US prepared for military solution to ISIL

[rooster59]

US prepared for military solution to ISIL




Vice President Joe Biden says the US is prepared for a military solution if no political settlement can be found to the ISIL problem.

He was talking at a press conference in Istanbul where he met the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

The two talked about Syria, Islamic state militants and Kurdish separatists, a priority issue for Turkey, a country that shares a border with Syria and faces security threats both internal and external .

“We do know that it’s better if we reach a political solution but we are prepared,” said Biden. “We are prepared, if that’s not possible, to have a military solution to this operation in taking out Daesh. ISIL is not the only existential threat to the people of Turkey. The PKK is equally a threat and we are aware of that.”

Biden agreed with Turkey that as far as he is concerned there is no difference between ISIL, the PKK and al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda group fighting against the Syrian government, adding that they are all terrorist groups.

The two countries also talked about US cooperation with the Kurdish PYD. That group is fighting against ISIL in Syria but Ankara is wary of its links with PKK separatists waging a militant campaign for independence from Turkey.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-01-24

[jaidam]

Nothing has been learned. The politicians still act like they can "win" a war against ISIS. It is a nonsense. ISIS is just strict Islam, they are good muslims as it were. The solution is staggeringly simple, just boot them back to their own countries where they can behave like barbarians until the camels come home, with nobody to care or criticize. Trying to force these muslims to accept freedom, democracy, womens rights is absolutely impossible, so why bother?

I just hope the US doesn't end up in the crazy situation modern Germany is in nowadays, that being that if a women wears perfume, and doesn't cover every inch of skin, that she deserves to be raped.

Edited January 24, 2016 by jaidam

[Publicus]

SecDef Ashton Carter recently completed the rounds in the ME and Nato to hash these things out.

He's in charge.

VP Biden's statement is of a great importance to the region that needs to know the US is pro-actively committed to the peace process as it's trying to establish itself.

If it does not, SecDef Carter will ply his trade.

[NeverSure]

This is why we so badly need a guy like Biden. He should run for POTUS. He believes there is a "political" or "military solution" for ISIS. There is no solution for people who blend in with the population and then strike without warning. That is a type of guerrilla tactic and it has never been defeated. Even turning the whole Middle East into a glass parking lot wouldn't wipe out ISIS. They are in virtually every country and the organization is like a many headed snake.

The people of each country would have to determine to wipe them out. It would have to be local. It would have to be up close and personal and done by locals.

(Says Neversure as he cleans his M16.)

[MajarTheLion]

A political solution to dealing with ISIS? Wow. It's amazing how out of touch these people are. It's scary to think these people are leading the country.

[simple1]

A political solution to dealing with ISIS? Wow. It's amazing how out of touch these people are. It's scary to think these people are leading the country.

Political solutions most likely refers to the likes of the Vienna-2 conference held 11/2015, which ultimately gets to who is to govern regained territory in Syria, not negotiating with Daesh or Al Qaeda affiliates

[ezzra]

Here's couple of ideas how to defat IS without costing lives, choke their cash supply, warn any country

that buys oil and deal with IS of dire consequences if they do, freeze and block all their money transactions,

block all of their internet network even if large areas of Syria and Iraq will be affected, get an army of black hats

hacker and wreck havoc with their online communications as much as possible..... just for starters...

[jaidam]

Here's couple of ideas how to defat IS without costing lives, choke their cash supply, warn any country

that buys oil and deal with IS of dire consequences if they do, freeze and block all their money transactions,

block all of their internet network even if large areas of Syria and Iraq will be affected, get an army of black hats

hacker and wreck havoc with their online communications as much as possible..... just for starters...

Tit-for-tat. Get teams of psychologists to visit all the lunatic asylums in the western world, and indoctrinate the nutters to want to go to Isis territory and go <deleted> crazy. Sleeper cells of western whackjobs ready to create utter mayhem. Sound familiar at all?

[craigt3365]

Nothing has been learned. The politicians still act like they can "win" a war against ISIS. It is a nonsense. ISIS is just strict Islam, they are good muslims as it were. The solution is staggeringly simple, just boot them back to their own countries where they can behave like barbarians until the camels come home, with nobody to care or criticize. Trying to force these muslims to accept freedom, democracy, womens rights is absolutely impossible, so why bother?

I just hope the US doesn't end up in the crazy situation modern Germany is in nowadays, that being that if a women wears perfume, and doesn't cover every inch of skin, that she deserves to be raped.

There's no interest in peace. US wants endless war and has achieved that goal throughout its history.

Pure BS. Last thing the US wants right now is another war that can't be won. The US has little interest in Syria, other than to stem the flow of migrants which are causing huge problems in the EU. A major trade partner with the US. If the EU collapses, the global repercussions would be dire.

[Scott]

One of the first things to remember is that much of the appeal of ISIS is to young, disenfranchised people in foreign countries. It's roots may lie in the former Iraqi military regime of Saddam Hussein, but the muscle is provided by the young.

Many of these young people are not looking for any sort of religious salvation. They are like the young everywhere, they are after their own version of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. For them the sex is everything from the jihadi brides, to the Yazidis sex slaves, the drugs are a variety of amphetamine products that give them a high and the rock-n-roll is the sound of guns and bombs.

Until there are efforts to deal with and provide jobs and education for many of the youth (along with reducing the birth rate and increasing the standard of living), this group will be a problem that will nag humanity.

They are not unlike the baby boomers, but we had better drugs and music.

They are a serious twist on the folly of youth.

[craigt3365]

Interesting article here about Russia. But the video in the article is one of the best I've seen laying out the issues in Syria. It's a mess. I feel sorry for the poor people who just want to get on with their lives.

http://www.vox.com/2016/1/22/10815392/putin-russia-syria-assad

[klauskunkel]

Vice President Joe Biden says the US is prepared for a military solution if no political settlement can be found to the ISIL problem.

A political settlement? Wouldn't that presuppose ISIL as a recognized political entity?

Here is my idea: Give ISIL a seat in the United Nations and watch them get bored to death.

[tonray]

Isn't anyone wondering where ISIS keeps buying all the tanks and artillery they apparently seem to be able to field with no problems ? The whole thing is a mess.....and a lot of liars and profiteers in the middle making billions.

[wabothai]

Here's couple of ideas how to defat IS without costing lives, choke their cash supply, warn any country

that buys oil and deal with IS of dire consequences if they do, freeze and block all their money transactions,

block all of their internet network even if large areas of Syria and Iraq will be affected, get an army of black hats

hacker and wreck havoc with their online communications as much as possible..... just for starters...

Tit-for-tat. Get teams of psychologists to visit all the lunatic asylums in the western world, and indoctrinate the nutters to want to go to Isis territory and go <deleted> crazy. Sleeper cells of western whackjobs ready to create utter mayhem. Sound familiar at all?

Yes, and let out the bounty hunters, just like old days, dead or alive.

[Steely Dan]

SecDef Ashton Carter recently completed the rounds in the ME and Nato to hash these things out.

He's in charge.

VP Biden's statement is of a great importance to the region that needs to know the US is pro-actively committed to the peace process as it's trying to establish itself.

If it does not, SecDef Carter will ply his trade.

The juxtaposition of the words pro-actively committed and Obama administration does make me chuckle.

[Grouse]

Give the Kurds a state

We gave the Jews a state so why not?

Take land from Iran, Iraq and Turkey

The Kurds could deal with ISIS in return

Basta! ( spell checker tried to put Basra. These iPhones have a sense of humour now!)

Edited January 24, 2016 by Grouse

[Grouse]

Mosul would make a great capital( though there is a place in Kurdistan called Batman which appeals.

The PKK only wants a homeland for the Kurds. Give them it

Erdogan has been helping ISIS and turning Turkey into an Islamic as opposed to secular country. He should be punished

Only reason Turkey is in NATO is as a bulwark against the Soviet Union. Do we still need the listening stations and missile bases? Doubtful.

Biden is a decent chap but needs to bone up on the history. Knocking back the Kurds shows great ingratitude if you ask me

[hawker9000]

Here's couple of ideas how to defat IS without costing lives, choke their cash supply, warn any country

that buys oil and deal with IS of dire consequences if they do, freeze and block all their money transactions,

block all of their internet network even if large areas of Syria and Iraq will be affected, get an army of black hats

hacker and wreck havoc with their online communications as much as possible..... just for starters...

Oh, you mean like drawing a red line ... Yeah, sure, got it.

[Thaidream]

If the United States puts troops into the Middle East again it will be disaster. Let the Jordanians' Egyptians' Saudis and other Arab States as well as the Russians spend their money and lives. the US can give support but no more American lives for a group of people who are anathema to everything America needs to stand for. Every time the US sends its forces anywhere the wealthy applaud as it is more money in their pockets and the poor cry because it pushes them further into poverty. If the Us had the wherewithal to almost destroy the Iranian economy, it can certainly handle the IS group by freezing their flow of income. Once the money starts to dry up- they will become extinct. the same type of groups who pushed the US into Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan are now pushing America to intervene again. These people never have to fight and die- they push that off on the young men and women in the Armed Forces .

[Ulic]

Time to divide Iraq into three pieces. Kurdistan-Sunistan-Shiastan. They can rename

them what they want later. Turkey and Iraq would not be happy but tough luck.

Governments of both countries have failed to deal with the groups with a political

solution always failing to include significant minority in government/power.

[Rancid]

Seems I'm the only one that feels like he's watching the theatre of the macabre.

The problem was created, it was nurtured and encouraged, now they are going through the actions as to how to cure it. No Oscar though.

Whatever the cure, it will bring no joy to the people of the destroyed states. Israel has chimed in that the Kurds deserve their own state, so that is probably the direction things are moving and always were, new lines on the map. Divide and conquer.

No issue to me as I don't live in Europe, they will bear the brunt.

[connda]

Biden beats his lips; the Russians beat on ISIS (ISIL, Daesh).

[MajarTheLion]

Vice President Joe Biden says the US is prepared for a military solution if no political settlement can be found to the ISIL problem.

A political settlement? Wouldn't that presuppose ISIL as a recognized political entity?

Here is my idea: Give ISIL a seat in the United Nations and watch them get bored to death.

That's not enough. We need to give them some land to call their own. I hear our Dear Leader in the US is doing his best to free up some space at Guantanamo Bay- something about some really mean people keeping others in prison there he wants to remedy. Perhaps he can provide ISIS with some land in the West and they'll start behaving out of sheer gratitude.

[Thailand101]

Nothing has been learned. The politicians still act like they can "win" a war against ISIS. It is a nonsense. ISIS is just strict Islam, they are good muslims as it were. The solution is staggeringly simple, just boot them back to their own countries where they can behave like barbarians until the camels come home, with nobody to care or criticize. Trying to force these muslims to accept freedom, democracy, womens rights is absolutely impossible, so why bother?

I just hope the US doesn't end up in the crazy situation modern Germany is in nowadays, that being that if a women wears perfume, and doesn't cover every inch of skin, that she deserves to be raped.

Brilliant honesty.......

[Thailand101]

One of the first things to remember is that much of the appeal of ISIS is to young, disenfranchised people in foreign countries. It's roots may lie in the former Iraqi military regime of Saddam Hussein, but the muscle is provided by the young.

Many of these young people are not looking for any sort of religious salvation. They are like the young everywhere, they are after their own version of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. For them the sex is everything from the jihadi brides, to the Yazidis sex slaves, the drugs are a variety of amphetamine products that give them a high and the rock-n-roll is the sound of guns and bombs.

Until there are efforts to deal with and provide jobs and education for many of the youth (along with reducing the birth rate and increasing the standard of living), this group will be a problem that will nag humanity.

They are not unlike the baby boomers, but we had better drugs and music.

They are a serious twist on the folly of youth.

So, we give them jobs and education and they will stop cutting heads off??? What drugs are you on?? Bomb and kill every last one of them....

[Scott]

One of the first things to remember is that much of the appeal of ISIS is to young, disenfranchised people in foreign countries. It's roots may lie in the former Iraqi military regime of Saddam Hussein, but the muscle is provided by the young.

Many of these young people are not looking for any sort of religious salvation. They are like the young everywhere, they are after their own version of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. For them the sex is everything from the jihadi brides, to the Yazidis sex slaves, the drugs are a variety of amphetamine products that give them a high and the rock-n-roll is the sound of guns and bombs.

Until there are efforts to deal with and provide jobs and education for many of the youth (along with reducing the birth rate and increasing the standard of living), this group will be a problem that will nag humanity.

They are not unlike the baby boomers, but we had better drugs and music.

They are a serious twist on the folly of youth.

So, we give them jobs and education and they will stop cutting heads off??? What drugs are you on?? Bomb and kill every last one of them....

I am not on any drugs, but I have dealt with groups of demilitarized soldiers in a number of countries. The vast majority became involved in militant actions when they were young -- some very young -- child soldiers, in fact.

Once the wars end, they have no usable skills. The only thing they can do is fight and kill.

In as much as possible, we need to prevent young people from joining these groups. Once they join, the outcome is not going to be very positive. They will kill or be killed and they will never have a chance at a reasonable life.

It's done in the name of religion, but the vast majority are not very religious.

[Publicus]

SecDef Ashton Carter recently completed the rounds in the ME and Nato to hash these things out.

He's in charge.

VP Biden's statement is of a great importance to the region that needs to know the US is pro-actively committed to the peace process as it's trying to establish itself.

If it does not, SecDef Carter will ply his trade.

The juxtaposition of the words pro-actively committed and Obama administration does make me chuckle.

The hardheaded right can't get much that connects to reality.

Ashton Carter is in charge the rest of the way. He'll very likely stay on if the D wins the election and becomes potus the next four years. Carter has directly served or formally advised 11 secretaries of defense.

We needed Ash Carter to succeed Bob Gates. Hawks instead had to overcome Chuck Hagel as secdef which was less challenging than precluding Hegle's appointment had been.

Carter ended 15 years of US strategic ambiguity to ID Russia as enemy Number One. He put new nuclear warheads in Germany and Turkey, put the US Navy in the South China Sea and he's made the rounds in the ME to get everyone on the same page.

Nobody's looking for a war. It's a matter of mustering and integrating available and new resources to get rid of Daesh militarily. Which means when the peace negotiations fail as they must fail due to divisions, the dividers will be excluded from the combined military effort that will occur.

Daesh can't be allowed to go on indefintely and neither can Assad to include Putin. Recall Ash Carter in 2006 publicly advocated precision strikes against North Korean missile test sites which should have been done then and there. Governments in the ME, Daesh, Moscow, Beijing, Iran et all know Carter means business and that he's in charge the rest of the year.

The set in stone right already have iron domes so one can go ahead to advise the rest of us to get the hardhats on and to fasten the chinstrap on each one.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Publicus

[arjunadawn]

Give the Kurds a state

We gave the Jews a state so why not?

Take land from Iran, Iraq and Turkey

The Kurds could deal with ISIS in return

Basta! ( spell checker tried to put Basra. These iPhones have a sense of humour now!)

Thumbs up!

The Kurds are hands down the best counter weight in the region. Plus, there is no stretch to make the moral argument for a state, its self evident. The land you suggest should be taken from x, y, z was there land (as you know). Sadly, those with the power to enforce or push such an end lack all modern moral bearing.

[arjunadawn]

Every single muslim related issue the Obama administration has touched upon has furthered islamic jihad. This is not indictment or conjecture, this is fact. Among the vast treasures extended to Islamic States and the Muslim Brotherhood under Obama & Company is something for more precious than money or arms, legitimacy. Obama & Company have made great use of "time" as a solvent to break down resistance to undesired policies or make de facto situations they otherwise state they do not support. Time, the passing of time is equivalent to legitimacy in the case of DAESH.

Obama's dolt at the State Department offered what has now been called a "jobs for jihadis" strategy to battle DAESH. Other similarly minded people offer DAESH is a result of climate change. Anything to keep looking at the left hand while the right hand moves the cards on the table. The US military has repeatedly made clear that the US administration thumbs down nearly all tactical and strategic recommendations, including sortie strikes. The US administration has clearly not been battling DAESH and by Obama's own recent admission, there is no strategy. The public perception balloons to measure response such as jobs for jihadis climate change etc., are designed to keep perceptions unbalanced to enable... time to pass, and further legitimacy to be extended. The US could have wiped DAESH from the earth in months. But then of course DAESH is not the problem, just a symptom.

"...US prepared for military solution to..." DAESH is Orwellian Doublespeak. Be careful what the US administration tells you it is aiming toward/for. With a renewed Authorization for the use of military force effectively any place on earth the US is now poised to employ its military in a manner that may not at all be what people expect. Remember, Obama does not see DAESH the way the world does. Its clear he does not approach DAESH the same way. He does not remotely perceive causation the same as others. Thus, his use of military power should be of grave concern and he has been recently handed grave powers regarding this.

[MajarTheLion]

I am not on any drugs, but I have dealt with groups of demilitarized soldiers in a number of countries. The vast majority became involved in militant actions when they were young -- some very young -- child soldiers, in fact.

Once the wars end, they have no usable skills. The only thing they can do is fight and kill.

In as much as possible, we need to prevent young people from joining these groups. Once they join, the outcome is not going to be very positive. They will kill or be killed and they will never have a chance at a reasonable life.

It's done in the name of religion, but the vast majority are not very religious.

Clearly understanding the causes is part of the solution. I didn't take your post as thinking we could hold hands and sing Kumbaya as a solution.

We can't just assume we can kill a bunch of them, not help nurture an environment that leads to violent extremism and then think it will all work out. That said, I think we are pretty limited in what we can do with regards to changing the culture. I believe trying to do so as outsiders would be virtually impossible. I am certainly no expert and could be wrong. In the end, I believe it is up to the people there to understand what their problems are and how to fix them.