challenge for the next years, It takes generations to create a free society and it's easy to loose it when "tribe instinct" takes the upper hand and IMO the west is more at risk from tribe instinct replacing the search for the common good than from any outside threat.

 

No, I'm referring to groups like the Peshmerga, I know the PKK are filthy terrorists, but I do understand what you're getting at.

 

The Turks are not arabs, they are Ottomans and some of the Arab countries are part of the coalition and are ISIS

 

Oy, with the facts. A little surprised with the different versions of what happened in the Liberty case.
Surely, there is no mystery today as to what happened back then.
Can we get an unequivocal account?