France vows to 'destroy' ISIL after deadly Paris attacks

[webfact]

France vows to 'destroy' ISIL after deadly Paris attacks



"It is the wish of France, and of the French President, to fight this war until the end - to destroy Daesh in Iraq and in Syria"

PARIS: -- France is vowing to “destroy” the ISIL militant group after last Friday’s attacks in Paris, which left 129 people dead and hundreds injured.

In a television interview, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said his country is facing a “long” war against those behind the bloodshed. But he added that he is confident they will be defeated.

“This terrorist organisation is receding today in Iraq and is the subject of intense bombardments – and we must continue it,” said Valls.

“It is the wish of France, and of the French President, to fight this war until the end – to destroy Daesh in Iraq and in Syria.”

Meanwhile, America says it can “neutralise” the so-called Islamic State – and fast.

“We are going to defeat Daesh. We always said it will take time,” said John Kerry, US Secretary of State.

“We began our fight against al-Qaeda in 2001 and it took us quite a few years before we were able to eliminate Osama bin Laden – and the top leadership – and neutralise them as an effective force. We hope to do Daesh much faster than that.”

France has intensified its air campaign in Syria since the Paris attacks, striking ISIL’s stronghold in Raqqa. Two command centres are said to have been among this week’s targets.

Russian bombers are reported to have hit ISIL’s oil infrastructure in Syria. Moscow’s foreign minister has urged all countries standing against the militants to consolidate their actions and remain united.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2015-11-20

[Scott]

A troll post has been removed.

[Pimay1]

I hope France does destroy them. It shouldn't take much as Obama proclaimed last week Daesh has been contained.

[Kerryd]

Funny. It was the same person (Hollande) that promised to pull France out of Afghanistan if elected. He won and sure enough, France pulled everything out.

Now he's committing to a larger, more aggressive action against ISIL. It seems that once you are the big dog, sitting in the big chair, your view of the world changes considerably from when you are the small dog yapping at the heels of others.

[SABloke]

Funny. It was the same person (Hollande) that promised to pull France out of Afghanistan if elected. He won and sure enough, France pulled everything out.

Now he's committing to a larger, more aggressive action against ISIL. It seems that once you are the big dog, sitting in the big chair, your view of the world changes considerably from when you are the small dog yapping at the heels of others.

Apples & pears

[BuaBS]

Funny. It was the same person (Hollande) that promised to pull France out of Afghanistan if elected. He won and sure enough, France pulled everything out.

Now he's committing to a larger, more aggressive action against ISIL. It seems that once you are the big dog, sitting in the big chair, your view of the world changes considerably from when you are the small dog yapping at the heels of others.

Nope , re-election is his agenda , and he wants to look strong . Plus a war is an excuse for failing big with France budget deficit. Quote from Yahoo news:

“The security pact takes precedence over the stability pact,” as he announced at a joint session of parliament, vowing to spend whatever French security requires — however far in excess of European Union deficit caps."

[ldiablo]

Stop with all the talk and put 1 million boots on the ground. It's long overdue!!!! Many more innocent people are going to die if you just continue your useless bombing campaigns.

Edited November 20, 2015 by ldiablo

[NoshowJones]

I hope France does destroy them. It shouldn't take much as Obama proclaimed last week Daesh has been contained.

I want to see France, the UK, and other countries follow Japans example and keep the Muslims out.

Japan can do it easily, so there is no excuse for other countries allowing these Muslims in.

[bartender100]

I don't think Syria and Iraq is ISIS battleground anymore, they know they have lost that with 4 out of 5 of the great powers bombing them and controlling their moment

Europe will be the new battleground

[Thorgal]

Didn't took Iran 4 years to decide to send elite troops in a joint effort with the local Shia militias.

And apparently they are successful to crush IS and AQ as well in Syria as in Iraq.

Moreover, there are joint coalitions between Sunni and Shia militias in Iraq to fight against radical Islamists.

Which makes some Western countries quite nervous. If you consider any future possible triple entente between Syria, Iraq and Iran.

French intervention wouldn't be evident knowing that their shock troops are mobilised in Tchad, Mali and RCA. Most people here don't even know RCA...

[uptheos]

Get on with it!!

[wabothai]

The French army assisted by the Foreign Legion and Schwarzkopf should be able to do the job.

[Seastallion]

The French army assisted by the Foreign Legion and Schwarzkopf should be able to do the job.

Shampoo them to death?

[gemguy]

I wish they would do it on the ground simply to lower the amount of civilian casualties.

Lots of bombs means lots of civilians dying also while they really do not kill that many of the bad guys.

Cheers

[Linzz]

Stop with all the talk and put 1 million boots on the ground. It's long overdue!!!! Many more innocent people are going to die if you just continue your useless bombing campaigns.

I agree......Trained soldiers are there to take care of OUR situation. All parties should be talking to take the shit out.......We did it in 39/45....We did it with the Bosnia stuff, we can do it with this trash.....

39/45 Armies had uniforms. These guys will melt into the general populace and conduct a guerrilla war like what happened in Iraq

[Mudcrab]

I don't think Syria and Iraq is ISIS battleground anymore, they know they have lost that with 4 out of 5 of the great powers bombing them and controlling their moment

Europe will be the new battleground

Exactly.

The wars that the West won were the old style good guys wear white hats, the baddies wear black.

Since WW2 that all changed. Korea didn't work out too well and Vietnam was a disaster.

Imagine going in to a typical Thai village today and trying to pick the goodies from the baddies. That's what they were up against in the 50/60/70's. At least, to some extent the enemy didn't look like them.

In Afghanistan they had no hope of determining who was good or bad which is why both the USSR at the time, and the US later gave up.

'

In 2015 they may destroy the ISIS 'army' in Syria/iraq with enough weaponry but after this it will be ongoing terrorism by an enemy, who, for the large part, looks, acts, lives in and is probably born in the same country the same as the good guys.

I fear the long term answer will be the rise of another form of Nazism but on a much bigger, multi country scale. Assuming the bad guys don't get their hands on a nuke from Pakistan first. Might be too late then.

[sandmike]

In case you don't fully understand what's happening in the Middle East. (Sent by a friend to me).

President Assad (who is bad) is a nasty guy who got so nasty, his people rebelled and the Rebels (who are good) started winning (Hurrah!).

But then some of the rebels turned a bit nasty and are now called Islamic State (who are definitely bad!) and some continued to support democracy (who are still good.)

So the Americans (who are good) started bombing Islamic State (who are bad) and giving arms to the Syrian Rebels ( who are good ) so they could fight Assad (who is still bad) which was good.

By the way, there is a breakaway state in the north run by the Kurds who want to fight IS (which is a good thing) but the Turkish authorities think they are bad, so we have to say they are bad whilst secretly thinking they're good and giving them guns to fight IS (which is good) but that is another matter.

Getting back to Syria.

So President Putin (who is bad, cos he invaded Crimea and the Ukraine and killed lots of folks including that nice Russian man in London with polonium poisoned sushi) has decided to back Assad (who is still bad) by attacking IS (who are also bad) which is sort of a good thing?

But Putin (still bad) thinks the Syrian Rebels (who are good) are also bad, and so he bombs them too, much to the annoyance of the Americans (who are good ) who are busy backing and arming the rebels (who are also good).

Now Iran (who used to be bad, but now they have agreed not to build any nuclear weapons and bomb Israel are now good) are going to provide ground troops to support Assad (still bad) as are the Russians (bad) who now have ground troops and aircraft in Syria.

So a Coalition of Assad (still bad) Putin (extra bad) and the Iranians (good, but in a bad sort of way) are going to attack IS (who are bad) which is a good thing, but also the Syrian Rebels (who are good) which is bad.

Now the British (obviously good, except that nice Mr Corbyn in the corduroy jacket, who is probably bad) and the Americans (also good) cannot attack Assad (still bad) for fear of upsetting Putin (bad) and Iran (good / bad) and now they have to accept that Assad might not be that bad after all compared to IS (who are super bad).

So Assad (bad) is now probably good, being better than IS (but let’s face it, drinking your own Piss is better than IS so no real choice there) and since Putin and Iran are also fighting IS that may now make them Good. America (still Good) will find it hard to arm a group of rebels being attacked by the Russians for fear of upsetting Mr Putin (now good) and that nice mad Ayatollah in Iran (also Good) and so they may be forced to say that the Rebels are now Bad, or at the very least abandon them to their fate. This will lead most of them to flee to Turkey and on to Europe or join IS (still the only constantly bad group).

To Sunni Muslims, an attack by Shia Muslims (Assad and Iran) backed by Russians will be seen as something of a Holy War, and the ranks of IS will now be seen by the Sunnis as the only Jihadis fighting in the Holy War and hence many Muslims will now see IS as Good (Doh!.)

Sunni Muslims will also see the lack of action by Britain and America in support of their Sunni rebel brothers as something of a betrayal (Hmmmm.might have a point.) and hence we will be seen as Bad.

So now we have America (now bad) and Britain (also bad) providing limited support to Sunni Rebels (bad) many of whom are looking to IS (Good / bad) for support against Assad (now good) who, along with Iran (also Good) and Putin (also, now, unbelievably, Good) are attempting to retake the country Assad used to run before all this started?

So, now you fully understand everything, and all your questions are answered!

Sent by carrier pigeon

[ResandePohm]

Sandmike, Thanks for a very informative post. It is now clear that Good is not so Good and can be perceived even as Bad. Similarly Bad is not always so Bad and can be seen as Good. Everything is so much clearer now.

[sandmike]

Good and bad moves around, depending from which side you are looking ... and who is fighting who ... and has been so for all time ...

Sent by carrier pigeon

[Linzz]

Good and bad moves around, depending from which side you are looking ... and who is fighting who ... and has been so for all time ...

Sent by carrier pigeon

But ISIS is still bad, very very bad reliably bad and I'm so glad that they haven't changed otherwise I really would be confused. Huh? But I mean because they are constantly and reliably bad and not changeable you can trust them to be bad which is kinda good makes them also kinda goo...no no never what am I saying..just forget it

[mancub]

Stop with all the talk and put 1 million boots on the ground. It's long overdue!!!! Many more innocent people are going to die if you just continue your useless bombing campaigns.

I agree......Trained soldiers are there to take care of OUR situation. All parties should be talking to take the shit out.......We did it in 39/45....We did it with the Bosnia stuff, we can do it with this trash.....

39/45 Armies had uniforms. These guys will melt into the general populace and conduct a guerrilla war like what happened in Iraq

Could be, but think ISIS must have a beard and wear black with a knife between their teeth...Easily spotted...

...and that's just the women !

[JB300]

Stop with all the talk and put 1 million boots on the ground. It's long overdue!!!! Many more innocent people are going to die if you just continue your useless bombing campaigns.

That's exactly what ISIS has said they want to happen (& apparently is prophesied) as it would almost force the moderate Muslims to join in the fight against "Infidel feet on Muslim soil".

Bomb the Shiite out of them I say, leave the boys at home sorting out the nutters we already have over there & all the ones that are on there way thanks to Merkel's approach to refugee management.

Edited November 21, 2015 by JB300

[Scott]

Off-topic post removed.

[Krataiboy]

At last someone/country with balls.......

. . . but no brains. Has nobody learned anything from the knee-jerk response of another President who led the West into an illegal, unwinnable war against "terrorists", only to end up with a bigger mess on his hands than he started with?

Hollande is doing a Thatcher, attempting to rescue his tarnished reputation with an appeal to the basic instincts of a wounded and outraged electorate. It won't work, even with the support of the US and the UK, whose unlawful invasion of Iraq twelve years ago triggered the chain of events which has led us to where we are now.

The US is war weary, Europe is broke and there is no public appetite on either side of the Atlantic for another protracted, bloody and hugely expensive military campaign which could be America's new Vietnam and the last nail in the coffin of European unity as the floods of refugees from new war zones begin arriving along with the body bags.

Hollande, a moderate posturing as a militant for political purposes, has enough human, as well as military, intelligence to know that taking the fight to ISIL on their territory and on their terms is precisely what the jihadists want. It is inconceivable that he and other Western leaders have overlooked the lessons of recent foreign incursions into the region, from the abortive Soviet campaign in Afghanistan to the Allies' humiliating failure to turn the shock and awe of the Iraq invasion into a validation of democracy delivered by military means.

European nations must resist capricious and ultimately calamitous calls to arms from belligerent incumbent - and wannabee - world leaders and concentrate instead on solving the economic, social and political problems in their own festering backyards. The number one priority for Hollande, Cameron and Co should be to find a cohesive, workable and humane solution to the current refugee crisis, with the cooperation of Muslim leaders whose mainly moderate followers fear and despise the Islamic fundamentalists every bit as much as we do.

[OJAS]

The number one priority for Hollande, Cameron and Co should be to find a cohesive, workable and humane solution to the current refugee crisis, with the cooperation of Muslim leaders whose mainly moderate followers fear and despise the Islamic fundamentalists every bit as much as we do.

So what do we do while this solution is being worked out (can't see this happening overnight)? Allow ISIS free rein to murder yet more innocent Western civilians through further terrorist attacks and beheadings in the meantime?